Colorado-Arizona State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Well, conference wins and February are like gold. They're really valuable and our guys did a good job tonight. We didn't play our best offensively. We had a few breakdowns defensively, but we did what we had to do and put away a really competitive, hard playing Arizona State team. They did not make it easy. They play a very unusual style. We talked all week long about being strong with the basketball down at their place. The points off turnovers was 27. For Arizona State 12 for Colorado tonight, they had 12. I don't know how many we had but at least 17 so we didn't flip it but yeah. That was key because taking care of the ball against these guys is important because they will come at you. We had eight turnovers in the first half, six, seven more steals by Arizona State so I don’t think we did a great job there. We talked about at halftime the guys did a much better job in the second half. We had a stretch. In the second half we got nine straight stops and I'm not exactly sure when it started when it ended, but that's a heck of an accomplishment, in conference play against a talented team. The problem is we made three points off those nine stops, so I didn't think our guys were running the floor in the second half like we did in the first half. I don't know if his fatigue on four of those nine possessions that we got from the stop we turned it over and we only had five turnovers in the second half. So again, you get stopped. You’ve got to capitalize on it and again, I’ve got to be able to play our bench a little bit more. It'd be nice when we get looped back but it was a good win.”
On J’Vonne Hadley’s contribution
“They were huge because they were making a run. If you don't score in those situations, you put a lot of pressure on your defense, and they start feeling it. Arizona State is a feel-good team when things start rolling. They're like a snowball or an avalanche coming downhill if they're tough to stop. J’Vonne’s plays at the end of the shot clock were huge. I thought his defensive effort against (Jose) Perez who, again, really puts foul pressure on you. He pulled the chair on him a couple of times and held his hands back like a really good defender. He's a smart player, competitive player, rebounds, defense, and now he's starting to make plays for us and score the ball. So J’Vonne Hadley is not a small hero anymore. He was one of our players of the game tonight for sure in my opinion.”
On Julian Hammond’s Performance
“It was huge. We didn't have Julian against Arizona State in Tempe. Tristan was playing on one leg; it was his first game back. We didn't have Cody so again, that just goes to show you the importance of those guys and our team. Assane is very capable. He really struggled tonight defensively, rebounding the ball, and Eddie Lampkin, I thought his ball screen defense and his energy level on defense was as good as it's been all year. I was really proud of him for his effort and but again our bench we’ve got to continue to build it and have it grow but sometimes those games get tight you’ve got to go with the guys that are getting it done.”
On how Cody Williams played
“Good. Everybody thinks when you come back, hey, you're back, you're 100%. Sometimes it takes a while especially for freshmen like Cody who's at a start, stop, start, stop kind of year. It's difficult. It's not easy for him because it's big-time basketball, and it's physical and again the physicality of the college game Cody is still adjusting to. I thought he did a good job tonight, there's no doubt about it. I think we're going to need him on Saturday. He's an important part of this team. He gives us size on the wing. I thought they were trying to go at him, and Arizona is going to go at him. In terms of driving the ball, his defensive, he's got to keep taking a challenge and offensively he's really good because he makes simple plays. That's why we had trouble tonight. We were trying to make home run plays and that's where our turnovers came from. If we just make simple plays and get the ball moved, we're good. When we start pounding it, dribbling it, putting our head down, we're not very good offensively.”
On playing 26 from 29 from the line
“You have to do that against Arizona State because there were a couple of fouls that weren't called and that's just part of it. You just have to be strong with it and our guys I thought made good cuts. They were physical, they played through the physicality, they played through contact at times, getting to the foul line against those guys is critical. And that's where you need a strong officiating crew. When you play Arizona State, whether it's down there or at home, it doesn't matter. You need a strong officiating crew, and we had that tonight.”
