Colorado-California Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Another good win at home against a really good team. They're so much better to me than their record. Offensively they have good players, they run good stuff, they're well coached. That was a good win. We talked at halftime about the game at Berkeley where we were up 14 at half and as I walked off the floor, I look up 14-point game again. I got to remind them of that, and we talked about it. They came out of the second half, and they scored 11 of their first 13 possessions of the second half, which not too proud of that. Three of the first four possessions were dunks. Once our guys locked in defensively, we got some stops and extended a lead. Then, we finished it off strong. So really good game and some good individual performances. We collectively got 18 assists. We had 12 turnovers but two of those were shot clock violations at the end, so, we really had 10. Those last two are on me so we did really good there too and I think we can keep being better in that area, but good win.”
On how aggressive Tristan was throughout this game
“He had six assists. He was great. He was aggressive tonight, which we want him to be. At 13 Shots 22 points, he was very efficient and got to the foul line. Tristan was terrific tonight, and we need him to be especially with being shorthanded with Cody and Julian out. How the guys that are playing that are in that rotation are so critical. [Javon]Ruffin coming off the bench was really good tonight and Assane [Diop] with his minutes being good tonight. I'm telling you Bangot Dak is a guy I'm not giving up on him. There might be a time coming down the stretch where we need a guy like him as well. So yes, good team victory, but Tristan was terrific.”
On what Javon Ruffin can do for this team
“Making open shots is something that Javon is really good at, and he proved it tonight. He didn't hesitate. Our guys looked at him. J’Vonne [Hadley] finding him and he didn't hesitate. He just kicked it out and made the right play. Then, that gave him a little confidence, so he made the next one. I wasn’t sure how long Luke was going to be out, but Ruff was playing so good. I stuck with him for a while and then Luke came back and cramped up, so Ruff and came back.”
On Assane Diop’s growth over his time here
“It's almost March now so these freshmen aren’t really freshmen anymore, especially ones who've been playing. The ones that haven't been playing, they still are. Assane is starting to understand if he just defends, rebounds, and makes simple plays that's all he's got to do. He doesn't have to be a playmaker for us. He has to be able to finish around the rim, make a defensive presence, and rebound.”
On if the less turnovers this game against Cal helped win this game
“That was a big part of it. Offensively, we were efficient the whole night. We shot 50% in the field. KJ was terrific down the stretch. You look at his line and this guy's is here every game. Mark Johnson told me the last few games he is averaging 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. I've said it before, those are All American numbers. He's bringing it every night. His defensive job tonight on Jalen Cone, holding him to one for ten from the field. Conan had 17 at Berkeley. Not many times do you talk about a guy that had 25 and feel like your guy did a good job. However, J’Vonne Hadley and his effort with making Jaylon Tyson work for everything that he got. From catching the ball and J’Vonne getting through screens. He did a great job on Tyson and made him work for everything he got. He had 25 points. He's a hell of a player, but it took him 19 shots to get them, so, I was really pleased with those two individual performances defensively and then Eddie Lampkin to me had his best ball screen defensive game of the year. He was really good in terms of clogging up that lane and not letting Tyson and Cone get downhill. So really good team effort.”
On NCAA tournament talk
“Look, do they care? Hell yeah. They care. I won't talk about it one bit. I've not brought it up one time. The only time I do is when I'm answering your guys' questions, but that is the last thing that I'm thinking about. We have to win the next game. I have said that our margin for error is behind us. Our margin for error was in Berkeley and we tricked it off, our margin for error was in Tempe and we tricked it off, our margin for error was in Utah we tricked it off, our margin for error was Florida State in November. If we don't trick those games off, now we're a team that has a margin for error as we head down the stretch, but we're not in that position. That's all I talk about is trying to win the next game.”
On KJ Simpson and how he ended Cal’s run in the second half
“Yeah, that steal was big. He got the steal and then he hit J’Vonne Hadley and J’Vonne Hadley hit Javon Ruffin. That was a big time by KJ Simpson and you're right that broke the game open a little bit and gave us some breathing room.”
KJ Simpson has a sense for when you need him to make something happen
“Yeah, the guys rely on KJ Simpson, I rely on KJ Simpson. Coming out of halftime, you turn it over, it'll be under and then he took a bad shot and it got blocked and I was like oh my god that's not the KJ Simpson we needed. Then as that second half unfolded, he made plays and as a coach, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and what that kid has done, for this team in this program, and to put us in this position we've had 19 wins, you look around the country lots of teams are losing you look at records. It's hard to win right now. Every win like this, you have to relish in and guess what, we got Stanford on Sunday. That's going to be a critical game for this team, this program where we are and then we'll finish up our season on the road in Oregon.”
