Colorado - Seton Hall Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening statement
“Great win. March victories are hard to come by, whether you're playing at home in the NIT, neutral floors in the NCAA tournament, or on the road in the NIT. We knew it was going to be a battle. Seton Hall is a tough team with tough kids and a tough coach. They're seniors, they're juniors, they're really mature players and we knew they weren't going to go away. And they didn't. It was appropriate that we won that game on a stop because we pride ourselves on defensively. We weren't at our best. They were down their point guard. We were down one of our point guards, but I thought Julian Hammond played a really good game. Ethan Wright was terrific off the bench. And Luke O'Brien with 14 rebounds. Luke gave us great, great energy. I knew going into this game we're going to have to play a little bit of a zone, especially if we got in foul trouble, which we did. And it was okay, but just a good win. I mean, anytime you win in March, it's a good one.”
On Ethan Wright’s game -
“He's getting extended minutes, which helps him and he's in a rhythm. He's playing with confidence. Ethan's a good player. When I look at that stat line, it's like, ‘That's the player that we recruited from Princeton.’ He takes nine shots, but he's four for six from threes, four for four from the line, and gets five rebounds. He's given a rock-solid effort and I am really happy for him and happy for Jalen are two seniors. We want this thing to last as long as it can for those two guys because this is their last hurrah.”
On Luke O’Brien’s game
“He just keeps battling. Luke's a battler. He didn't finish tonight like he's capable of finishing, but he finished that play that you're talking about because he kept battling and that's what Luke does. What I don't like is when Luke puts his head down and gets down on himself because that's the old Luke O'Brien. The new Luke O'Brien is the one that just plays through and knows it's not going to be perfect all the time, but to keep battling. And that's what Luke has done. I look at the growth he has had and I look at the growth Julian has had as a result of J’Vonne Hadley’s injury, as a result of KJ Simpson's situation. Both those kids have just really come into their own here. I am happy for both of them and I am proud as heck of both of them.”
On Julian Hammond III’s game
“He's playing within himself. There wasn't a turnover there at the end. Thank God that we got to jump ball and the arrow was ours. He had a couple of mental lapses there. But again, when he plays 37 minutes, he's got a lot of pressure on him. He's got a lot on his shoulders and he's handling it really, really well. So, I'm proud of Julian because that's not an easy position to be in when the ball is in your hands and you have to make decisions. You're the quarterback and that's what he knows. He used to play quarterback in football. So, he's used to that but he's handled it and handled it really well. He's playing heavy minutes, obviously because he's our main guy.”
On Seton Hall’s defense
“They're physical. They're well coached. They're well-schooled. They don't give you anything easy, you have to earn everything. We talked before this game. From an offensive standpoint, going against Seton Hall's defense, it's much like UCLA. They're physical. They're going to reach, they're going to grab, and that nothing comes easy. They got good shot blockers. You have to score baskets, you have to finish in the paint, you have to finish when you get an open shot, you have to be able to knock it down and we were able to knock just enough of them down tonight. But they're a very, very good defensive team, much like UCLA. They’re not UCLA, UCLA is number one in the country. I think they're 22 or 23. We are either 22 or 23. I forget who's where, but we're right there with Seton Hall. And that's why I say it was appropriate that we won that game with a defensive stop. We talked about how we need to score and get a stop to win this game, and we got a score and a stop.”
On going with Luke O'brien in a small-ball lineup
"We're fine with it. It was very difficult with Tyrese Samuel because he is legit low post scorer and he hurt us tonight. Luke did a great job fronting him down the stretch. Tyrese Samuel was scoring on Tristan da Silva at will. Tristan didn't get much help from our weak side. We switched Luke on him and he did a good job because we want it to be a lob pass so we can get our weak side help there and create a double team. We did that a couple of times down the stretch and forced one turnover and forced a couple missed shots. Luke was critical in those sequences so I got a lot of confidence in him. He's a battler, he just battles. I'm fine with our small lineup obviously we're better with Lawson Lovering in there. We played good enough to win in March and sometimes that's all you have to do. Whether you win by one or by 20 it doesn't matter. You survive and you advance and we live to see another day."
On the last offensive play
"It's a play that we've run before. Every play that we have usually has two to three, maybe four options out of the play. We said in the timeout give Julian a look, if he's open give it to him because he'll have a layup because the weak side won't be there. Jalen made a gutsy play and gutsy pass and Julian made a good catch and a good finish. That was just the first option off of a play that had two or three options. We said we need a score and we need a stop to win this game. We got our score and then we came down and got our stop."
On using the NIT for experience
"Hopefully we can get on a run here and use it as a springboard because that's what the NIT can do for you especially when you have a young team. Obviously, Ethan Wright and Jalen Gabbidon won't be back next year, but everybody else's plan hopefully it can be a springboard for these young players to go into next year. This experience is invaluable for these young guys."
