Colorado-Iona Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“Workman like effort tonight against the Iona team with a bunch of tough kids. Their coaches are tough, obviously. He was at Fairleigh Dickinson last year when they beat Purdue and the NCAA tournament, so he knows what he is doing. They have some good individual players. Obviously, I think our depth warmed down a little bit. Offensively, when you shoot 61% from the field, you feel pretty good about things. So, it was a great game from that standpoint, and once we strung together stops in the second half, we blew the game open. But we talked about a broken record at media timeouts about stringing stops together because we will get one or maybe two and then they'd score four times in a row. We talked about it at halftime. They came out of halftime and scored five in their first seven possessions. So, once we figured that out, we made that happen. We got the game under control, but a lot of good things out there. We had five guys in double figures and some good individual performances. Overall, I was pretty pleased.”
On how those stops were focusing on stopping three-point shots and them off the free throw line:
“Absolutely. Those two things, I don't know if you know me or if you're that smart, but those are the two things we talked about at halftime. We talked about guarding the three-point line because they had five threes at halftime. We talked about keeping them off the foul line because they're guys are good at faking to get you off your feet, and even more so at the end of the possession where they're coming to a jump stop. They shot fake. If you're first off the floor, they're jumping right into you. And they're getting the call. So even if you're vertical, which by rule you can do, but it's just they're very good at that. And so, we talked about being second off the floor. The second half they still got us a couple of times, but once we figured it out, we got it under control. We only gave up three threes in the second half. So, progress.”
On what it means to see Tristan hit the 1000 career points mark:
“Yes, it's a testament to him. What I loved about Tristan’s game is the efficiency. Look at his line, I look at Cody's line. And those guys, I mean Tristan was six or seven from the field, three for three from three. He was really, really efficient tonight. Again, it took us about 13 minutes and the first half to get him his first look. I talked to our guys and guards, especially on the bench, like we must get him more involved in our offense early. And not that he has to hunt shots, but we have got to try to get him the ball and get him shots or if we can at least get the ball in his hands when he can make a play. The main thing that makes us hard to guard, I think, is our multiple guys that can score the ball and can make plays. If it is just one or two guys, they can key on them, take them out, and then we're in trouble. We have multiple guys that can do it. Tristan is one of them. Cody is one of them. Obviously, KJ makes plays. Julian played well tonight and shot the ball well. Tristan going over 1000 points. No kid deserves it more than him because he is the epitome of unselfishness and a team player. So really happy for him and very proud of him.”
On how they handled the pressure with Iona after Florida State did it too:
“At times we handle it. Well. I thought we were pretty strong with the ball and the double teams. We talked about really coming to meet passes. We knew that they were going to press and pressure us and they did. We only had nine turnovers up until like three, three and a half minutes to go in the game. And then we had four in a row. So, it got us to 13, but we wanted to be 11 or fewer because we wanted to attack their pressure especially in the full court. And once we broke the press, we wanted to attack the basket for layups, and we did that. We did a good job of that for most of the game. So overall, I was pretty pleased. Again, we went four possessions in a row where we turned it over., and if that happens on Wednesday, it will be a run that we may not be able to stop so we got to make sure we are more consistent with that.”
On KJ turning it around after FSU
“The thing I appreciate about KJ, especially this year, is just his maturity level. When I talked to him after the Florida State game, I talked about the fact that life is about 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. And how he reacted to that game with his teammates, with his coaches, with I think even himself was really positive and good. So it hurt and it stung. He wasn't proud of it and wasn't happy with it, but that's what's nice about playing again a few days later. So he got that out of his system and we know how good and talented KJ can be. But when he's efficient and he gets other guys involved, and he's still aggressive, finding that balance is a key for him.”
On how Bangot Dak played
“Really proud of Bangot. He made the most of his minutes. We used the bench by design tonight more because of how I felt after the practices after the Florida State game. When you lose a game you shouldn't have lost which is how we look at the Florida State game it's imperative that your bench players understand that practice still matters and that what they do on a day to day basis matters. And so if we just stayed with the same rotations, we didn't expand it a little bit, it wouldn't be fair to them. Those guys deserve to play more with the way they practice because Assane [Diop], Bangot, RJ [Smith] those guys give us a lot every single day so I want them to be rewarded. And I want our starters, the guys that are playing the minutes, to understand there's a responsibility that comes with that. So really proud of Bangot and the way he responded. He's gonna be a good player.”
