Colorado-Cincinnati Quotes
Colorado vs. Cincinnati
Jan. 15, 2025, CU Events Center
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“I sound like a broken record here the last five games, but really, really disappointing, and drop our third game at home thinking that we lost one in this building the entire season last year. Now we've lost three and all winnable games that we weren't good enough to win. I told the team, I told the radio, I feel like this is the poorest coached team in America. That's how I feel, because the stuff that we talk about in practice, the stuff we talk about in huddles, it doesn't translate to the games, for whatever reason. And maybe they're tuning me out, but I'm not getting through to them, which is really frustrating. We had a chance to win this game tonight, but we didn't get it done. So you know, what are you going to do? The guys battle, they play hard, they compete, I'll give them that. But we've got some good players on this team. I don't think we have a great player on this team, but we have a lot of good players on this team, and some of them aren't playing very good. We're a team that has to rely on each other. We got to be and we don't have to be perfect for each other. We just got to rely on each other, whether it's defensively or offensively. And season low eight assists tonight. We shot 50% in the second half, but a lot of it is one-on-one stuff. We didn't play together offensively very good tonight at all. Our offense in the game tonight relative to our offense in practice is like apples and oranges. That's another thing I don't understand. Again, it falls on me. Doesn't fall on these guys. It falls on me. So disappointing because this is a winnable game, but we come up short again.”
On creating consistency during practice
“Well, I think Julian, probably, of all of our guys, has been our most consistent throughout the season, up until this point. Now, in big 12 play, yeah, guess what? People know he's our leading scorer. So what does that mean? He's going to get the best defender on him and they're going to hound him, they're going to try to take away what he does. And so now Julian's got to become a distributor, and a guy that makes passes and finds his teammates open, and gets his assist numbers up. I think he's had some games where he's had some great assisted turnover ratios, and he's had some games where it's been very average, and he's had some games where it's been really poor. And so that inconsistency in that part of his game has really plagued him. Now, he's been a good shooter for us, and he's had a good season. He's a good score. I want him to be aggressive, but sometimes, you got to take what the game gives you. I go back to some of the great point guards we've had here, you know, whether it was KJ Simpson or McKinley Wright, Spencer Dinwiddie, Derrick White, you name it, they're not going to get 20 every night. So Julian's not going to get 20 points for us every single night, but there's nights we may need him to get 20, but there's other nights we don't need him to get 20, but he's got to get his teammates involved and get the ball inside, pocket passes, and pick and rolls and make those plays. So I'm pleased with the way Julian's played this year, his senior year, but tonight wasn't one of his better nights. And again, it wasn't one of a lot of our players better nights tonight. We've got good players who are not playing good right now. And Bangot played great tonight. I can't think of another guy that that did. Good moments. Sebastian Rancik did some really, really good things. I thought he was really aggressive. Trevor did some good thing. We got guys that do good things, but they do them in spots. They don't do them consistently. And look, we missed a lot of easy shots tonight, especially in that first half, but even in the second half, and we shot 50% in the second half. It's very frustrating. It's frustrating for the players, there's no doubt, and it's frustrating for me, and I told them the other day, our thought for the day was when you're going through hell, keep going. You know the Winston Churchill line, and that's where we're at right now. We gotta keep going, because we're going through hell right now. It's no fun, but nobody's gonna feel sorry for us. Sun's gonna get up and rise tomorrow, and we gotta rise with it. We gotta come to work and get better. And right now, I don't feel like we're getting better, I feel like we're kind of plowing through mud as a team.”
On if this team not translating work from practice to games is a first for him:
“No, no, no, no. There's been a lot of teams we've had that are like that. Now, not the good teams we've had. We've had some mediocre teams here. Some teams have kind of gone up and down, and it's come and gone, but this team's been a good practice team. They're a competitive group. I can count on one hand the number of bad practices we've had this year, and I have a couple of fingers left. We haven't had a lot of bad practices, so I credit them for that, but the carry over from the practices to the games is what I'm really disappointed in.”
