Colorado-Northern Colorado Quotes
vs
Montana State
Nov 3 (Mon)
7 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“It was a good win. I think UNC is going to have a good year in the Big Sky. I'm not an expert on the Big Sky anymore, not that I ever was, but they have some nice personnel, and the Thomas kid is a really good player, Wisne is a good player, Abercrombie can shoot it, and their post guys were pretty good too. So, midway through the first half our guys were a little frustrated because I think they think it's going to be easy. Every time you step out you have to grind it out a little bit because teams come in here with a game plan and play hard, just like we play hard. At the end of the first half, we strung together some stops and broke that thing open, but our guys were frustrated. First and second media timeout I just said we just got to stick with it and string stops together. Offensively we're playing really well together with getting another 23 assists tonight and six guys in double figures. So, a lot of good things offensively, defensively, we keep getting better. Thomas had 27 but he had it on 22 shots. So, I thought J'Vonne did a really good job defensively on him and I was really pleased other than the way we finished the game. The last three and a half minutes we got beat 12 to six which I don't like. I told our players in today's game, with all the analytics and kenpom and all that stuff, there is no garbage time. We’ve got to continue to play the whole the whole 40 minutes.”
On how the first points were 10 twos and how was that emphasized tonight:
“It was number one thing on the board. Number one thing on the board was attack the paint and whether that's through the post, through driving and getting the ball the rim, or if the threes come as a result of posting it, or driving and kicking, that's fine. Our guys did a pretty good job of that, I think. Our two post guys, J’Vonne Hadley and Eddie Lampkin have 12 out of 23 assists. It's not like when we give it to them down there, it's a black hole. It's anything but that. Sometimes Eddie looks to pass a little bit too much, but he's a good passer on the double teams he found some guys tonight and J’Vonne did a great job as well so, but attacking the paint was number one thing offensively on our mind.”
On how J’Vonne is important even though his stats don’t show on the page:
“That's just who he is. What I love about J’Vonne is he asked after the scouting report yesterday, came up to me say Coach, I want Saint Thomas. We could have put Tristan on him. We wanted to have size on him. We started Luke, could have been Luke, but as a coach you love it when they come up and said I want to give me that challenge or give me that assignment. And J’Vonne is taking it to heart. KJ is playing at such a high level offensively and defensively, but we've got a lot of weapons on this team. But J’Vonne Hadley, he's kind of our heart and soul or unsung hero, if you will.”
On how important it is to turn those steals into points:
“One of the things on our defensive list tonight was let's dictate with our defense. Let's get out in the passing lanes. Let's pressure the ball. Let's create some turnovers and create some offense with our defense. We did a great job with that. KJ again, I'll just go back to him. Before the season he wanted to be on all PAC 12 defensive team and he's well on his way. He got the Defensive Player of the Game award against Miami. He did the job on Nijel Pack and tonight he had the Reaves kid a good player. He's a New York City Guard and got a lot of respect for him. He was averaging 16 coming in and KJ just kind of took him out of the game. So, he's playing at such a high level, scoring the ball, assisting the ball, taking care of the ball, leading the team defensively. It's funny, he was sick and tired of hearing the name McKinley Wright come out of my mouth his first two years here and it didn't come out this year. I haven't even talked about McKinley, and I love McKinley Wright. I still do but we're starting to rely on KJ like we relied on McKinley. There's no better compliment I can give the kid and that I don't ever want to take him for granted.”
On what he’s seen from KJ Simpson this year:
“Yeah, I've talked about this before, but his maturity level - not just how he takes coaching, which he’s always been coachable, but he wants to learn. He comes to watch film on his own, but his maturity level and when he makes mistakes, he always recognizes them, and he doesn't like pointing any fingers. He holds himself accountable. He's taking care of the basketball. He takes good shots. That's why his shooting percentage this year is so much better than it's been the first couple of years. KJ has been so talented and still is talented his whole life. Sometimes he has that against the world mentality because he feels like nobody can stop him, which a lot of times one on one they can't, but as a team they can, and he's done a great job of recognizing and not over penetrating. He did it once tonight but came over and said ‘Coach, it's my fault that I played off one foot and got a little too deep,’ so when players start recognizing that themselves, not much to say except that you’re right - don't do it again. I’m glad he’s on our team. He’s a terrific guy.”
On Luke O’Brien:
“He kept shooting tonight. He was open, he had some really good looks, this could have been one of those nights where Luke had 25. He had 14 shots, and they were all good looks. The one thing I like about our team is we're not taking a lot of bad shots, we’re really not. That's why our offensive efficiency is what it is - shot selection is key. Luke's got a lot of confidence. He hit some big ones for us tonight, but, I mean, he was only 5-14. Every one of them had good looks, he could have easily had more tonight, but I'm pleased with him and Julian Hammond. Those two kids are a little bit overlooked sometimes.”
