Colorado - Stanford Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“What a great win for our program at this stage of the season and where we're at. I didn't know what to expect coming to the gym today - if we were going to be ready to play. Stanford's been on a roll and won five straight. We've had a couple of good practices obviously being down J’Vonne Hadley causes us to be a little thin up front. I think it's a Stanford team that’s big and strong and they've been holding their opponents to 36% field goal percentage the last five games. Boy, tonight was a tale of two halves. Our offense in the first half was really good scoring 39 points, but our defense wasn't great. And then we just kind of flipped that switch. I think we had 11 stops out of halftime and a 16-0 run, that was just absolutely huge. I mean, to come out of halftime like that, it's a good win against a quality team.”
On So., G KJ Simpson
“KJ, he's continued to grow. He's had to fight through some tough times here the last couple of weeks, but KJ is a competitor. And I thought he made some really good reads in the ball screens tonight and got a little slippery with the ball in the second half. It seemed like that in the first half he was a little bit more secure with it, but now he's growing up, he's a mentally tough kid. And when you kind of go through some tough times you find out what you are made of and I know what KJ is made out of. He's a winner. I'm really happy for him. Because when he and Tristan are playing at the level they played at today, we're tough to beat. It's a team effort, but Tristan and KJ were pretty darn good today.”
On no timeouts
“We got a free timeout at the end of the first half with the shot clock deal and that was kind of a bummer. But, at home especially, I don't like to call timeouts unless we absolutely need to because Stanford's playing eight guys. They're playing at altitude. Every time you call a timeout, especially with these TV games, it's just extra rest for the opponent. So, unless we need something to really talk about or adjust, I'm going to let our guys play.”
On defensive adjustments
“Yeah, we switched their down-screen handoff actions in the first half. They got downhill, they got [Stanford F Maxime] Raynaud on a couple of lobs, and our guards weren’t getting through those [screens]. In the second half, we switched that action. Lawson Lovering did a great job stopping the ball at the free throw line. Now we have a guard or somebody cracking down on their big guy. We did a good job of that. We also doubled the post when they went inside on us. That was a key adjustment and our players did a really good job of that and every timeout in the second half, they [the Colorado players] kept talking about, ‘Hey, make sure we’re switching.’ I could tell our guys were locked in mentally there.”
On J’Vonne Hadley’s injury opening up the offense
“I think it did. And look, we made some shots today. Some guys made shots that they haven't been making and that cures a lot of ills in basketball. But to make nine threes, and the key was we held them to five. Spencer Jones is a hell of a player. He's one for six from three. Michael Jones the other kid he got in transition the first half. I thought our half-court defense in the second half was as good as it's been all year. First half we were a little leaky there and the numbers show it. We 're only 29% in the first second half and 57% in the first half.”
On Tristan da Silva
“He's playing with unbelievable confidence and unbelievable poise. He's got a great pace about him. He doesn't get sped up. He's unselfish. He knows he needs to score for our team, but he doesn't force it. He doesn't take bad shots, he's finished, and he can play inside and play outside. That possession in the second half when we basically used the whole shot clock and then he makes the jump hook at the end, those are things that are demoralizing for the other team. Tristan [da Silva] is playing at a high level right now. He has been for, I'd say the month of January. Tristan [da Silva] is so smart. I mean his basketball IQ is off the charts. You don't have to tell him a lot of things. Tell him once he gets it, he understands it. Stanford does switch one through five on ball screens so the whole key for us especially when you're Lawson came in when [Maxime] Raynaud was in to match seven-footer for seven-footer but when they went small, we went small. That's what we want for Tristan to set ball screens, and he gets [Michael] O'Connell on him and now it's a great matchup for us.”