On how the leadership could improve on this team:
“Well, that's something we're going to really have to hone in on and dial into because right now is when you need that leadership. You need leadership in the locker room, and to be a leader as a player, you have to get outside of yourself. We got a lot of guys that are so worried about their game like how good Bangot played tonight or maybe how poor somebody else played tonight. And they're thinking about themselves. So, like, what do I have to do to get better? What I have to do to get more minutes? What do I have to do? To be a leader, you have to look around and say, ‘That guy's really struggling, and maybe I can help him, maybe I can encourage him. Maybe I can try to make a play for him, get a shot for him, or set a screen for him. I can talk to that guy.’ My sense is that's not happening. Now, it might be without my knowledge, but to my knowledge, it's not happening. The most natural thing we all do when things don't go well is we worry about ourselves. I can tell you this. The last person I'm worried about right now is Tad Boyle. The guys I'm worried about right now are in that locker room, and I've got to do more to help them. They have to do more to help themselves. And it would really help if we had a leader that brought them together and said, ‘Okay, guys, like we got to we got to change this and this.’ What you need is players who are reiterating the message of the coaching staff. And again, I don't know if we have that or not. My guess is we don't. So that might answer your question.”
On what he thinks about the looks of the shots the team is getting:
“We don't go into a game thinking, ‘Hey, we got to get 15 threes up, 20 threes up, or 25 threes up.’ We go into a game saying, ‘We got to attack the paint. We got to attack it.’ And there are certain teams, when you attack the paint, they suck in. They get to the ball. They don't let you get to the rim. Now, that is when we got to kick it out. And when we kick it out, you have to be able to shoot it if you're open. Get it moved to the next guy if he's open. Our threes have to come as a result of getting the ball inside, whether that's to the post, whether that's on a drive and a kick, whatever it is. I'll look at the tape. All I want as a coach offensively is for our team to get a great shot. We can get a great shot. Now, I look at our three-point shooting numbers going into this game. We're shooting 29% as a team from three in Big 12 play. 23% tonight. We're good players. I thought that going into this season, this would be a really good three-point shooting team. It hasn't been to this point, not because they're not capable, but that's where shot selection comes in. And I felt like against Central Florida, we had a pretty good shot selection. Against West Virginia, I was pretty pleased with it. I'll let you know tomorrow, after watching this film, how many bad shots we took. If it's too many, then we'll try to correct that, but I just want great shots offensively, whether they're threes, whether they're twos, whether they're at the rim. I just want great shots. And I thought we got some great shots tonight that just didn't go in. But KU held these guys (Cincinnati) to 40 points in their own building. We held them to 68 in our building. Guess what? We hold them to 40, a totally different story. We're not capable of doing that. We're not good enough to do that right now. That's on me.”
What do you put your finger on for struggling in crunch time moments
“Bad coaching. If the team doesn't execute down the stretch, it's on you. If the team can't get a stop down the stretch, it's on you. All I want is great shots for our team. I can't make them, but we have to find a way to get great shots. In order to win games down the stretch, you have to have players that make plays. I have to do a better job of crafting some stuff offensively and be more sound defensively. When you break down in this league, you're going to pay for it. It's a team defensive mindset. We had some good things tonight as well. The way Bangot played was terrific. He's coming into his own. Now, can we get that consistently out of him? Not that he’s going to have eight block shots every night, but we need more consistency. Right now this team is struggling with inconsistency. Coming into the game we’re the second best free throw shooting team in the league, and Cincinnati was one of the worst. They made their free throws down the stretch. We didn't. You have to make plays, and you have to execute down the stretch. When your team doesn't, it's on you.”
On Bangot improving as a player
“As long as he doesn't over dribble. I think Bangot has to be an efficient ball handler. He can dribble for a guy his size, but when he starts playing with it bad things are going to happen. He has to be able to attack a close out. He has to be able to just be efficient with his dribbles. Bangot should never use more than two or three dribbles in any one move. Sometimes he over dribbles like a lot of our guys do.”
Colorado Players
Trevor Baskin, Gr., F
On taking charge in the locker room
“It's just staying resilient. We really have to take it upon ourselves to do what Coach talks about and be able to be more coachable. Be able to be more tuned in. Just buckling down. At the end of the day, like coach said, every game has been winnable. It's come down to execution on defense and some things like that. So just a couple plays here and there. It's a long season, so we can't hang our heads. Every game is going to be a dog fight like it's been so far. We just have to find ways to get over that hump. We're a resilient group and we'll figure it out. But this sucks. We just gotta learn from it and move on to the next one.”
On taking the lead in the 2nd half
“It was what Coach preaches every day in practice, getting stops, rebounding the ball, and getting out and running. It was just playing Colorado basketball. It relieved a little bit of the pressure and allowed us to pull out in front for a second. I just wish we could sustain that for a little longer.”