Colorado Players
Jr., F Tristan Da Silva
On the importance of Ethan Wright“He’s huge for us, definitely huge for us. The minutes that he brings and the energy that he brings in the offensive firepower that he brings from the bench especially, it’s huge for us and he showed it tonight. We all know what he's capable of just based off of practice and stuff and I think its just confidence for him. He's been really confident in his shot and playmaking ability too, over the past couple of weeks in practice and in games so that's a huge factor for him I think.”
On Luke O’Brien
“Just his grit and his competitiveness. Once again, it's the same deal, his confidence rose in the past couple of months. I know he can shoot, we all know he can shoot and that he's great on the glass so it's no surprise to us really. It's great that he can step out there on the court and actually show it when the lights are on.”
On Seton Hall’s defense
“I feel like they're pretty strong. They're a tough group. They’ve got a lot of grit and I feel like they pride themselves on defense too. They’ve got a couple of rim protectors there too with the four-man and five-man. Their one-on-one defense is pretty good too, so that makes it easy.”
On the game-winning shot
“Yeah, we just had a play drawn out. Coach kind of emphasized looking at the first option that we had to and not just trying to run through the end of the play and then see what we have at the end, so we took that chance and it worked out well for us.”
Grad., G Ethan Wright
On what was working tonight “I think a lot of it is confidence. I think we're also getting the ball moving really fast. It's getting the multiple sides, a lot of possessions, and when you move the ball a lot, those shots tend to go in as opposed to when it's stagnant on offense and I think that we're just happy playing in March. We're playing for each other, we're playing unselfish and making that one more pass and looking for the next guy and everybody's confident with each other, and when you're playing like that the shots tend to go in.”
On not wanting the games to stop
“Yeah, we don't want to stop. For me and Jalen (Gabbidon), this could have been our last game and I think we played like it and all the guys are the same way. They want to be playing, it could be their last game of the season and that's kind of the mindset we have and as I said, we're just really lucky to be playing in March so we're going to take that seriously.”
On preparation for a Big East team
“It's quick. I think it really comes down to just our principles on defense and offense. Basketball is a simple game, we know how to play it, so obviously we can scout as much as we can. I think we only got one practice before the game today, but it's just about playing together on defense and offense. We know what we have to do to win every game, so obviously, you’ve got to adjust the little things, but I think we're just trying to be ourselves.”
On Princeton playing Yale in the Ivy League Championship
“I don’t know about a friendly wager but we definitely watched together and we were talking a lot of smack to each other for sure.”
Holloway ShaheenSeton Hall Head Coach
On Season Ending Game
“I’ll be honest, I don’t think we played as hard as we can. I was disappointed in our first half just like I was disappointed in the last three days to prepare. I was trying everything to get these guys to step up to play. Some guys were disappointed because if you don't want to play basketball then something’s wrong. I thought it showed in the first half. We didn't play like us. I thought we played the last ten minutes like Seton Hall. If we play like that the whole game, I thought it would have been a different result. Now I'm not taking anything away from them. Good team, great coach. But we didn't play like us until the last ten minutes and then you put yourself in a position to win a game right? You know, we say the whole year, we’re a team. We at one point, however many seconds left and all you need to do is just get a stop. It's unfortunate. We went out the way I didn’t want to go out. I thank my seniors because all year they gave me their all, KC (Ndefo), Jamir (Harris), and Tyrese (Samuel). I felt bad for those guys because some other guys got a chance to play college basketball. Those guys don’t. Tyrese got a chance, I don’t know what he’s going to do yet. But you kind of feel bad. I told KC he played his heart out today. I thought he came out here and was the only one that was really focused and ready to go because he comes from a culture where he knows it’s important. That's the kind of coach I'm going to set here. It wasn't set this year the way I want it to be but it's definitely going to be don't you worry about that.”
On Final Play of the Game
“So it was supposed to be a handoff. Tyrese was supposed to come back up. Tyrese was supposed to come in and ghost screen and go screen foul, and so then we’d have the whole side clear. Jamir ran to the corner for some reason I don’t know why. I'm not blaming Jamir but he ran to the corner and Tyrese didn’t come and set the screen. Bad execution. Bad play call. Period.
On KC Ndefo
“It's been an honor. I just told him that. He brings something that I knew I needed here my first year and that's why it made sense for him to come. He brought it every day for me and he tried to get other guys to to get there and obviously everybody wasn't on the same page like that. But what he does doesn’t even show up on the stat sheet. He gave us that toughness. He gave us an identity. I thought he helped Tyrese out tremendously this year. As you guys saw Tyreese had a completely different year and he changed everything about him and that was because of KC helping him out the whole year.