Colorado-Utah Tech Quotes
vs
Grace College (Ind.)
Oct 19 (Sun)
12 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
"Good, hard-fought win. You win going away. These games are tough mentally on our team coming out of finals. [It was] hard to get a great week of practice in during finals but our guys I thought did a pretty good job of it. I thought we were dialed in from the beginning which was nice to see. I told them before we left the locker room the two areas, we have to see improvement is our defense from a consistency standpoint -- possession to possession. Half to half. Putting 40 minutes of a great defensive effort in and this would be a great opportunity to do that. Now the second thing we have to get better at is taking care of the basketball. So that was about my message going out to the floor, and then you're coming to halftime and we're holding [them to] 36% [shooting]. We had a few breakdowns with those 24 points -- we'll take that every game, right? So, we were doing that, but we had nine turnovers. They did one thing [but] they didn't do the other and then the second half they shot 51% and we ended up with 15 turnovers. Still, two areas we can improve on. But again, that tells me the ceiling for this team is still higher than what we've hit up to this point. But now that conference play starts after Christmas, there's no time like the present because you have an off night in conference play, you're going to take an L. Doesn't matter who you're playing or where you're playing. So, guys deserve a break. Hopefully, they'll get a chance to get some time to rest their bodies, spend some time with their loved ones, and come back ready to go."
On having five players score in double figures for the second time this season
"Another 20 assists. The balance of this team. Look, [Jr. G] Julian [Hammond III] would have been in double figures if he played his normal minutes. He took a pretty hard fall against Northern Colorado. He's had some back problems. He didn't practice a lot this week. He practiced enough to play and he's a big part of our team. To me, if Julian's 100% and plays the normal minutes that he would -- he would normally play 27-28 minutes in a game like this tonight. He only played 19. We had five [players hit double figures] instead of six but really this team -- we need to get [Fr. F] Cody back to hit our ceiling and I think our young freshmen are coming off the bench with [Fr. F Bangot Dak] 'BD' and [Fr. F] Assane [Diop] and [RS Fr.] Harrison [Carrington]. They're getting some good experience here. But now Pac-12 play, we're going to need different guys on different nights. [Sr. F] Luke O'Brien tonight really played well. You name those top seven guys, they're all really critically important as are the next wave of guys we bring off the bench. So, the depth of this team I think can continue to get better and improve but our core, I feel really good about."
On what it takes to be highly efficient on offense
"Sharing the ball, moving the ball spacing. It's the hardest thing when you play with space on offense, you're harder to guard when you don't have good spacing, but you're easy to guard. So, the combination of all those things the passing, the cutting, even though we're still turning the ball over too much. We got some guys that have really shot the ball well and have worked on their shots in the offseason, obviously, and they're confident. But look, there's going to be nights in the Pac-12 where we don't score 90. There's going to be nights where maybe that ball doesn't go in, or we don't get to the free-throw line as much as we would like. So those are the games I'm trying to prepare our team, for now, to be able to win and be successful and even though it may be ugly, it may not be pretty, we're going to have to figure that out at some point, I don't know when. If we can keep scoring 90 plus it gives us a little bit more breathing room but it's harder to do when you get in league play. You're scouted more and look the level of competition goes up."
On Jr. G KJ Simpson's scoring
"Right now, he's playing at a high level as a point guard and a leader and offensively, he's taking good shots. I thought he had a few forced turnovers tonight that he normally hasn't had. But he had six assists. He's playing confident, he's playing loose but he's not loose in the sense of he's cavalier or careless with the ball. He's just got a lot of confidence, and I got a lot of confidence in him. He's becoming a guy we rely on every single night on both sides of the ball. So, I can't say enough about KJ (Simpson) and how he's playing."
On Sr. C Eddie Lampkin's free throw shooting
"He's confident, that's the key. His follow-through has gotten better, he's got a little rhythm to his shot at the free-throw line now. It's something that we talked about certainly in the offseason and before this season. He's got a lot of confidence to at the free throw line, which is key if he's eight for 10 because he's going to get fouled a lot. He's so physical, and he just imposes his will on the game. So great sign tonight that he can do that because we're gonna need that as we get into league play."
Colorado Players
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On his confidence
“I'm just have a chip on my shoulder, if you will, that’s just how I’ve felt all my life but it's not just me, it's my teammates. They allow me to get open shots. A lot of times today I was just spotting up and they just found me and so, when you have an unselfish team like that it may stick out on the stat sheet, but everybody contributes to it.”
On how he balances picking spots and scoring
“I’m just playing with patience. Obviously, I would say one thing I didn't do well tonight was turnovers. I've been really good at that, but I got a little sped up today but that's one thing I've pretty much been good at for the season, is just playing with patients and letting things break down and not trying to force things right away. Things will open up if you play at that pace.”