On his message to Julian and Andre after their missed Free Throws
“Just keep shooting. You can’t dwell on shots that you’ve missed. I missed four bunnies today. You can go back and choose every shot you missed, and there’s a lot to choose from, but they’re all great shooters. They’ve shot free throws millions of times, so try to stay resilient and move on to the next one. Just not letting misses affect you and continue to take good shots.”
On being within a possession in recent games and the teams breakdown
“I think it’s just mental focus. We have to do a better job of being able to take pride on being in the right position, being aware of all situations, and being aware of your job in shell defense. It just seems like a breakdown every game that’s kind of hurting us in the stretches and it just comes down to discipline.”
Bangot Dak, So., F
On his performance tonight
“I was just letting my defense affect the way I played offensively. I was blocking shots and creating energy. That just helped me offensively to get going.”
On protecting the rim
“I think I'm improving for sure. We just need to keep getting better every day. But I definitely feel like I'm getting better.”
On preparing with Elijah questionable
“I just had to lock in more, knowing I was going to play a little bit more. I had to make the most of my minutes and play hard. I came in with an attack mindset.”
Cincinnati Head Coach Wes Miller
Opening Statement
“I’m proud of my guys tonight. It’s been a tough start for both of us, us and Colorado, in the last couple of weeks. I’m proud of my guys tonight. They kind of found a way to stay together. We had a lot of guys contribute to a Wednesday night and played 10 significant minutes. I thought our depth was a factor. It was good to get a win. Colorado made a really nice run to get back in the game, made a couple over the top and capitalized on a couple of our defensive errors. We missed a couple around the basket, but it was nice to see us pull one out. A close game on the road, that's something that we haven't been able to do here the last couple of weeks, home or away. It was good for our team to do that today.”
On seeing good shots from Simas Lukosius
“I have so much confidence in our players. Simas is not just a shooter, he's a great basketball player. He hasn't shot it as well here over the last three weeks or so, but that's shooting. The best shooters in the world have stretches like that. You know it's not going to last. The one thing about Simas, he always wants the ball in the biggest moments. He has the toughness that no matter how he's been playing, he wants to not just take shots, but make plays. I thought he made not just shots, but he made some tremendous plays tonight. I thought our team's execution down the stretch was better than it's been, to create better looks. Sometimes shots go in more when you work together to get better shots, and I thought we got some better shots tonight.”
On Cincinnati's free throw shooting tonight
“To win games in league play, you have to convert on the free throw line, especially with the lead late in the game. Guys stepped up to the line, showed some toughness and made free throws.”
On playing Colorado
“I think that the way it's started, both teams are going to be hungry for a win. I have a ton of respect for Tad [Boyle] and the job that he does. I knew his team was going to be ready and prepared. They're prepared every night. Connor Hickman’s out for us, that's part of basketball. I think when you're the opposing team in those situations, you're just focused on what you have to do, and it's really hard to come by wins on the road in this league. I’m proud that our guys did that tonight.”
On taking advantage of Colorado’s missed free throw shots
“Again, to win on the road in this league, you have to execute and get good shots at the end of games and you have to step up to the free throw line and make free throws, and I thought we did that tonight.”
On playing against strong offensive players like Julian Hammond II
“We saw that on tape. I give our guys a lot of credit, Day Day [Thomas] and Jizzle [James] specifically. We got switched quite a bit tonight too, so other guys got switched on to him. They did a nice job of attacking switches, getting the ball around the basket, posting us and having success there, but I was pleased with the job that we did on him tonight.”
On strategy of frequent substitutions
“We’re just trying to find ways to give our guys a better chance to play to their strengths and play better basketball. We certainly have been looking at the lineups, substitutions and that type of thing. I did think we subbed more tonight, but I thought we still had continuity and consistency of playing time. I don't think Simas could tell you that he felt like he was yanked in and out of the game. I think it's something we're going to continue to try to develop. As we've talked about, coaches have to do a better job to help players be better players, and players have to do a better job to help coaches be better coaches. That's one area in coaching we can continue to grow.”
On CJ Fredrick’s contributions to the game
“I said to him back in November, early December somewhere, that if he sticks with it, there's going to be a time this year that he's going to really impact winning on the floor, not just in practice, in the locker room, which he always does. He's a terrific kid, and I think he's really given us a lift with Connor out the last two games. It's good to see him not just contributing, but playing well.”