On what the plan was to improve the offense
“I want to continue to get stops, ball movement because this team is not unlike other teams, you jump out to an 18 to three run and I'm like, oh no. You’d think just the opposite, okay we're up but now our guys think oh, it's going to be easy, we can come down, we can make one pass, we can drive it, we can force a shot here, force a shot there and then all of a sudden they get a stop, they make a three, they get another stop, two bad shots happen, a turnover happens and it goes from 18 to 3 to 18 to 11. Now they're right back in the game. Getting great shots, taking care of the ball, executing on offense, and just keep doing what you were doing to get that 18 to three lead which is getting stops and getting great shots. We didn't do that. We had a chance to blow it open early, we had a chance to blow it open second half and we never quite put them away, they kept coming back. That's what good teams do, that’s what competitive teams do and Arizona State's a solid competitive team. You can't always judge teams by their record, you’ve got to watch a lot of film and see their coach is a fiery competitive dude and their players take on the personality of their coach sometimes, so we knew it wasn't going to be easy.”
On Arizona being in triple overtime
“Go to five. That's the thing about Pac-12 and these Thursday, Saturday deals, is I don't even think about Saturday until tonight. We'll put a game plan together. They're on the road, they’ve got to travel, but Tristan didn't play down there, Cody didn't play down there. We were short a few dudes. We've got to be ready because Arizona is a hell of a team and all you can ask for in life is an opportunity. We’ve got a great opportunity in here Saturday night.”
On if Luke O’Brien will be back Saturday night
“I hope so. His ankle is getting better each day. He was limping on Tuesday, and I told him if you're limping, you're not playing. He came back on Wednesday, went through practice, wasn't limping, but he's certainly not 100%. I don't think he felt comfortable playing tonight. I'm never going to make a kid play because I think with those ankles, you’ve got to say okay, when you're ready, you’ve got to tell me you're ready and then let's go, but if you're limping, you ain't ready. The good news is he's not limping. I wanted him to go through warmups tonight, get a good sweat, get some shots up, keep rehabbing that thing and hopefully Tristan can tell him tape that thing up, put a brace on because at some point you’ve got to come back, and you may not be 100% when you initially come back. I don't know when that'll be for Luke. It might be Saturday, it might be next week, it might be two weeks from now, I don't know, but he'll make that call, I will not.”
On if being 13-0 at home helps against Arizona
“No. Being 13 and 0 at home has no bearing on Saturday night. I wish it did because then we just say hey Arizona go down to Tucson give us the win. That ain't happening. We’ve got to go win a game on Saturday; it's not going to be easy. We know they blew our doors off at Tucson. We’ve got some work cut out for us and one day of prep, but they have one day of prep as well and in the second time through the league, it's easier for them for prep and it's easier for us for prep. Now we’ve just got to go play and see what happens on Saturday, but a hell of an opportunity and we're looking forward to it.”
Colorado Players
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On playing against Frankie Collins –
“I've known Frankie for a long time. We always have had a bunch of back-and-forth battles. He's a great player. I’ve got so much respect for him. He is like family, almost how many times we've been playing against each other, and he's been doing some special things for Arizona State. Like I said, I have nothing but respect for him, and every time we go against each other, it's always a battle.”
On ASU’s comeback –
“We stopped getting the ball moving. Had a couple of turnovers. ASU is a team that thrives in transition, and we kind of let them get some easy transition buckets and start hitting threes and they started feeling good and feeling confident. And one thing about that team is no matter what the score is, they're going to play their heart out. We didn't necessarily take our foot off the gas. It's kind of hard when you're turning the ball over and just playing transition defense, but I'm glad we could dig in and realize where we're going wrong and just get right back to it.”
On multiple-players scoring multiple field goals–
“It's excellent. One of the strengths of this team is that everybody's capable of getting it going on any given night. J’Vonne had it going early. I know Cody started to get it going. And he's always been a post presence, and Tristan got it going and Julian got it going. And the guys coming off the bench are more than capable of getting it going as well. It's a team effort, and everybody knows that and that's why it just shows up on the stat sheet that way.”
