Colorado-Washington State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Another hard-fought league win. That was not easy for us. I like their team a lot. I think they have good personnel; I think Kyle [Smith] is doing a great job of restocking the cupboard because I know that they lost a lot of guys last year. They run good stuff and he's a good coach so quality win against a quality team. I think they're going to win some games in our league. Obviously, we’ve got to go back to Seattle and Pullman later in the year, so that's never going to be easy, but to beat two quality teams, and today was hard fought. We knew they were going to pound it inside. The other night we had everybody in foul trouble except for Eddie [Lampkin] and tonight Eddie was in foul trouble and nobody else was, so I think our guys did a good job on the off-day of digesting the game plan mentally because physically we did nothing yesterday. We just wanted to conserve our energy. Obviously, we're down some soldiers so our guys did a really good job in a short turnaround and Washington State had to travel. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. They played hard and they got some good players. We knew they’re good shooters that are a lot better than their numbers and Jakimovski proved that today shooting 28% coming into the game from three I think he was for the season and bangs three in the first half. Luke O'Brien's defense in the second half I thought really ramped up on him. He did a great job.”
On C Eddie Lampkin’s importance
“He's an important part of our team, let's not mince words there. But I think when you're playing a team like Washington State who pounds it inside, has two quality bigs, he becomes even more important and every time I talked to him at timeouts and when he came out of the game it was you’ve just got to play smart. I thought he earned some of his fouls, but the first one, the verticality foul he's got to get rid of that one. He was kind of leaning on the guy, I thought it was a good call. so he's got to be smarter, but Eddie's a smart player, and there's going to be nights he gets in some foul trouble. Joe Hurlburt gave us good minutes. I thought the first and second half we wanted a matchup with a little bigger body than Assane [Diop] or BD [Bangot Dak] could give us against their big five men. So that's why we went with Joe I thought he battled his tail off being put in a really difficult position, but Eddie needs to be on the floor for us as much as possible.”
On J’Vonne Hadley shooting three-pointers
“What I love about J’Vonne is number one, he has really worked on it. We talked about the offseason plan for him was working on your three-point shot. We talked about it when he came back this fall and continued to work on it and I've encouraged him when you're open and your feet are set, let it fly. And he's not hunting his threes, he’s taking just great ones. I’ve got to watch the film on that last one he hit, it was obviously a big three but man, that shot clock I don't know what happened on that deal. I saw Luke [O’Brien] look and say there's seven seconds and we just got the ball it felt like, so I don't know what happened on that play, but he was alert enough and confident enough to toe the line and knock that thing down and that basically put the game away. So, we want J’Vonne when his feet are set. If he can start making those now you can play a lot of different lineups. You just don't have to have him and Eddie together you know Assane [Diop] can play with him or Joe [Hurlburt] or some of our other bigs, BD [Bangot Dak]. Because he can stretch the floor and he can be a true inside out guy so he becomes more of a matchup problem when he can just make them respect you from three which I think this weekend was a step in the right direction. And you don't need to hunt them, and he doesn’t. He plays the game the right way.”
On G KJ Simpson
“It's funny, I talked to KJ, not necessarily this weekend, but just before the season, early in the season about the fact that it's going to be really important for him to recognize night-to-night game-to-game what he has to do to help his team win and there's certain nights he might be getting eight to 10 to 12 assists and being a great distributor. There might be nights, Friday, he had 10 defensive rebounds. He helped us win that game by just defensive rebounding. There are other nights KJ is going to score the ball for us because he can really score and we love aggressive scoring point guards in our system and tonight we needed him to score, his team needed him to score and he went and got 34. The kid’s special, he's coachable, he's a great teammate, he's unselfish, I don't know what else to say about him. He has solidified himself, as we go forward as one of the great point guards in Colorado basketball history and I know that's a lot to say, having some really good ones with guys like Jay Humphries going through the years, but KJ, he's playing at a high level.”
On their defense
“I thought in the first half we kind of let (Andrej) Jakimovski get going. He had three threes and I think he was three for three and a half time they only ended up with five and then (Oscar) Cluff hit the one at the end so really that's four so we let a shooter get going which was one of our biggest fears as a coaching staff before the game, but I thought in the second half, they came out they ran a play for Jakimovski. We figured that they would, Luke got through the screen. I thought Luke O'Brien did a great job defensively in the second half. As a team, we weren't very good to start the second half. I think we got seven stops in the first 30 possessions is what Coach Hart told me. We got nine stops in the last 12 possessions. We didn't count the last one when the guy hit the three, so we got stops down the stretch, but again, as you go through league play, other teams have good players, and other teams have good offenses, that's why Washington State, they run good stuff, they play inside, they play out there, they're good this year. They're going to win some games in our league. I don't know how many but they’re tough.”