On the team’s performance this season
“It’s not just me and Tristan out there. Everybody out there is as important as we are, and it goes to show on the stat sheet seeing everybody's capable of putting up high numbers on any given night. Luke had a career high tonight, but that doesn't mean he won't beat it the next game. People on this team, and that's one of the things we're really good at or one of our strengths is we're really deep and we all know it, so we just want to all see each other succeed and just play together.”
On Eddie Lampkin being 8 for 10 from the line
“That's very valuable. Obviously, he's a hassle to guard down there so they're have to foul because if they don't, it's nightmare for them, but I see him working on it all the time before practice, during practice, after practice, even when we do this drill called pressure free throws, he's stepping up there and knocking him down. I think for him is he's very much capable of doing that and he's showing that there's all confidence which is at an all-time high right now.”
Luke O’Brien, Sr., G
On closing out the non-conference schedule with a win
“It was great. I thought we guarded really well in the first half. We’ve got to take some stuff in the second half, but when you got a point guard like KJ [Simpson] who shares the rock and spaces the floor, it's pretty easy to get points like that. So, I'm excited but now we got a long road ahead. We’ve got 20 games. It's a new season so we're just excited to play Washington.”
On the offense’s success
“I think it just has a lot to do with our space and we got guys that can really shoot it. So, when you open up gaps, when you got guys like KJ [Simpson] and Julian [Hammond] driving and getting two guys on them and kicking it out it's really easy for us to move the ball and share the rock. I feel like we're top-10 or something in three-point field goal percentage so it’s just easy when you can hit the one-more and stuff like that. So yeah, I love the new offense. It benefits everybody.”
On if he thought he played well tonight
“From an offensive point, yeah. But I got to work on my defense. Getting through screens was really poor. I put our team in a bad spot most of the time when I was trying to get through screens. I couldn't switch so that's on me, but I know there's a lot of things I can fix from today into next game.”
On how to handle the holiday break
“Just get some rest. I think we have four days off or something like that so just get rest. But our biggest thing is now we’ve got to focus on Washington. We’ve got to put this game behind us. It doesn't matter anymore. Washington's a really good team. They beat Gonzaga so that's going to be a high-level game. We’ve got to be ready, we’ve got to defend a lot better than we did tonight.”
Opening Statement
"Good, hard-fought win. You win going away. These games are tough mentally on our team coming out of finals. [It was] hard to get a great week of practice in during finals but our guys I thought did a pretty good job of it. I thought we were dialed in from the beginning which was nice to see. I told them before we left the locker room the two areas, we have to see improvement is our defense from a consistency standpoint -- possession to possession. Half to half. Putting 40 minutes of a great defensive effort in and this would be a great opportunity to do that. Now the second thing we have to get better at is taking care of the basketball. So that was about my message going out to the floor, and then you're coming to halftime and we're holding [them to] 36% [shooting]. We had a few breakdowns with those 24 points -- we'll take that every game, right? So, we were doing that, but we had nine turnovers. They did one thing [but] they didn't do the other and then the second half they shot 51% and we ended up with 15 turnovers. Still, two areas we can improve on. But again, that tells me the ceiling for this team is still higher than what we've hit up to this point. But now that conference play starts after Christmas, there's no time like the present because you have an off night in conference play, you're going to take an L. Doesn't matter who you're playing or where you're playing. So, guys deserve a break. Hopefully, they'll get a chance to get some time to rest their bodies, spend some time with their loved ones, and come back ready to go."
On having five players score in double figures for the second time this season
"Another 20 assists. The balance of this team. Look, [Jr. G] Julian [Hammond III] would have been in double figures if he played his normal minutes. He took a pretty hard fall against Northern Colorado. He's had some back problems. He didn't practice a lot this week. He practiced enough to play and he's a big part of our team. To me, if Julian's 100% and plays the normal minutes that he would -- he would normally play 27-28 minutes in a game like this tonight. He only played 19. We had five [players hit double figures] instead of six but really this team -- we need to get [Fr. F] Cody back to hit our ceiling and I think our young freshmen are coming off the bench with [Fr. F Bangot Dak] 'BD' and [Fr. F] Assane [Diop] and [RS Fr.] Harrison [Carrington]. They're getting some good experience here. But now Pac-12 play, we're going to need different guys on different nights. [Sr. F] Luke O'Brien tonight really played well. You name those top seven guys, they're all really critically important as are the next wave of guys we bring off the bench. So, the depth of this team I think can continue to get better and improve but our core, I feel really good about."