On Julian Hammond and Cody Williams
“No prognosis. We're going to take tomorrow off. It’s kind of nice having a Wednesday Sunday because you have to take some time off, especially this time of year. On Friday we will get a better feel from our trainer, and they'll be getting treatment. Cody Williams and Julian Hammond and hopefully we can get them back as soon as possible, but I have no idea whether it will be Sunday or not.”
On Tristan da Silva’s ankle injury
He is now that his ankle is wrapped. It's braced. It's not 100%. It's getting closer. He had the same ankle injury last spring when he was preparing for the NBA workouts. It's not something new but when I look at this team, and I mentioned that at the Arizona State game Tristan da Silva played he had 17 points but was playing on one leg like he was probably 50% that night. He gutted it out and he came back. I leave it up to these kids with these ankle injuries. Luke has had an ankle injury and Cody has one now. We've had a couple of facial fractures. What this team has gone through we've been without one or two of our top seven guys, to do that and to persevere and keep fighting. We've lost some games we shouldn't have lost, but then I look at Tristan da Silva in Arizona state plan on one leg and like, well, God dang we were right there. It's not like we've been getting blown out other than the Arizona games, we've been fighting tooth and nail and this team is competitive. It's too early to talk about the postseason, we have a lot of basketball ahead of us before we do that but Tristan da Silva being healthy KJ Simpson, J’Vonne Hadley, Eddie Lampkin and Luke O’Brien. When those other two guys get back and we can have a lot of fun coming down the stretch.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Sr., F
On getting yourself and your teammates involved right off the bat
“Yeah, it's definitely huge. I know I've struggled in the past couple games being efficient, so it was good. I was just trying to be aggressive, get to the rim, give myself some easy ones. As KJ said, he was feeding me the ball. Playing with a guy like that makes it pretty easy.”
On if they talked at halftime about limiting those looks from long range
“Yeah, that's what kind of broke the game open for them at their place. We had to make sure that we took those away, especially the easy looks. That was a focus for us coming out of halftime.”
On Assane Diop getting more quality minutes
“I think he's gotten way more comfortable out there on the floor, and we're confident. If you see what he does in practice, you wouldn't be surprised at all. Credit to him for the work that he puts in and he's really eager to learn. He's really eager to get better. I see him in the gym every day working on his game. He's a great talent for sure.”
On senior night
“Honestly, I'm in disbelief. I don't know what to say every time I think about it. I just go blank. Obviously, I'm super grateful for the four years that I've been here. The people that I got to know, the families, the brotherhood.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On how important it was for to be assertive
“It was important obviously with a couple of guys down. As leaders, we wanted to pick it up and exemplify it out there on the court. Tristan started off really well in the first half, and I knew I needed to pick it up. That's why I kind of got going into the second half. You have to rise to the level of play with guys down. It wasn't just us tonight. The whole team did great things out there.”
On trying to work your way into the game and trying to assert yourself more
Yeah, just watching film. Like I said before, I didn't want to force bad shots. But at the same time, I knew I wasn't being aggressive at UCLA. Same thing here, Tristan had the hot hand early. It's my job as the point guard to feed the hot hand. In the second half things started to open up more and just played with more patience and calmness, and stuff started to open up.
On the pressure coming out of the second half
“No pressure. They're a good team, and they're eventually going to get shots to fall. Tyson came out aggressive, and he's a great player. They have great players at Cal and a great coaching staff, so we knew that they were going to make a run. Going in at halftime, our main focus was remembering what happened last game and preventing that from happening again. Like I said, we knew they were going to make a run, we just wanted to keep playing and keep our composure and we were able to do that.
On the biggest differences between the last Cal matchup
“I think the first time we had a lot more turnovers. It's hard to start playing defense when you're turning over the ball. Shots weren't falling, and they hit 14 threes the first game. Compared to this game, we took care of the ball a lot better. We were more composed on offense and our defense has also gotten better since that point.”
On Javon Ruffin
“He came in with guys down, and we all rose to the occasion. Ruff was one of those guys. He came in ready and contributed right away. That just goes to show you, anybody with a Colorado jersey is more than capable. Credit to him. He came in ready to play, knocked down some big shots, guarded, and got some great rebounds for us. It felt good to have him out there and see him make big plays for us.”
On KJ keeping composure with March coming soon
“We talk about it as a team, and I think the last time I spoke I said we're not oblivious to it. Social media is everywhere. We're bound to see it, but I think our main focus is understanding that we have to focus on the next opponent. That's our main priority. As long as we take care of it one by one, things will take care of itself down the road.”