On how to keep momentum going
“They want to get back to Cincinnati tonight. We've had a lot of traffic problems. I don't think we've had, and I'm complaining, but I don't think we've had a flight take off on time in two weeks. I think we just want to get back to Cincinnati tonight on time, get these guys some rest, and then focus on getting better and preparing for the next game. We just got to keep getting better preparing for the next game.”
Simas Lukosius, Sr. G/F
on confidence in his shots
“Both of the threes at the end of the game, they felt good. I had high hopes while the ball was in the air.”
On tonight’s performance kickstarting a home game win
“We kind of hit a wall in a bad spot during the season, and that's how you get out of it. Grind a win out and everybody feels the taste of it again. And I think it's definitely going to help.”
Jan. 15, 2025, CU Events Center
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“I sound like a broken record here the last five games, but really, really disappointing, and drop our third game at home thinking that we lost one in this building the entire season last year. Now we've lost three and all winnable games that we weren't good enough to win. I told the team, I told the radio, I feel like this is the poorest coached team in America. That's how I feel, because the stuff that we talk about in practice, the stuff we talk about in huddles, it doesn't translate to the games, for whatever reason. And maybe they're tuning me out, but I'm not getting through to them, which is really frustrating. We had a chance to win this game tonight, but we didn't get it done. So you know, what are you going to do? The guys battle, they play hard, they compete, I'll give them that. But we've got some good players on this team. I don't think we have a great player on this team, but we have a lot of good players on this team, and some of them aren't playing very good. We're a team that has to rely on each other. We got to be and we don't have to be perfect for each other. We just got to rely on each other, whether it's defensively or offensively. And season low eight assists tonight. We shot 50% in the second half, but a lot of it is one-on-one stuff. We didn't play together offensively very good tonight at all. Our offense in the game tonight relative to our offense in practice is like apples and oranges. That's another thing I don't understand. Again, it falls on me. Doesn't fall on these guys. It falls on me. So disappointing because this is a winnable game, but we come up short again.”
On creating consistency during practice
“Well, I think Julian, probably, of all of our guys, has been our most consistent throughout the season, up until this point. Now, in big 12 play, yeah, guess what? People know he's our leading scorer. So what does that mean? He's going to get the best defender on him and they're going to hound him, they're going to try to take away what he does. And so now Julian's got to become a distributor, and a guy that makes passes and finds his teammates open, and gets his assist numbers up. I think he's had some games where he's had some great assisted turnover ratios, and he's had some games where it's been very average, and he's had some games where it's been really poor. And so that inconsistency in that part of his game has really plagued him. Now, he's been a good shooter for us, and he's had a good season. He's a good score. I want him to be aggressive, but sometimes, you got to take what the game gives you. I go back to some of the great point guards we've had here, you know, whether it was KJ Simpson or McKinley Wright, Spencer Dinwiddie, Derrick White, you name it, they're not going to get 20 every night. So Julian's not going to get 20 points for us every single night, but there's nights we may need him to get 20, but there's other nights we don't need him to get 20, but he's got to get his teammates involved and get the ball inside, pocket passes, and pick and rolls and make those plays. So I'm pleased with the way Julian's played this year, his senior year, but tonight wasn't one of his better nights. And again, it wasn't one of a lot of our players better nights tonight. We've got good players who are not playing good right now. And Bangot played great tonight. I can't think of another guy that that did. Good moments. Sebastian Rancik did some really, really good things. I thought he was really aggressive. Trevor did some good thing. We got guys that do good things, but they do them in spots. They don't do them consistently. And look, we missed a lot of easy shots tonight, especially in that first half, but even in the second half, and we shot 50% in the second half. It's very frustrating. It's frustrating for the players, there's no doubt, and it's frustrating for me, and I told them the other day, our thought for the day was when you're going through hell, keep going. You know the Winston Churchill line, and that's where we're at right now. We gotta keep going, because we're going through hell right now. It's no fun, but nobody's gonna feel sorry for us. Sun's gonna get up and rise tomorrow, and we gotta rise with it. We gotta come to work and get better. And right now, I don't feel like we're getting better, I feel like we're kind of plowing through mud as a team.”
On if this team not translating work from practice to games is a first for him:
“No, no, no, no. There's been a lot of teams we've had that are like that. Now, not the good teams we've had. We've had some mediocre teams here. Some teams have kind of gone up and down, and it's come and gone, but this team's been a good practice team. They're a competitive group. I can count on one hand the number of bad practices we've had this year, and I have a couple of fingers left. We haven't had a lot of bad practices, so I credit them for that, but the carry over from the practices to the games is what I'm really disappointed in.”