On one more game before Pac-12 play:
“Taking care of the basketball is important. We had 12 turnovers tonight, we had 10 before the last media timeout - 11 is our number, we won't hit that once. So, taking care of the basketball without a doubt. We had 15 turnovers against Miami even as well as we played. So, taking care of the ball is number one, and being just a consistently rock-solid defensive team where teams have to make shots against us to beat us overhand, whether it's a three point line. I think our guys are doing a great job of scouting reports. For the most part really tonight, we talked about him penetrating to pass and he penetrated paths in the lane and with two or three guys on him and there should have been one guy on him making him score over and he got stupid. He's a good player, good passer. Eddie got switched on by Langston Reynolds. They're late and he's a driver…and Eddie played it exactly how he should have played it, the kid shot a three and Eddie contested it, didn't go in, because that's not what he does. I think being rock solid defensively and taking care of the ball, continuing to share it, and the other thing I'd like to see is Cody Williams coming back.”
Colorado Players
Luke O’Brien, Sr., G
On getting time off vs playing
“I like to play multiple games per week, honestly. Just because I like games, I want to practice, but now it was good to get our bodies right for this game. It was it's an important game. Every game is important. So yeah, I would much rather play three or four games.”
On his confidence
“I'm always a good shooter. I know that. The numbers don't show it, but I know I'm a good shooter. But honestly, I didn't think I had a good game today. I pride myself on defense. I don't think I played great defensively. The beauty of my game is you look at my stats, and you probably don't think I’m not playing well, but if I'm playing good defense rebounding, that's the key. But yeah, the shooting will come. I'm not worried about that.”
On getting over slump before Miami
“I think the last couple of years greatly helped my mental progress. So, I just keep shooting and know my work will pay off. I know, in Miami, before the game, Cody said you must take them to make shots. But my next mentality is just the next shot. If I miss it, I will get the next one.”
On efficient transitions
Yeah, absolutely. KJ had two or three great steals that helped our momentum, but we want to pressure guys and get in gaps, and I felt like we did that last 10 minutes, holding them to wait for five or six points. But yeah, it started with KJ. He was garden 94 feet.”
On improvement before Pac-12 play
“I think we touched on it, but defense. For offense, we're doing a great job. We just got to keep doing that, but we can start well tonight. So, hopefully, it is a nice game. We get those first four minutes. It starts with us because we're starting, but we’ve got to be better with that. Utah Tech's a good team. It is our most important game of the season, and we won't take it lightly. So, we’ve just got to focus on getting stops and getting kills.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On coming off the win against Miami
“I think our mentality was not complacent or getting too comfortable. Miami was a great win for us. We had a really good team and the opportunity there, but after beating a team like that the next game could kind of be a trap game. It doesn't matter who we played next. I'm just coming off that win and that's not what we wanted to, focus on. We tried to play the same way and keep this the same. It is the same mindset we had going into the Miami game to this game.”
On getting paint touches
“Coach talks all the time he wants us to get paint touches, and that's where many of our threes also come from, getting into paint first and then kicking them out. But we get paint touches, and we get a move like the way we have been you will get great shots.”
On struggling to get stops early
“I think it was just mentality. We're trying to get stops early, but credit to them. They were also making a lot of tough shots. When we can really, lock in and get those stops collectively, that's when you see the league expand and our play style get more aggressive. That was more of an understanding that we're not playing our best defensively and going out there and digging deep and just doing it.”
On where they are defensively
“I love where we're at, but we can always get better, never get complacent, and settle for where we're at and that's when we just have to watch the film. There are a couple of possessions where we didn't want to be where we wanted to be and that's going to happen, but I don't think you're ever quite where you are comfortable. I feel like we could always get better defensively, but to our credit, the way we've been playing, we're making those steps, so we're going in the right direction.”
On Eddie Lampkin
“I've known him before he came here, and that's one thing he was stressing and talking to me about before we even started playing together. He said, ‘One thing about me that might seem weird is that I'm a big boy who loves to pass,’ and he's going out there, and he's showing it, and he's very capable of doing it. He's unselfish and, you have a big man who's unselfish when he could just bully everybody every time. It's fun to be around, and it helps get the crowd going as you hear the oohs and ahhs when he makes a no-look pass. But that's just who he is. He's unselfish.”