On G KJ Simpson only taking three three-point shots
“That's the whole key with KJ Simpson is his shooting percentage and his efficiency as a point guard this year relative to his first two years here, part of it's the mental maturity and the coachability and coming in and watching the film and understanding how to play the game. The other part, a big part of it, is shot selection. His shot selection is so much better. He has not taken a lot of bad ones and when he gets downhill, he's a problem and other teams know that and he's a good player.”
On the defense in the last three minutes
“The guys dug in. I asked them in one of the timeouts, do you guys want to go zone on that because I knew their answer and they said no, and I said alright let's go get some stops and they did. They dug in, they got through screens, they contested shots, and they played really smart, mature basketball and tough physical basketball.”
On if any injured players will be ready for the game against Arizona
“I don't know that. We'll hook it up in Tucson whenever that is, Thursday, I guess with whoever's healthy and cleared. I don't know who that'll be or what but we're going to take tomorrow off and rest a little bit, get a couple of good days of practice, and then we're heading on the road for three straight. Arizona is having a hell of a year there. They're a good team and we'll have a game plan. We'll be ready to compete and let it all hang out.”
Colorado Players
J’Vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On his ability to shoot
“Coach always talks to me and tells me to let it go. I'm unsure what my junior college numbers were; they were up there, so I've always had the three points. It's just these last couple of games, I've been super confident, and it's been falling, so I'm grateful for that.”
On if the shot clock was off on the last three
“I'm not sure. We called the play, and then I got the ball, and we looked up, and the shot clock was at six or seven already, so I'm not really sure how we got there, but we had to do what we do, and I ended up knocking on the site.”
On a 2-0 start in the Pac-12 conference
“We all trust each other so when guys go down, there is always a guy to step up and with this team, we are the deepest team in the Pac-12, no doubt and no question in our minds. Like I said, when somebody goes down, we're not to worry because someone will pick up where they left off.”
On team leaders
“He's definitely, one of our top leaders. We don't really rely on one singular person. We're a player-led team. That is what Coach always talks about. We've been focusing on a lot of our veteran players. Definitely, myself, KJ (Simpson), Luke (O’Brien) Tristan (Da Silva), Eddie Lampkin, and Julian (Hammond), those core veteran guys. They have been here for a little while and just know kind of how the system works and how college basketball works. So just relying on that, and like I said, when guys go down, we always talk to each other when somebody goes down and they're out for a while, we are not worried. Somebody will step up”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On Colorado having the best point guards
“We definitely do. And shout out to Jaylyn Sherrod. I went to the girl's game yesterday so I was taking some notes from her and that's how I could score the ball today. We're definitely close. I mean, ever since I came here as a freshman, she's been a great friend. She's a dog, and her mentality, her passion, and her drive are things I really value and appreciate especially not just on a basketball court but as a person, she's a great person as well. It’s cool to go out and support the girl's game, watch high-level basketball, and have them come and support us as well.”
On game and career progression
“I think I'm just being a little a little bit smarter with my shot selection. Coach Boyle talked about that a lot last year and understanding to pick and choose your spots. I did miss a lot of easy ones today. I could have taken care of the ball a lot better today, but yeah, credit to my teammates. They found me earlier. I really was just back cutting since they were top blocks. Eddie and J’Vonne, (Javon) Ruffin, and everybody was out there finding me on cuts, and that's how I could score the ball so easily.”
On Eddie Lampkin Jr
“Stat sheets can kind of get you sometimes. You might look and see 34 on there, but plus 24 from Eddie, that's what we needed. He fought the fight all night, and he was a dog for sharing the post and he made it hard for them to score. I know they got into it a bit, but he was definitely a presence they had to feel for sure.”
On a 2-0 start in the Pac-12 conference
“It's good. Especially being here for three years, it shows the progression that we have and also the danger, or how dangerous this team can really be. Obviously, we've got some key guys out, but everybody who has this uniform on is very capable of going out there and giving us great minutes. We’ve got Harrison Carrington coming out there, Joe Hurlburt coming out, and we have Javon Ruffin back. Guys like that are coming in and giving good minutes for us and we just want to give them all the confidence in the world because they're more than capable.”
On playing 37 minutes
“I love basketball. This is what I grew up loving. Obviously, I take it seriously, and it's a passion, but that's always how I've been growing up. My parents had to cuss out the coaches to try and get me out because I never wanted to come out of the game, and that's just stayed with me all my life. I enjoy being out there. I'm just ready at all times. Shout out to our strength coach Steve (Englehart) got us well-conditioned in the summer and just understood that this is something that you have to do when guys go down.”