On contributions from Luke O’brien and Jalen Gabbidon
“They're key. I said that before the game those guys, their roles are going to become so much more significant. Luke O'Brien has been playing really good as of late. I think even before J'Vonne got hurt, and Jalen got put into starting lineup tonight. More for rotational purposes, we got a rotation to nine right now. That ninth guy might be a little different every night depending on who's playing well and who's not, what are the matchups like, and that's what we got going on this stretch. Jalen and Luke are going to be key keys for this team as we head down the stretch and February and March.”
On the transfer’s roles
“They're huge. And Ethan Wright, he and I had a had a meeting the other day and he had been struggling a little bit I think, kind of between the years and he's just kind of said you know what, I'm going to go out and play and be aggressive. We know Ethan's a good finisher. He's a good finisher in transition. He didn't make his threes tonight, but he finished at the rim. He's a sneaky good offensive player. I've got confidence in him defensively. Ethan is huge. And Jalen, obviously his defensive presence and his ability to drive the ball, they just have to understand what the scouting reports are against them and play to their strengths and stay away from their weaknesses and just be the best version of themselves. They can, if Ethan's the best version of himself, and Jalen is the best version of himself. They can really help this team.”
On the upcoming schedule
“I got one in a row. That's Utah. That's how I look at it and we've played well and we've played decent on the road. It's not like we've gotten blown out. We're up nine with 10 minutes to go against UCLA. We're playing well, but we're not playing well enough to win. Oregon State, we played well but didn't play well enough to win. You go on the road, we're not getting blown out. You're never as good as you think you are when you're winning. You're never as bad as you think you are when you're not winning. I look at our road record, we're not as bad as our road record would indicate. It is what it is. I mean, we're not going to change it. But what we can change is trying to get over that hump and it really gets down to getting stops, getting down to getting stops and, executing offensively and you know, the combination of those two things, we can beat anybody in this league. But it's not going to be easy. That first half, it was a hell of a game tip for tat 39, and at halftime and we're fortunate and second half to, again, playing at altitude I looked over at Spencer Jones I think early in the first half, and he was huffing and puffing. We that's such a big advantage for Colorado basketball.”
On the team at this point in the season
“Well, we've been inconsistent. There's no doubt about that. We met as a team this week, and we looked at six games that we've played that we've lost, that our players know we could have won, and in our minds should have won, but we didn't. And that's the difference between being 14-11 and 20-5, it's not that big. Now six games, and there were a lot of one possession games in there that could have gone either way. But so I think it's our guys having a sense of urgency and understanding that every possession matters, and it's a fine line between winning and losing and in some years you win those close games and everybody thinks oh, they had a great year and some years you don't win those games and everybody's like, Oh, Colorado's not very good this year. The reality is we're, again, not as good as we think we are when we win and not as bad as we think we are. So it's getting down to every single game, taking advantage of the opportunity. And it's teams that do that, and play with focus and energy and effort and toughness and together. Those teams that win usually.”
On Tristan da Silva’s transition to Colorado
"Tristan da Silva is a great student, that was one of the reasons why he wanted to come to Colorado. The adjustments that he's made, he's made. He's a junior now, so I think it was a little bit rough for him early. He didn't take a visit here, we recruited him during a pandemic. His first season there were no fans in the stands. So he didn't even know what Colorado basketball was all about. We go to the NCAA tournament and it's sparsely populated, so last year was kind of like his freshman year and now this is like his sophomore year. He's a special player. We knew that when we recruited him, we knew that when we got him here, and it's nice to see him kind of coming into that. I said this publicly, and I said it to him, Jabari Walker's early entry into the NBA hurt our program, there's no doubt about that. Combine that with the graduation of Evan Battey, one of our all time greatest Buffs of all time. Maybe in my mind, I'm thinking this team should stay at those standards and the reality is we weren't ready for that early. But I think now Tristan is playing at this level. I think we can have those expectations now. He's coming into his own and that's what's so fun about recruiting freshmen. You don't get that when you recruit a transfer portal guy. I love Jalen Gabbidon, and I love Ethan Wright but we are just trying to just get the most out of them we can for one year. Give us the best you got and we'll take it. But with Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson you see these guys come in as freshmen and they grow, but there's some growing pains. There's been growing pains with Tristan da Silva, but I couldn't be prouder of him. Now he's reaping the rewards of all his hard work and all the school of hard knocks so to speak."