On CSU
“Well obviously they had a great win against Creighton. Creighton is a legitimate top-10 team. They can really really score the ball and I watched the game, their defense was rock solid. Obviously Isaiah Stevens is one of the best guards in America. To me, he doesn't get any national acclaim and he should because he's a terrific player. They're tough. They're well coached. If you look at their offense and their efficiency, not just against Creighton, but every team they've played, CSU has good players and it's not going to be easy going up there. We know the environment is not gonna be easy, but then playing Colorado State and the players that they have is not going to be easy, either because they're laying in the weeds for us, I know that. I know what we're heading into and now it's our job as coaches to make our players understand it. Go up there, play with poise, play with confidence, let our play do the talking and not get into verbal stuff whether it's social media, whether it's in the arena, not listening to fans, blocking that stuff out. If we do that, it should be a hell of a game.”
On playing its first true road game this season
Yeah, some of our veterans know that's the one thing about playing in the Pac-12. They know what it's like to go on the road. We know what it's like to go to McKale in Arizona or other road games and have that kind of environment so the veterans should know. Now it's our job to get the new guys to understand that. And Eddie's played in the Big 12, he knows what hostile environments are like. So it's not that we can't handle it, but we just have to understand it. We can't get caught up in the emotion of it. Again, I say I want our players to play with emotion but not be emotional. Tonight it got a little heated at times and we got to play with great poise when that happens.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Sr., F
On joining the 1,000-point club
“Wow, I feel like an old head. I don't even know what to say, I honestly didn't know where I was before the game, or actually my whole three years, so it's crazy to think about joining that club, but I'm just grateful - grateful for my teammates for cheering the rock today and letting me play aggressively.”
On CSU coming up
“We’re looking forward to it. They're a good team, good program…so we gotta make sure that we're locked in the next couple of days and get ready. We have to have good practices and then go up there to handle business.”
On how it took a few minutes to settle into the pressure and what that was a result of
“I mean, obviously after FSU, we kind of had to bounce back. I felt like it just took a little bit to get back to what we do and who we are out there on the court. As soon as we kind of realized what it takes, it just clicked. We shouldn't be playing that transition. We trust each other and that's how it's fun to play.”
On the defensive adjustments at half time
“Yeah, definitely keeping them off the three-point line and keeping them off the free throw line. They got to line a lot and they were shooting well in the first half too. It’s just taking pride one on one, making sure that we take away their three and then play without falling.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On being around Tristian
“It's great to be around excellence. I've seen him put into work, I've seen him put in all the long hours he's put in the film…and it just goes to show how hard he's been working and how much he deserves it. It's just great to be a part - there's many more to come.”
On how they handled the pressure against FSU
“I give credit to FSU with the way they played us…but I feel like a lot of it in that game was things on our end. I feel like we were just in our own head. We can handle pressure, we're built for that…I mean, we go against each other every day with that type of atmosphere. We watched film, we studied, and we knew they were going to come out to try and press us. We just have to play patient and be smart - that's kind of something we learned from that FSU game to carry over to this game.”
On if this was a return/bounce back
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, this is a good bounce back. We needed this. A lot of guys and pretty much the whole team, everybody, coaches, staff players…we were all down with that on ourselves because we knew we should have played better. Tristan and I did a lot of talking along with the other guys and just showed ourselves that that's not the kind of basketball we wanted to play. What you saw today, from sharing the rock to multiple assists numbers, to high efficiency…that's how we’re supposed to play.”
On strategies going into the second half
“We did notice Eddie, J’Vonne, Tristan, them guys were ducking in, and a lot of times we weren't really hitting them - that's why the first half was kind of slow for us on offense. In the second half, once we get it in and you see that advantage we have, I mean, it's just open threes. Guys are cutting to the rim, putting pressure on the rim…coach likes us to play inside out so that's how we wanted to play.”