Opening Statement
“Another hard-fought league win. That was not easy for us. I like their team a lot. I think they have good personnel; I think Kyle [Smith] is doing a great job of restocking the cupboard because I know that they lost a lot of guys last year. They run good stuff and he's a good coach so quality win against a quality team. I think they're going to win some games in our league. Obviously, we’ve got to go back to Seattle and Pullman later in the year, so that's never going to be easy, but to beat two quality teams, and today was hard fought. We knew they were going to pound it inside. The other night we had everybody in foul trouble except for Eddie [Lampkin] and tonight Eddie was in foul trouble and nobody else was, so I think our guys did a good job on the off-day of digesting the game plan mentally because physically we did nothing yesterday. We just wanted to conserve our energy. Obviously, we're down some soldiers so our guys did a really good job in a short turnaround and Washington State had to travel. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. They played hard and they got some good players. We knew they’re good shooters that are a lot better than their numbers and Jakimovski proved that today shooting 28% coming into the game from three I think he was for the season and bangs three in the first half. Luke O'Brien's defense in the second half I thought really ramped up on him. He did a great job.”
On C Eddie Lampkin’s importance
“He's an important part of our team, let's not mince words there. But I think when you're playing a team like Washington State who pounds it inside, has two quality bigs, he becomes even more important and every time I talked to him at timeouts and when he came out of the game it was you’ve just got to play smart. I thought he earned some of his fouls, but the first one, the verticality foul he's got to get rid of that one. He was kind of leaning on the guy, I thought it was a good call. so he's got to be smarter, but Eddie's a smart player, and there's going to be nights he gets in some foul trouble. Joe Hurlburt gave us good minutes. I thought the first and second half we wanted a matchup with a little bigger body than Assane [Diop] or BD [Bangot Dak] could give us against their big five men. So that's why we went with Joe I thought he battled his tail off being put in a really difficult position, but Eddie needs to be on the floor for us as much as possible.”
On J’Vonne Hadley shooting three-pointers
“What I love about J’Vonne is number one, he has really worked on it. We talked about the offseason plan for him was working on your three-point shot. We talked about it when he came back this fall and continued to work on it and I've encouraged him when you're open and your feet are set, let it fly. And he's not hunting his threes, he’s taking just great ones. I’ve got to watch the film on that last one he hit, it was obviously a big three but man, that shot clock I don't know what happened on that deal. I saw Luke [O’Brien] look and say there's seven seconds and we just got the ball it felt like, so I don't know what happened on that play, but he was alert enough and confident enough to toe the line and knock that thing down and that basically put the game away. So, we want J’Vonne when his feet are set. If he can start making those now you can play a lot of different lineups. You just don't have to have him and Eddie together you know Assane [Diop] can play with him or Joe [Hurlburt] or some of our other bigs, BD [Bangot Dak]. Because he can stretch the floor and he can be a true inside out guy so he becomes more of a matchup problem when he can just make them respect you from three which I think this weekend was a step in the right direction. And you don't need to hunt them, and he doesn’t. He plays the game the right way.”
On G KJ Simpson
“It's funny, I talked to KJ, not necessarily this weekend, but just before the season, early in the season about the fact that it's going to be really important for him to recognize night-to-night game-to-game what he has to do to help his team win and there's certain nights he might be getting eight to 10 to 12 assists and being a great distributor. There might be nights, Friday, he had 10 defensive rebounds. He helped us win that game by just defensive rebounding. There are other nights KJ is going to score the ball for us because he can really score and we love aggressive scoring point guards in our system and tonight we needed him to score, his team needed him to score and he went and got 34. The kid’s special, he's coachable, he's a great teammate, he's unselfish, I don't know what else to say about him. He has solidified himself, as we go forward as one of the great point guards in Colorado basketball history and I know that's a lot to say, having some really good ones with guys like Jay Humphries going through the years, but KJ, he's playing at a high level.”
On their defense
“I thought in the first half we kind of let (Andrej) Jakimovski get going. He had three threes and I think he was three for three and a half time they only ended up with five and then (Oscar) Cluff hit the one at the end so really that's four so we let a shooter get going which was one of our biggest fears as a coaching staff before the game, but I thought in the second half, they came out they ran a play for Jakimovski. We figured that they would, Luke got through the screen. I thought Luke O'Brien did a great job defensively in the second half. As a team, we weren't very good to start the second half. I think we got seven stops in the first 30 possessions is what Coach Hart told me. We got nine stops in the last 12 possessions. We didn't count the last one when the guy hit the three, so we got stops down the stretch, but again, as you go through league play, other teams have good players, and other teams have good offenses, that's why Washington State, they run good stuff, they play inside, they play out there, they're good this year. They're going to win some games in our league. I don't know how many but they’re tough.”