Opening Statement
“Another good win at home against a really good team. They're so much better to me than their record. Offensively they have good players, they run good stuff, they're well coached. That was a good win. We talked at halftime about the game at Berkeley where we were up 14 at half and as I walked off the floor, I look up 14-point game again. I got to remind them of that, and we talked about it. They came out of the second half, and they scored 11 of their first 13 possessions of the second half, which not too proud of that. Three of the first four possessions were dunks. Once our guys locked in defensively, we got some stops and extended a lead. Then, we finished it off strong. So really good game and some good individual performances. We collectively got 18 assists. We had 12 turnovers but two of those were shot clock violations at the end, so, we really had 10. Those last two are on me so we did really good there too and I think we can keep being better in that area, but good win.”
On how aggressive Tristan was throughout this game
“He had six assists. He was great. He was aggressive tonight, which we want him to be. At 13 Shots 22 points, he was very efficient and got to the foul line. Tristan was terrific tonight, and we need him to be especially with being shorthanded with Cody and Julian out. How the guys that are playing that are in that rotation are so critical. [Javon]Ruffin coming off the bench was really good tonight and Assane [Diop] with his minutes being good tonight. I'm telling you Bangot Dak is a guy I'm not giving up on him. There might be a time coming down the stretch where we need a guy like him as well. So yes, good team victory, but Tristan was terrific.”
On what Javon Ruffin can do for this team
“Making open shots is something that Javon is really good at, and he proved it tonight. He didn't hesitate. Our guys looked at him. J’Vonne [Hadley] finding him and he didn't hesitate. He just kicked it out and made the right play. Then, that gave him a little confidence, so he made the next one. I wasn’t sure how long Luke was going to be out, but Ruff was playing so good. I stuck with him for a while and then Luke came back and cramped up, so Ruff and came back.”
On Assane Diop’s growth over his time here
“It's almost March now so these freshmen aren’t really freshmen anymore, especially ones who've been playing. The ones that haven't been playing, they still are. Assane is starting to understand if he just defends, rebounds, and makes simple plays that's all he's got to do. He doesn't have to be a playmaker for us. He has to be able to finish around the rim, make a defensive presence, and rebound.”
On if the less turnovers this game against Cal helped win this game
“That was a big part of it. Offensively, we were efficient the whole night. We shot 50% in the field. KJ was terrific down the stretch. You look at his line and this guy's is here every game. Mark Johnson told me the last few games he is averaging 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. I've said it before, those are All American numbers. He's bringing it every night. His defensive job tonight on Jalen Cone, holding him to one for ten from the field. Conan had 17 at Berkeley. Not many times do you talk about a guy that had 25 and feel like your guy did a good job. However, J’Vonne Hadley and his effort with making Jaylon Tyson work for everything that he got. From catching the ball and J’Vonne getting through screens. He did a great job on Tyson and made him work for everything he got. He had 25 points. He's a hell of a player, but it took him 19 shots to get them, so, I was really pleased with those two individual performances defensively and then Eddie Lampkin to me had his best ball screen defensive game of the year. He was really good in terms of clogging up that lane and not letting Tyson and Cone get downhill. So really good team effort.”
On NCAA tournament talk
“Look, do they care? Hell yeah. They care. I won't talk about it one bit. I've not brought it up one time. The only time I do is when I'm answering your guys' questions, but that is the last thing that I'm thinking about. We have to win the next game. I have said that our margin for error is behind us. Our margin for error was in Berkeley and we tricked it off, our margin for error was in Tempe and we tricked it off, our margin for error was in Utah we tricked it off, our margin for error was Florida State in November. If we don't trick those games off, now we're a team that has a margin for error as we head down the stretch, but we're not in that position. That's all I talk about is trying to win the next game.”
On KJ Simpson and how he ended Cal’s run in the second half
“Yeah, that steal was big. He got the steal and then he hit J’Vonne Hadley and J’Vonne Hadley hit Javon Ruffin. That was a big time by KJ Simpson and you're right that broke the game open a little bit and gave us some breathing room.”
KJ Simpson has a sense for when you need him to make something happen
“Yeah, the guys rely on KJ Simpson, I rely on KJ Simpson. Coming out of halftime, you turn it over, it'll be under and then he took a bad shot and it got blocked and I was like oh my god that's not the KJ Simpson we needed. Then as that second half unfolded, he made plays and as a coach, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and what that kid has done, for this team in this program, and to put us in this position we've had 19 wins, you look around the country lots of teams are losing you look at records. It's hard to win right now. Every win like this, you have to relish in and guess what, we got Stanford on Sunday. That's going to be a critical game for this team, this program where we are and then we'll finish up our season on the road in Oregon.”