On Oklahoma City Thunder players
“I mean, it was real cool. Obviously, that's where we all want to be. I started dreaming, we watched them play and we admire their games. It's cool to have people like that in the crowd watching us play. I appreciate them for coming, for sure. “
Opening Statement
“It was a good win. I think UNC is going to have a good year in the Big Sky. I'm not an expert on the Big Sky anymore, not that I ever was, but they have some nice personnel, and the Thomas kid is a really good player, Wisne is a good player, Abercrombie can shoot it, and their post guys were pretty good too. So, midway through the first half our guys were a little frustrated because I think they think it's going to be easy. Every time you step out you have to grind it out a little bit because teams come in here with a game plan and play hard, just like we play hard. At the end of the first half, we strung together some stops and broke that thing open, but our guys were frustrated. First and second media timeout I just said we just got to stick with it and string stops together. Offensively we're playing really well together with getting another 23 assists tonight and six guys in double figures. So, a lot of good things offensively, defensively, we keep getting better. Thomas had 27 but he had it on 22 shots. So, I thought J'Vonne did a really good job defensively on him and I was really pleased other than the way we finished the game. The last three and a half minutes we got beat 12 to six which I don't like. I told our players in today's game, with all the analytics and kenpom and all that stuff, there is no garbage time. We’ve got to continue to play the whole the whole 40 minutes.”
On how the first points were 10 twos and how was that emphasized tonight:
“It was number one thing on the board. Number one thing on the board was attack the paint and whether that's through the post, through driving and getting the ball the rim, or if the threes come as a result of posting it, or driving and kicking, that's fine. Our guys did a pretty good job of that, I think. Our two post guys, J’Vonne Hadley and Eddie Lampkin have 12 out of 23 assists. It's not like when we give it to them down there, it's a black hole. It's anything but that. Sometimes Eddie looks to pass a little bit too much, but he's a good passer on the double teams he found some guys tonight and J’Vonne did a great job as well so, but attacking the paint was number one thing offensively on our mind.”
On how J’Vonne is important even though his stats don’t show on the page:
“That's just who he is. What I love about J’Vonne is he asked after the scouting report yesterday, came up to me say Coach, I want Saint Thomas. We could have put Tristan on him. We wanted to have size on him. We started Luke, could have been Luke, but as a coach you love it when they come up and said I want to give me that challenge or give me that assignment. And J’Vonne is taking it to heart. KJ is playing at such a high level offensively and defensively, but we've got a lot of weapons on this team. But J’Vonne Hadley, he's kind of our heart and soul or unsung hero, if you will.”
On how important it is to turn those steals into points:
“One of the things on our defensive list tonight was let's dictate with our defense. Let's get out in the passing lanes. Let's pressure the ball. Let's create some turnovers and create some offense with our defense. We did a great job with that. KJ again, I'll just go back to him. Before the season he wanted to be on all PAC 12 defensive team and he's well on his way. He got the Defensive Player of the Game award against Miami. He did the job on Nijel Pack and tonight he had the Reaves kid a good player. He's a New York City Guard and got a lot of respect for him. He was averaging 16 coming in and KJ just kind of took him out of the game. So, he's playing at such a high level, scoring the ball, assisting the ball, taking care of the ball, leading the team defensively. It's funny, he was sick and tired of hearing the name McKinley Wright come out of my mouth his first two years here and it didn't come out this year. I haven't even talked about McKinley, and I love McKinley Wright. I still do but we're starting to rely on KJ like we relied on McKinley. There's no better compliment I can give the kid and that I don't ever want to take him for granted.”
On what he’s seen from KJ Simpson this year:
“Yeah, I've talked about this before, but his maturity level - not just how he takes coaching, which he’s always been coachable, but he wants to learn. He comes to watch film on his own, but his maturity level and when he makes mistakes, he always recognizes them, and he doesn't like pointing any fingers. He holds himself accountable. He's taking care of the basketball. He takes good shots. That's why his shooting percentage this year is so much better than it's been the first couple of years. KJ has been so talented and still is talented his whole life. Sometimes he has that against the world mentality because he feels like nobody can stop him, which a lot of times one on one they can't, but as a team they can, and he's done a great job of recognizing and not over penetrating. He did it once tonight but came over and said ‘Coach, it's my fault that I played off one foot and got a little too deep,’ so when players start recognizing that themselves, not much to say except that you’re right - don't do it again. I’m glad he’s on our team. He’s a terrific guy.”
On Luke O’Brien:
“He kept shooting tonight. He was open, he had some really good looks, this could have been one of those nights where Luke had 25. He had 14 shots, and they were all good looks. The one thing I like about our team is we're not taking a lot of bad shots, we’re really not. That's why our offensive efficiency is what it is - shot selection is key. Luke's got a lot of confidence. He hit some big ones for us tonight, but, I mean, he was only 5-14. Every one of them had good looks, he could have easily had more tonight, but I'm pleased with him and Julian Hammond. Those two kids are a little bit overlooked sometimes.”