On how the leadership could improve on this team:
“Well, that's something we're going to really have to hone in on and dial into because right now is when you need that leadership. You need leadership in the locker room, and to be a leader as a player, you have to get outside of yourself. We got a lot of guys that are so worried about their game like how good Bangot played tonight or maybe how poor somebody else played tonight. And they're thinking about themselves. So, like, what do I have to do to get better? What I have to do to get more minutes? What do I have to do? To be a leader, you have to look around and say, ‘That guy's really struggling, and maybe I can help him, maybe I can encourage him. Maybe I can try to make a play for him, get a shot for him, or set a screen for him. I can talk to that guy.’ My sense is that's not happening. Now, it might be without my knowledge, but to my knowledge, it's not happening. The most natural thing we all do when things don't go well is we worry about ourselves. I can tell you this. The last person I'm worried about right now is Tad Boyle. The guys I'm worried about right now are in that locker room, and I've got to do more to help them. They have to do more to help themselves. And it would really help if we had a leader that brought them together and said, ‘Okay, guys, like we got to we got to change this and this.’ What you need is players who are reiterating the message of the coaching staff. And again, I don't know if we have that or not. My guess is we don't. So that might answer your question.”
On what he thinks about the looks of the shots the team is getting:
“We don't go into a game thinking, ‘Hey, we got to get 15 threes up, 20 threes up, or 25 threes up.’ We go into a game saying, ‘We got to attack the paint. We got to attack it.’ And there are certain teams, when you attack the paint, they suck in. They get to the ball. They don't let you get to the rim. Now, that is when we got to kick it out. And when we kick it out, you have to be able to shoot it if you're open. Get it moved to the next guy if he's open. Our threes have to come as a result of getting the ball inside, whether that's to the post, whether that's on a drive and a kick, whatever it is. I'll look at the tape. All I want as a coach offensively is for our team to get a great shot. We can get a great shot. Now, I look at our three-point shooting numbers going into this game. We're shooting 29% as a team from three in Big 12 play. 23% tonight. We're good players. I thought that going into this season, this would be a really good three-point shooting team. It hasn't been to this point, not because they're not capable, but that's where shot selection comes in. And I felt like against Central Florida, we had a pretty good shot selection. Against West Virginia, I was pretty pleased with it. I'll let you know tomorrow, after watching this film, how many bad shots we took. If it's too many, then we'll try to correct that, but I just want great shots offensively, whether they're threes, whether they're twos, whether they're at the rim. I just want great shots. And I thought we got some great shots tonight that just didn't go in. But KU held these guys (Cincinnati) to 40 points in their own building. We held them to 68 in our building. Guess what? We hold them to 40, a totally different story. We're not capable of doing that. We're not good enough to do that right now. That's on me.”
What do you put your finger on for struggling in crunch time moments
“Bad coaching. If the team doesn't execute down the stretch, it's on you. If the team can't get a stop down the stretch, it's on you. All I want is great shots for our team. I can't make them, but we have to find a way to get great shots. In order to win games down the stretch, you have to have players that make plays. I have to do a better job of crafting some stuff offensively and be more sound defensively. When you break down in this league, you're going to pay for it. It's a team defensive mindset. We had some good things tonight as well. The way Bangot played was terrific. He's coming into his own. Now, can we get that consistently out of him? Not that he’s going to have eight block shots every night, but we need more consistency. Right now this team is struggling with inconsistency. Coming into the game we’re the second best free throw shooting team in the league, and Cincinnati was one of the worst. They made their free throws down the stretch. We didn't. You have to make plays, and you have to execute down the stretch. When your team doesn't, it's on you.”
On Bangot improving as a player
“As long as he doesn't over dribble. I think Bangot has to be an efficient ball handler. He can dribble for a guy his size, but when he starts playing with it bad things are going to happen. He has to be able to attack a close out. He has to be able to just be efficient with his dribbles. Bangot should never use more than two or three dribbles in any one move. Sometimes he over dribbles like a lot of our guys do.”
Colorado Players
Trevor Baskin, Gr., F
On taking charge in the locker room
“It's just staying resilient. We really have to take it upon ourselves to do what Coach talks about and be able to be more coachable. Be able to be more tuned in. Just buckling down. At the end of the day, like coach said, every game has been winnable. It's come down to execution on defense and some things like that. So just a couple plays here and there. It's a long season, so we can't hang our heads. Every game is going to be a dog fight like it's been so far. We just have to find ways to get over that hump. We're a resilient group and we'll figure it out. But this sucks. We just gotta learn from it and move on to the next one.”