On Julian Hammond and Cody Williams
“No prognosis. We're going to take tomorrow off. It’s kind of nice having a Wednesday Sunday because you have to take some time off, especially this time of year. On Friday we will get a better feel from our trainer, and they'll be getting treatment. Cody Williams and Julian Hammond and hopefully we can get them back as soon as possible, but I have no idea whether it will be Sunday or not.”
On Tristan da Silva’s ankle injury
He is now that his ankle is wrapped. It's braced. It's not 100%. It's getting closer. He had the same ankle injury last spring when he was preparing for the NBA workouts. It's not something new but when I look at this team, and I mentioned that at the Arizona State game Tristan da Silva played he had 17 points but was playing on one leg like he was probably 50% that night. He gutted it out and he came back. I leave it up to these kids with these ankle injuries. Luke has had an ankle injury and Cody has one now. We've had a couple of facial fractures. What this team has gone through we've been without one or two of our top seven guys, to do that and to persevere and keep fighting. We've lost some games we shouldn't have lost, but then I look at Tristan da Silva in Arizona state plan on one leg and like, well, God dang we were right there. It's not like we've been getting blown out other than the Arizona games, we've been fighting tooth and nail and this team is competitive. It's too early to talk about the postseason, we have a lot of basketball ahead of us before we do that but Tristan da Silva being healthy KJ Simpson, J’Vonne Hadley, Eddie Lampkin and Luke O’Brien. When those other two guys get back and we can have a lot of fun coming down the stretch.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Sr., F
On getting yourself and your teammates involved right off the bat
“Yeah, it's definitely huge. I know I've struggled in the past couple games being efficient, so it was good. I was just trying to be aggressive, get to the rim, give myself some easy ones. As KJ said, he was feeding me the ball. Playing with a guy like that makes it pretty easy.”
On if they talked at halftime about limiting those looks from long range
“Yeah, that's what kind of broke the game open for them at their place. We had to make sure that we took those away, especially the easy looks. That was a focus for us coming out of halftime.”
On Assane Diop getting more quality minutes
“I think he's gotten way more comfortable out there on the floor, and we're confident. If you see what he does in practice, you wouldn't be surprised at all. Credit to him for the work that he puts in and he's really eager to learn. He's really eager to get better. I see him in the gym every day working on his game. He's a great talent for sure.”
On senior night
“Honestly, I'm in disbelief. I don't know what to say every time I think about it. I just go blank. Obviously, I'm super grateful for the four years that I've been here. The people that I got to know, the families, the brotherhood.”
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On how important it was for to be assertive
“It was important obviously with a couple of guys down. As leaders, we wanted to pick it up and exemplify it out there on the court. Tristan started off really well in the first half, and I knew I needed to pick it up. That's why I kind of got going into the second half. You have to rise to the level of play with guys down. It wasn't just us tonight. The whole team did great things out there.”
On trying to work your way into the game and trying to assert yourself more
Yeah, just watching film. Like I said before, I didn't want to force bad shots. But at the same time, I knew I wasn't being aggressive at UCLA. Same thing here, Tristan had the hot hand early. It's my job as the point guard to feed the hot hand. In the second half things started to open up more and just played with more patience and calmness, and stuff started to open up.
On the pressure coming out of the second half
“No pressure. They're a good team, and they're eventually going to get shots to fall. Tyson came out aggressive, and he's a great player. They have great players at Cal and a great coaching staff, so we knew that they were going to make a run. Going in at halftime, our main focus was remembering what happened last game and preventing that from happening again. Like I said, we knew they were going to make a run, we just wanted to keep playing and keep our composure and we were able to do that.
On the biggest differences between the last Cal matchup
“I think the first time we had a lot more turnovers. It's hard to start playing defense when you're turning over the ball. Shots weren't falling, and they hit 14 threes the first game. Compared to this game, we took care of the ball a lot better. We were more composed on offense and our defense has also gotten better since that point.”
On Javon Ruffin
“He came in with guys down, and we all rose to the occasion. Ruff was one of those guys. He came in ready and contributed right away. That just goes to show you, anybody with a Colorado jersey is more than capable. Credit to him. He came in ready to play, knocked down some big shots, guarded, and got some great rebounds for us. It felt good to have him out there and see him make big plays for us.”
On KJ keeping composure with March coming soon
“We talk about it as a team, and I think the last time I spoke I said we're not oblivious to it. Social media is everywhere. We're bound to see it, but I think our main focus is understanding that we have to focus on the next opponent. That's our main priority. As long as we take care of it one by one, things will take care of itself down the road.”