Colorado Players
Junior F Tristan da Silva
On Keys to Success“I mean, it's been the same things that I've been talking about after every game. It's just the squad that I got around me. The coaches, the coaching staff that trust me and puts the ball in my hands, and I'm just trying to make the right plays. Today that was scoring so yeah, just trying to keep that up.”
On Playing at Home
“I feel like at home we kind of got that momentum. Obviously, we got the altitude advantage too. But I feel like in games that we've played away, we've been there but we couldn't quite get over the hump. So, it's kind of that momentum and sticking with it that kind of helps us here.”
On Roller Coaster Season
“I don't really think we lost confidence that much. It's obviously a little devastating and frustrating to lose that many close games and not be able to win on the road against good teams where we've been right there. We're a tight group and we trust each other. We know what we can do when, and what we're capable of. So, we kind of emphasize that more than the frustrating parts. We just had to get back to who we are and what we do.”
On What the Team Needs To Do To Make Up For J’Vonne’s Absence
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's a team effort every night. But especially when one of our leading rebounders and one of our big men is out. That's really affecting the game on defense so everybody has to step up and I feel like that's what we did tonight. Especially off the bench. Some guys made great contributions. So that was really big for us today.”
On Upcoming Week
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, we're going to do what we need to depending on the player. So, we're just going to do what we do and then be ready once we get back on Wednesday.”
Sophomore, G KJ Simpson
On The Difference Defensively in 2nd Half“Yeah, I just felt like a lot of times we were doing good defensively. It’s just finishing the possession because they're a great offensive rebounding team and we talked about that coming into this game as well so at half that was the big kind of speech. We just got to keep playing, finish possessions, and then just get out on a run.”
On Shooting Percentage
“Yeah, exactly. I mean, if it's not falling then just attack. That's my mindset. I was able to be in positions where Lawson set great screens for me and I was able to get downhill and just be able to draw a couple of fouls, get us at the free-throw line and get some points up on the board.”
On Growing as a Player
“Yeah. For sure. Just being more patient, not rushing anything, and letting the game come to me.”
On Rebounds & Assists
“Yeah, exactly. We talked about it but basketball is more than scoring and if I just focus on that aspect, I'm not doing my team justice. So I just want to be able to go down and rebound with Hadley being out. Get a couple more guys some more touches like this man over here and you know, be able to get some steals and do other things when your scoring is not always falling.”
On Luke O’Brien
“Luke comes in and brings the energy that we really need, and he just adds to the run that we may be going on. You need somebody like that on your team who doesn't care about scoring, and just trying to win, just trying to make winning plays, like him crashing the glass the way he does. He may not always get it every time, but he just tips it around and then we get it. Just things like that, guarding different spots one to five. He comes in like that and is able to do that for us. I mean, you have guys like that coming off the bench like that, it makes it really easy to win.”
Stanford Head Coach Jarod Haase
Opening Statement
"I thought at the beginning of the game, we lacked a little bit of pep in our step and defensively didn't have the edge we needed. It created a deficit for us and then I do think we battled back, played pretty hard towards the end of the first half. In the second half, it was just a one-sided game. They were very efficient offensively, we were not able to protect anything around the rim or the three-point line. They were excellent from the free throw line, and on the offensive end we were stagnant. So that's how a game gets out of hand like that."
On taking some positives from this game, and shifting the focus to the difficult upcoming schedule
"Yeah, I mean, it's a twenty-game conference season, and we're just going to have to refocus and redirect our energy. I think throughout the years it's been about trying to continually get better and that'll be the theme this week again."