Opening Statement:
“Workman like effort tonight against the Iona team with a bunch of tough kids. Their coaches are tough, obviously. He was at Fairleigh Dickinson last year when they beat Purdue and the NCAA tournament, so he knows what he is doing. They have some good individual players. Obviously, I think our depth warmed down a little bit. Offensively, when you shoot 61% from the field, you feel pretty good about things. So, it was a great game from that standpoint, and once we strung together stops in the second half, we blew the game open. But we talked about a broken record at media timeouts about stringing stops together because we will get one or maybe two and then they'd score four times in a row. We talked about it at halftime. They came out of halftime and scored five in their first seven possessions. So, once we figured that out, we made that happen. We got the game under control, but a lot of good things out there. We had five guys in double figures and some good individual performances. Overall, I was pretty pleased.”
On how those stops were focusing on stopping three-point shots and them off the free throw line:
“Absolutely. Those two things, I don't know if you know me or if you're that smart, but those are the two things we talked about at halftime. We talked about guarding the three-point line because they had five threes at halftime. We talked about keeping them off the foul line because they're guys are good at faking to get you off your feet, and even more so at the end of the possession where they're coming to a jump stop. They shot fake. If you're first off the floor, they're jumping right into you. And they're getting the call. So even if you're vertical, which by rule you can do, but it's just they're very good at that. And so, we talked about being second off the floor. The second half they still got us a couple of times, but once we figured it out, we got it under control. We only gave up three threes in the second half. So, progress.”
On what it means to see Tristan hit the 1000 career points mark:
“Yes, it's a testament to him. What I loved about Tristan’s game is the efficiency. Look at his line, I look at Cody's line. And those guys, I mean Tristan was six or seven from the field, three for three from three. He was really, really efficient tonight. Again, it took us about 13 minutes and the first half to get him his first look. I talked to our guys and guards, especially on the bench, like we must get him more involved in our offense early. And not that he has to hunt shots, but we have got to try to get him the ball and get him shots or if we can at least get the ball in his hands when he can make a play. The main thing that makes us hard to guard, I think, is our multiple guys that can score the ball and can make plays. If it is just one or two guys, they can key on them, take them out, and then we're in trouble. We have multiple guys that can do it. Tristan is one of them. Cody is one of them. Obviously, KJ makes plays. Julian played well tonight and shot the ball well. Tristan going over 1000 points. No kid deserves it more than him because he is the epitome of unselfishness and a team player. So really happy for him and very proud of him.”
On how they handled the pressure with Iona after Florida State did it too:
“At times we handle it. Well. I thought we were pretty strong with the ball and the double teams. We talked about really coming to meet passes. We knew that they were going to press and pressure us and they did. We only had nine turnovers up until like three, three and a half minutes to go in the game. And then we had four in a row. So, it got us to 13, but we wanted to be 11 or fewer because we wanted to attack their pressure especially in the full court. And once we broke the press, we wanted to attack the basket for layups, and we did that. We did a good job of that for most of the game. So overall, I was pretty pleased. Again, we went four possessions in a row where we turned it over., and if that happens on Wednesday, it will be a run that we may not be able to stop so we got to make sure we are more consistent with that.”
On KJ turning it around after FSU
“The thing I appreciate about KJ, especially this year, is just his maturity level. When I talked to him after the Florida State game, I talked about the fact that life is about 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. And how he reacted to that game with his teammates, with his coaches, with I think even himself was really positive and good. So it hurt and it stung. He wasn't proud of it and wasn't happy with it, but that's what's nice about playing again a few days later. So he got that out of his system and we know how good and talented KJ can be. But when he's efficient and he gets other guys involved, and he's still aggressive, finding that balance is a key for him.”
On how Bangot Dak played
“Really proud of Bangot. He made the most of his minutes. We used the bench by design tonight more because of how I felt after the practices after the Florida State game. When you lose a game you shouldn't have lost which is how we look at the Florida State game it's imperative that your bench players understand that practice still matters and that what they do on a day to day basis matters. And so if we just stayed with the same rotations, we didn't expand it a little bit, it wouldn't be fair to them. Those guys deserve to play more with the way they practice because Assane [Diop], Bangot, RJ [Smith] those guys give us a lot every single day so I want them to be rewarded. And I want our starters, the guys that are playing the minutes, to understand there's a responsibility that comes with that. So really proud of Bangot and the way he responded. He's gonna be a good player.”