On G KJ Simpson only taking three three-point shots
“That's the whole key with KJ Simpson is his shooting percentage and his efficiency as a point guard this year relative to his first two years here, part of it's the mental maturity and the coachability and coming in and watching the film and understanding how to play the game. The other part, a big part of it, is shot selection. His shot selection is so much better. He has not taken a lot of bad ones and when he gets downhill, he's a problem and other teams know that and he's a good player.”
On the defense in the last three minutes
“The guys dug in. I asked them in one of the timeouts, do you guys want to go zone on that because I knew their answer and they said no, and I said alright let's go get some stops and they did. They dug in, they got through screens, they contested shots, and they played really smart, mature basketball and tough physical basketball.”
On if any injured players will be ready for the game against Arizona
“I don't know that. We'll hook it up in Tucson whenever that is, Thursday, I guess with whoever's healthy and cleared. I don't know who that'll be or what but we're going to take tomorrow off and rest a little bit, get a couple of good days of practice, and then we're heading on the road for three straight. Arizona is having a hell of a year there. They're a good team and we'll have a game plan. We'll be ready to compete and let it all hang out.”
Colorado Players
J’Vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On his ability to shoot
“Coach always talks to me and tells me to let it go. I'm unsure what my junior college numbers were; they were up there, so I've always had the three points. It's just these last couple of games, I've been super confident, and it's been falling, so I'm grateful for that.”
On if the shot clock was off on the last three
“I'm not sure. We called the play, and then I got the ball, and we looked up, and the shot clock was at six or seven already, so I'm not really sure how we got there, but we had to do what we do, and I ended up knocking on the site.”
On a 2-0 start in the Pac-12 conference
“We all trust each other so when guys go down, there is always a guy to step up and with this team, we are the deepest team in the Pac-12, no doubt and no question in our minds. Like I said, when somebody goes down, we're not to worry because someone will pick up where they left off.”
On team leaders
“He's definitely, one of our top leaders. We don't really rely on one singular person. We're a player-led team. That is what Coach always talks about. We've been focusing on a lot of our veteran players. Definitely, myself, KJ (Simpson), Luke (O’Brien) Tristan (Da Silva), Eddie Lampkin, and Julian (Hammond), those core veteran guys. They have been here for a little while and just know kind of how the system works and how college basketball works. So just relying on that, and like I said, when guys go down, we always talk to each other when somebody goes down and they're out for a while, we are not worried. Somebody will step up”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On Colorado having the best point guards
“We definitely do. And shout out to Jaylyn Sherrod. I went to the girl's game yesterday so I was taking some notes from her and that's how I could score the ball today. We're definitely close. I mean, ever since I came here as a freshman, she's been a great friend. She's a dog, and her mentality, her passion, and her drive are things I really value and appreciate especially not just on a basketball court but as a person, she's a great person as well. It’s cool to go out and support the girl's game, watch high-level basketball, and have them come and support us as well.”
On game and career progression
“I think I'm just being a little a little bit smarter with my shot selection. Coach Boyle talked about that a lot last year and understanding to pick and choose your spots. I did miss a lot of easy ones today. I could have taken care of the ball a lot better today, but yeah, credit to my teammates. They found me earlier. I really was just back cutting since they were top blocks. Eddie and J’Vonne, (Javon) Ruffin, and everybody was out there finding me on cuts, and that's how I could score the ball so easily.”
On Eddie Lampkin Jr
“Stat sheets can kind of get you sometimes. You might look and see 34 on there, but plus 24 from Eddie, that's what we needed. He fought the fight all night, and he was a dog for sharing the post and he made it hard for them to score. I know they got into it a bit, but he was definitely a presence they had to feel for sure.”
On a 2-0 start in the Pac-12 conference
“It's good. Especially being here for three years, it shows the progression that we have and also the danger, or how dangerous this team can really be. Obviously, we've got some key guys out, but everybody who has this uniform on is very capable of going out there and giving us great minutes. We’ve got Harrison Carrington coming out there, Joe Hurlburt coming out, and we have Javon Ruffin back. Guys like that are coming in and giving good minutes for us and we just want to give them all the confidence in the world because they're more than capable.”
On playing 37 minutes
“I love basketball. This is what I grew up loving. Obviously, I take it seriously, and it's a passion, but that's always how I've been growing up. My parents had to cuss out the coaches to try and get me out because I never wanted to come out of the game, and that's just stayed with me all my life. I enjoy being out there. I'm just ready at all times. Shout out to our strength coach Steve (Englehart) got us well-conditioned in the summer and just understood that this is something that you have to do when guys go down.”