On being a leader –
“I had some of the best leaders I've ever been with in Evan Batty and Eli Parquet, Keeshawn Barthelemy, and even Jabari Walker,. Those older guys were such great role models for me. I tried to take those characteristics and take what they were teaching me and try to be a great leader for these young guys as well. I mean they may not know it right now because a lot is going through their minds and a lot of plays, and a lot of fans in the crowd, but they mean a lot to this team. And anybody who has a Colorado jersey is more than capable of going out there and doing great things for us. So it's my job. I was one of the older guys to let those young guys know that you're going to make mistakes, but just keep playing through.”
On mindset for Saturday –
“Our mentality has to be getting stops. We can’t let our offense dictate our defense. If we guard them and play the defense that we know we're capable of and get out and run in transition, I mean, we're a tough team to go up against, and I think our offense is going to be what it is. I think our main approach is just a defensive rebounder.”
J’vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On making big plays at the end of the shot clock –
“It’s my confidence level right now. I've always been a pretty confident player, but the people around me and my support cast are super supportive of me when I have a bad game or a good game. No matter how I play, they're always there for me. Shout out to my teammates for letting me be myself. I was just attacking, making plays for them. So it's a big part when your teammates are also on your side.”
On adjusting to the mask –
“The first game is not always the easiest, especially the first few minutes. It's hard on your peripherals. But if you're a dog, your dog, regardless of what happened.
On shooting 80% at the three-point line –
“It's a huge confidence booster stepping up to that line and knowing I'm capable of making it. I reminded myself when I went out there that it was going in. There are little things that you talk to yourself about, especially on the free-throw line. I've been doing that a lot lately, and it's been working, so I will continue to do that.”
On seeing a team twice after a loss –
“It’s a little bit of the get back. Coming into it we knew that we lost by a couple of points over there at Arizona State. So we knew that regardless of where you play, Arizona State is going to play their hearts out, and they're going to be aggressive. So, you just got to be careful with the ball and be strong with the ball, and it's really just a physical game overall and a little bit of mental as well.”
Opening Statement
“Well, conference wins and February are like gold. They're really valuable and our guys did a good job tonight. We didn't play our best offensively. We had a few breakdowns defensively, but we did what we had to do and put away a really competitive, hard playing Arizona State team. They did not make it easy. They play a very unusual style. We talked all week long about being strong with the basketball down at their place. The points off turnovers was 27. For Arizona State 12 for Colorado tonight, they had 12. I don't know how many we had but at least 17 so we didn't flip it but yeah. That was key because taking care of the ball against these guys is important because they will come at you. We had eight turnovers in the first half, six, seven more steals by Arizona State so I don’t think we did a great job there. We talked about at halftime the guys did a much better job in the second half. We had a stretch. In the second half we got nine straight stops and I'm not exactly sure when it started when it ended, but that's a heck of an accomplishment, in conference play against a talented team. The problem is we made three points off those nine stops, so I didn't think our guys were running the floor in the second half like we did in the first half. I don't know if his fatigue on four of those nine possessions that we got from the stop we turned it over and we only had five turnovers in the second half. So again, you get stopped. You’ve got to capitalize on it and again, I’ve got to be able to play our bench a little bit more. It'd be nice when we get looped back but it was a good win.”
On J’Vonne Hadley’s contribution
“They were huge because they were making a run. If you don't score in those situations, you put a lot of pressure on your defense, and they start feeling it. Arizona State is a feel-good team when things start rolling. They're like a snowball or an avalanche coming downhill if they're tough to stop. J’Vonne’s plays at the end of the shot clock were huge. I thought his defensive effort against (Jose) Perez who, again, really puts foul pressure on you. He pulled the chair on him a couple of times and held his hands back like a really good defender. He's a smart player, competitive player, rebounds, defense, and now he's starting to make plays for us and score the ball. So J’Vonne Hadley is not a small hero anymore. He was one of our players of the game tonight for sure in my opinion.”