On what it takes to be highly efficient on offense
"Sharing the ball, moving the ball spacing. It's the hardest thing when you play with space on offense, you're harder to guard when you don't have good spacing, but you're easy to guard. So, the combination of all those things the passing, the cutting, even though we're still turning the ball over too much. We got some guys that have really shot the ball well and have worked on their shots in the offseason, obviously, and they're confident. But look, there's going to be nights in the Pac-12 where we don't score 90. There's going to be nights where maybe that ball doesn't go in, or we don't get to the free-throw line as much as we would like. So those are the games I'm trying to prepare our team, for now, to be able to win and be successful and even though it may be ugly, it may not be pretty, we're going to have to figure that out at some point, I don't know when. If we can keep scoring 90 plus it gives us a little bit more breathing room but it's harder to do when you get in league play. You're scouted more and look the level of competition goes up."
On Jr. G KJ Simpson's scoring
"Right now, he's playing at a high level as a point guard and a leader and offensively, he's taking good shots. I thought he had a few forced turnovers tonight that he normally hasn't had. But he had six assists. He's playing confident, he's playing loose but he's not loose in the sense of he's cavalier or careless with the ball. He's just got a lot of confidence, and I got a lot of confidence in him. He's becoming a guy we rely on every single night on both sides of the ball. So, I can't say enough about KJ (Simpson) and how he's playing."
On Sr. C Eddie Lampkin's free throw shooting
"He's confident, that's the key. His follow-through has gotten better, he's got a little rhythm to his shot at the free-throw line now. It's something that we talked about certainly in the offseason and before this season. He's got a lot of confidence to at the free throw line, which is key if he's eight for 10 because he's going to get fouled a lot. He's so physical, and he just imposes his will on the game. So great sign tonight that he can do that because we're gonna need that as we get into league play."
Colorado Players
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On his confidence
“I'm just have a chip on my shoulder, if you will, that’s just how I’ve felt all my life but it's not just me, it's my teammates. They allow me to get open shots. A lot of times today I was just spotting up and they just found me and so, when you have an unselfish team like that it may stick out on the stat sheet, but everybody contributes to it.”
On how he balances picking spots and scoring
“I’m just playing with patience. Obviously, I would say one thing I didn't do well tonight was turnovers. I've been really good at that, but I got a little sped up today but that's one thing I've pretty much been good at for the season, is just playing with patients and letting things break down and not trying to force things right away. Things will open up if you play at that pace.”
On the team’s performance this season
“It’s not just me and Tristan out there. Everybody out there is as important as we are, and it goes to show on the stat sheet seeing everybody's capable of putting up high numbers on any given night. Luke had a career high tonight, but that doesn't mean he won't beat it the next game. People on this team, and that's one of the things we're really good at or one of our strengths is we're really deep and we all know it, so we just want to all see each other succeed and just play together.”
On Eddie Lampkin being 8 for 10 from the line
“That's very valuable. Obviously, he's a hassle to guard down there so they're have to foul because if they don't, it's nightmare for them, but I see him working on it all the time before practice, during practice, after practice, even when we do this drill called pressure free throws, he's stepping up there and knocking him down. I think for him is he's very much capable of doing that and he's showing that there's all confidence which is at an all-time high right now.”
Luke O’Brien, Sr., G
On closing out the non-conference schedule with a win
“It was great. I thought we guarded really well in the first half. We’ve got to take some stuff in the second half, but when you got a point guard like KJ [Simpson] who shares the rock and spaces the floor, it's pretty easy to get points like that. So, I'm excited but now we got a long road ahead. We’ve got 20 games. It's a new season so we're just excited to play Washington.”
On the offense’s success
“I think it just has a lot to do with our space and we got guys that can really shoot it. So, when you open up gaps, when you got guys like KJ [Simpson] and Julian [Hammond] driving and getting two guys on them and kicking it out it's really easy for us to move the ball and share the rock. I feel like we're top-10 or something in three-point field goal percentage so it’s just easy when you can hit the one-more and stuff like that. So yeah, I love the new offense. It benefits everybody.”
On if he thought he played well tonight
“From an offensive point, yeah. But I got to work on my defense. Getting through screens was really poor. I put our team in a bad spot most of the time when I was trying to get through screens. I couldn't switch so that's on me, but I know there's a lot of things I can fix from today into next game.”
On how to handle the holiday break
“Just get some rest. I think we have four days off or something like that so just get rest. But our biggest thing is now we’ve got to focus on Washington. We’ve got to put this game behind us. It doesn't matter anymore. Washington's a really good team. They beat Gonzaga so that's going to be a high-level game. We’ve got to be ready, we’ve got to defend a lot better than we did tonight.”