On one more game before Pac-12 play:
“Taking care of the basketball is important. We had 12 turnovers tonight, we had 10 before the last media timeout - 11 is our number, we won't hit that once. So, taking care of the basketball without a doubt. We had 15 turnovers against Miami even as well as we played. So, taking care of the ball is number one, and being just a consistently rock-solid defensive team where teams have to make shots against us to beat us overhand, whether it's a three point line. I think our guys are doing a great job of scouting reports. For the most part really tonight, we talked about him penetrating to pass and he penetrated paths in the lane and with two or three guys on him and there should have been one guy on him making him score over and he got stupid. He's a good player, good passer. Eddie got switched on by Langston Reynolds. They're late and he's a driver…and Eddie played it exactly how he should have played it, the kid shot a three and Eddie contested it, didn't go in, because that's not what he does. I think being rock solid defensively and taking care of the ball, continuing to share it, and the other thing I'd like to see is Cody Williams coming back.”
Colorado Players
Luke O’Brien, Sr., G
On getting time off vs playing
“I like to play multiple games per week, honestly. Just because I like games, I want to practice, but now it was good to get our bodies right for this game. It was it's an important game. Every game is important. So yeah, I would much rather play three or four games.”
On his confidence
“I'm always a good shooter. I know that. The numbers don't show it, but I know I'm a good shooter. But honestly, I didn't think I had a good game today. I pride myself on defense. I don't think I played great defensively. The beauty of my game is you look at my stats, and you probably don't think I’m not playing well, but if I'm playing good defense rebounding, that's the key. But yeah, the shooting will come. I'm not worried about that.”
On getting over slump before Miami
“I think the last couple of years greatly helped my mental progress. So, I just keep shooting and know my work will pay off. I know, in Miami, before the game, Cody said you must take them to make shots. But my next mentality is just the next shot. If I miss it, I will get the next one.”
On efficient transitions
Yeah, absolutely. KJ had two or three great steals that helped our momentum, but we want to pressure guys and get in gaps, and I felt like we did that last 10 minutes, holding them to wait for five or six points. But yeah, it started with KJ. He was garden 94 feet.”
On improvement before Pac-12 play
“I think we touched on it, but defense. For offense, we're doing a great job. We just got to keep doing that, but we can start well tonight. So, hopefully, it is a nice game. We get those first four minutes. It starts with us because we're starting, but we’ve got to be better with that. Utah Tech's a good team. It is our most important game of the season, and we won't take it lightly. So, we’ve just got to focus on getting stops and getting kills.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On coming off the win against Miami
“I think our mentality was not complacent or getting too comfortable. Miami was a great win for us. We had a really good team and the opportunity there, but after beating a team like that the next game could kind of be a trap game. It doesn't matter who we played next. I'm just coming off that win and that's not what we wanted to, focus on. We tried to play the same way and keep this the same. It is the same mindset we had going into the Miami game to this game.”
On getting paint touches
“Coach talks all the time he wants us to get paint touches, and that's where many of our threes also come from, getting into paint first and then kicking them out. But we get paint touches, and we get a move like the way we have been you will get great shots.”
On struggling to get stops early
“I think it was just mentality. We're trying to get stops early, but credit to them. They were also making a lot of tough shots. When we can really, lock in and get those stops collectively, that's when you see the league expand and our play style get more aggressive. That was more of an understanding that we're not playing our best defensively and going out there and digging deep and just doing it.”
On where they are defensively
“I love where we're at, but we can always get better, never get complacent, and settle for where we're at and that's when we just have to watch the film. There are a couple of possessions where we didn't want to be where we wanted to be and that's going to happen, but I don't think you're ever quite where you are comfortable. I feel like we could always get better defensively, but to our credit, the way we've been playing, we're making those steps, so we're going in the right direction.”
On Eddie Lampkin
“I've known him before he came here, and that's one thing he was stressing and talking to me about before we even started playing together. He said, ‘One thing about me that might seem weird is that I'm a big boy who loves to pass,’ and he's going out there, and he's showing it, and he's very capable of doing it. He's unselfish and, you have a big man who's unselfish when he could just bully everybody every time. It's fun to be around, and it helps get the crowd going as you hear the oohs and ahhs when he makes a no-look pass. But that's just who he is. He's unselfish.”
On Oklahoma City Thunder players
“I mean, it was real cool. Obviously, that's where we all want to be. I started dreaming, we watched them play and we admire their games. It's cool to have people like that in the crowd watching us play. I appreciate them for coming, for sure. “