On Julian Hammond’s Performance
“It was huge. We didn't have Julian against Arizona State in Tempe. Tristan was playing on one leg; it was his first game back. We didn't have Cody so again, that just goes to show you the importance of those guys and our team. Assane is very capable. He really struggled tonight defensively, rebounding the ball, and Eddie Lampkin, I thought his ball screen defense and his energy level on defense was as good as it's been all year. I was really proud of him for his effort and but again our bench we’ve got to continue to build it and have it grow but sometimes those games get tight you’ve got to go with the guys that are getting it done.”
On how Cody Williams played
“Good. Everybody thinks when you come back, hey, you're back, you're 100%. Sometimes it takes a while especially for freshmen like Cody who's at a start, stop, start, stop kind of year. It's difficult. It's not easy for him because it's big-time basketball, and it's physical and again the physicality of the college game Cody is still adjusting to. I thought he did a good job tonight, there's no doubt about it. I think we're going to need him on Saturday. He's an important part of this team. He gives us size on the wing. I thought they were trying to go at him, and Arizona is going to go at him. In terms of driving the ball, his defensive, he's got to keep taking a challenge and offensively he's really good because he makes simple plays. That's why we had trouble tonight. We were trying to make home run plays and that's where our turnovers came from. If we just make simple plays and get the ball moved, we're good. When we start pounding it, dribbling it, putting our head down, we're not very good offensively.”
On playing 26 from 29 from the line
“You have to do that against Arizona State because there were a couple of fouls that weren't called and that's just part of it. You just have to be strong with it and our guys I thought made good cuts. They were physical, they played through the physicality, they played through contact at times, getting to the foul line against those guys is critical. And that's where you need a strong officiating crew. When you play Arizona State, whether it's down there or at home, it doesn't matter. You need a strong officiating crew, and we had that tonight.”
On what the plan was to improve the offense
“I want to continue to get stops, ball movement because this team is not unlike other teams, you jump out to an 18 to three run and I'm like, oh no. You’d think just the opposite, okay we're up but now our guys think oh, it's going to be easy, we can come down, we can make one pass, we can drive it, we can force a shot here, force a shot there and then all of a sudden they get a stop, they make a three, they get another stop, two bad shots happen, a turnover happens and it goes from 18 to 3 to 18 to 11. Now they're right back in the game. Getting great shots, taking care of the ball, executing on offense, and just keep doing what you were doing to get that 18 to three lead which is getting stops and getting great shots. We didn't do that. We had a chance to blow it open early, we had a chance to blow it open second half and we never quite put them away, they kept coming back. That's what good teams do, that’s what competitive teams do and Arizona State's a solid competitive team. You can't always judge teams by their record, you’ve got to watch a lot of film and see their coach is a fiery competitive dude and their players take on the personality of their coach sometimes, so we knew it wasn't going to be easy.”
On Arizona being in triple overtime
“Go to five. That's the thing about Pac-12 and these Thursday, Saturday deals, is I don't even think about Saturday until tonight. We'll put a game plan together. They're on the road, they’ve got to travel, but Tristan didn't play down there, Cody didn't play down there. We were short a few dudes. We've got to be ready because Arizona is a hell of a team and all you can ask for in life is an opportunity. We’ve got a great opportunity in here Saturday night.”
On if Luke O’Brien will be back Saturday night
“I hope so. His ankle is getting better each day. He was limping on Tuesday, and I told him if you're limping, you're not playing. He came back on Wednesday, went through practice, wasn't limping, but he's certainly not 100%. I don't think he felt comfortable playing tonight. I'm never going to make a kid play because I think with those ankles, you’ve got to say okay, when you're ready, you’ve got to tell me you're ready and then let's go, but if you're limping, you ain't ready. The good news is he's not limping. I wanted him to go through warmups tonight, get a good sweat, get some shots up, keep rehabbing that thing and hopefully Tristan can tell him tape that thing up, put a brace on because at some point you’ve got to come back, and you may not be 100% when you initially come back. I don't know when that'll be for Luke. It might be Saturday, it might be next week, it might be two weeks from now, I don't know, but he'll make that call, I will not.”