On CSU
“Well obviously they had a great win against Creighton. Creighton is a legitimate top-10 team. They can really really score the ball and I watched the game, their defense was rock solid. Obviously Isaiah Stevens is one of the best guards in America. To me, he doesn't get any national acclaim and he should because he's a terrific player. They're tough. They're well coached. If you look at their offense and their efficiency, not just against Creighton, but every team they've played, CSU has good players and it's not going to be easy going up there. We know the environment is not gonna be easy, but then playing Colorado State and the players that they have is not going to be easy, either because they're laying in the weeds for us, I know that. I know what we're heading into and now it's our job as coaches to make our players understand it. Go up there, play with poise, play with confidence, let our play do the talking and not get into verbal stuff whether it's social media, whether it's in the arena, not listening to fans, blocking that stuff out. If we do that, it should be a hell of a game.”
On playing its first true road game this season
Yeah, some of our veterans know that's the one thing about playing in the Pac-12. They know what it's like to go on the road. We know what it's like to go to McKale in Arizona or other road games and have that kind of environment so the veterans should know. Now it's our job to get the new guys to understand that. And Eddie's played in the Big 12, he knows what hostile environments are like. So it's not that we can't handle it, but we just have to understand it. We can't get caught up in the emotion of it. Again, I say I want our players to play with emotion but not be emotional. Tonight it got a little heated at times and we got to play with great poise when that happens.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Sr., F
On joining the 1,000-point club
“Wow, I feel like an old head. I don't even know what to say, I honestly didn't know where I was before the game, or actually my whole three years, so it's crazy to think about joining that club, but I'm just grateful - grateful for my teammates for cheering the rock today and letting me play aggressively.”
On CSU coming up
“We’re looking forward to it. They're a good team, good program…so we gotta make sure that we're locked in the next couple of days and get ready. We have to have good practices and then go up there to handle business.”
On how it took a few minutes to settle into the pressure and what that was a result of
“I mean, obviously after FSU, we kind of had to bounce back. I felt like it just took a little bit to get back to what we do and who we are out there on the court. As soon as we kind of realized what it takes, it just clicked. We shouldn't be playing that transition. We trust each other and that's how it's fun to play.”
On the defensive adjustments at half time
“Yeah, definitely keeping them off the three-point line and keeping them off the free throw line. They got to line a lot and they were shooting well in the first half too. It’s just taking pride one on one, making sure that we take away their three and then play without falling.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On being around Tristian
“It's great to be around excellence. I've seen him put into work, I've seen him put in all the long hours he's put in the film…and it just goes to show how hard he's been working and how much he deserves it. It's just great to be a part - there's many more to come.”
On how they handled the pressure against FSU
“I give credit to FSU with the way they played us…but I feel like a lot of it in that game was things on our end. I feel like we were just in our own head. We can handle pressure, we're built for that…I mean, we go against each other every day with that type of atmosphere. We watched film, we studied, and we knew they were going to come out to try and press us. We just have to play patient and be smart - that's kind of something we learned from that FSU game to carry over to this game.”
On if this was a return/bounce back
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, this is a good bounce back. We needed this. A lot of guys and pretty much the whole team, everybody, coaches, staff players…we were all down with that on ourselves because we knew we should have played better. Tristan and I did a lot of talking along with the other guys and just showed ourselves that that's not the kind of basketball we wanted to play. What you saw today, from sharing the rock to multiple assists numbers, to high efficiency…that's how we’re supposed to play.”
On strategies going into the second half
“We did notice Eddie, J’Vonne, Tristan, them guys were ducking in, and a lot of times we weren't really hitting them - that's why the first half was kind of slow for us on offense. In the second half, once we get it in and you see that advantage we have, I mean, it's just open threes. Guys are cutting to the rim, putting pressure on the rim…coach likes us to play inside out so that's how we wanted to play.”