On if being 13-0 at home helps against Arizona
“No. Being 13 and 0 at home has no bearing on Saturday night. I wish it did because then we just say hey Arizona go down to Tucson give us the win. That ain't happening. We’ve got to go win a game on Saturday; it's not going to be easy. We know they blew our doors off at Tucson. We’ve got some work cut out for us and one day of prep, but they have one day of prep as well and in the second time through the league, it's easier for them for prep and it's easier for us for prep. Now we’ve just got to go play and see what happens on Saturday, but a hell of an opportunity and we're looking forward to it.”
Colorado Players
KJ Simpson, Jr., G
On playing against Frankie Collins –
“I've known Frankie for a long time. We always have had a bunch of back-and-forth battles. He's a great player. I’ve got so much respect for him. He is like family, almost how many times we've been playing against each other, and he's been doing some special things for Arizona State. Like I said, I have nothing but respect for him, and every time we go against each other, it's always a battle.”
On ASU’s comeback –
“We stopped getting the ball moving. Had a couple of turnovers. ASU is a team that thrives in transition, and we kind of let them get some easy transition buckets and start hitting threes and they started feeling good and feeling confident. And one thing about that team is no matter what the score is, they're going to play their heart out. We didn't necessarily take our foot off the gas. It's kind of hard when you're turning the ball over and just playing transition defense, but I'm glad we could dig in and realize where we're going wrong and just get right back to it.”
On multiple-players scoring multiple field goals–
“It's excellent. One of the strengths of this team is that everybody's capable of getting it going on any given night. J’Vonne had it going early. I know Cody started to get it going. And he's always been a post presence, and Tristan got it going and Julian got it going. And the guys coming off the bench are more than capable of getting it going as well. It's a team effort, and everybody knows that and that's why it just shows up on the stat sheet that way.”
On being a leader –
“I had some of the best leaders I've ever been with in Evan Batty and Eli Parquet, Keeshawn Barthelemy, and even Jabari Walker,. Those older guys were such great role models for me. I tried to take those characteristics and take what they were teaching me and try to be a great leader for these young guys as well. I mean they may not know it right now because a lot is going through their minds and a lot of plays, and a lot of fans in the crowd, but they mean a lot to this team. And anybody who has a Colorado jersey is more than capable of going out there and doing great things for us. So it's my job. I was one of the older guys to let those young guys know that you're going to make mistakes, but just keep playing through.”
On mindset for Saturday –
“Our mentality has to be getting stops. We can’t let our offense dictate our defense. If we guard them and play the defense that we know we're capable of and get out and run in transition, I mean, we're a tough team to go up against, and I think our offense is going to be what it is. I think our main approach is just a defensive rebounder.”
J’vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On making big plays at the end of the shot clock –
“It’s my confidence level right now. I've always been a pretty confident player, but the people around me and my support cast are super supportive of me when I have a bad game or a good game. No matter how I play, they're always there for me. Shout out to my teammates for letting me be myself. I was just attacking, making plays for them. So it's a big part when your teammates are also on your side.”
On adjusting to the mask –
“The first game is not always the easiest, especially the first few minutes. It's hard on your peripherals. But if you're a dog, your dog, regardless of what happened.
On shooting 80% at the three-point line –
“It's a huge confidence booster stepping up to that line and knowing I'm capable of making it. I reminded myself when I went out there that it was going in. There are little things that you talk to yourself about, especially on the free-throw line. I've been doing that a lot lately, and it's been working, so I will continue to do that.”
On seeing a team twice after a loss –
“It’s a little bit of the get back. Coming into it we knew that we lost by a couple of points over there at Arizona State. So we knew that regardless of where you play, Arizona State is going to play their hearts out, and they're going to be aggressive. So, you just got to be careful with the ball and be strong with the ball, and it's really just a physical game overall and a little bit of mental as well.”