On taking the lead in the 2nd half
“It was what Coach preaches every day in practice, getting stops, rebounding the ball, and getting out and running. It was just playing Colorado basketball. It relieved a little bit of the pressure and allowed us to pull out in front for a second. I just wish we could sustain that for a little longer.”
On his message to Julian and Andre after their missed Free Throws
“Just keep shooting. You can’t dwell on shots that you’ve missed. I missed four bunnies today. You can go back and choose every shot you missed, and there’s a lot to choose from, but they’re all great shooters. They’ve shot free throws millions of times, so try to stay resilient and move on to the next one. Just not letting misses affect you and continue to take good shots.”
On being within a possession in recent games and the teams breakdown
“I think it’s just mental focus. We have to do a better job of being able to take pride on being in the right position, being aware of all situations, and being aware of your job in shell defense. It just seems like a breakdown every game that’s kind of hurting us in the stretches and it just comes down to discipline.”
Bangot Dak, So., F
On his performance tonight
“I was just letting my defense affect the way I played offensively. I was blocking shots and creating energy. That just helped me offensively to get going.”
On protecting the rim
“I think I'm improving for sure. We just need to keep getting better every day. But I definitely feel like I'm getting better.”
On preparing with Elijah questionable
“I just had to lock in more, knowing I was going to play a little bit more. I had to make the most of my minutes and play hard. I came in with an attack mindset.”
Cincinnati Head Coach Wes Miller
Opening Statement
“I’m proud of my guys tonight. It’s been a tough start for both of us, us and Colorado, in the last couple of weeks. I’m proud of my guys tonight. They kind of found a way to stay together. We had a lot of guys contribute to a Wednesday night and played 10 significant minutes. I thought our depth was a factor. It was good to get a win. Colorado made a really nice run to get back in the game, made a couple over the top and capitalized on a couple of our defensive errors. We missed a couple around the basket, but it was nice to see us pull one out. A close game on the road, that's something that we haven't been able to do here the last couple of weeks, home or away. It was good for our team to do that today.”
On seeing good shots from Simas Lukosius
“I have so much confidence in our players. Simas is not just a shooter, he's a great basketball player. He hasn't shot it as well here over the last three weeks or so, but that's shooting. The best shooters in the world have stretches like that. You know it's not going to last. The one thing about Simas, he always wants the ball in the biggest moments. He has the toughness that no matter how he's been playing, he wants to not just take shots, but make plays. I thought he made not just shots, but he made some tremendous plays tonight. I thought our team's execution down the stretch was better than it's been, to create better looks. Sometimes shots go in more when you work together to get better shots, and I thought we got some better shots tonight.”
On Cincinnati's free throw shooting tonight
“To win games in league play, you have to convert on the free throw line, especially with the lead late in the game. Guys stepped up to the line, showed some toughness and made free throws.”
On playing Colorado
“I think that the way it's started, both teams are going to be hungry for a win. I have a ton of respect for Tad [Boyle] and the job that he does. I knew his team was going to be ready and prepared. They're prepared every night. Connor Hickman’s out for us, that's part of basketball. I think when you're the opposing team in those situations, you're just focused on what you have to do, and it's really hard to come by wins on the road in this league. I’m proud that our guys did that tonight.”
On taking advantage of Colorado’s missed free throw shots
“Again, to win on the road in this league, you have to execute and get good shots at the end of games and you have to step up to the free throw line and make free throws, and I thought we did that tonight.”
On playing against strong offensive players like Julian Hammond II
“We saw that on tape. I give our guys a lot of credit, Day Day [Thomas] and Jizzle [James] specifically. We got switched quite a bit tonight too, so other guys got switched on to him. They did a nice job of attacking switches, getting the ball around the basket, posting us and having success there, but I was pleased with the job that we did on him tonight.”
On strategy of frequent substitutions
“We’re just trying to find ways to give our guys a better chance to play to their strengths and play better basketball. We certainly have been looking at the lineups, substitutions and that type of thing. I did think we subbed more tonight, but I thought we still had continuity and consistency of playing time. I don't think Simas could tell you that he felt like he was yanked in and out of the game. I think it's something we're going to continue to try to develop. As we've talked about, coaches have to do a better job to help players be better players, and players have to do a better job to help coaches be better coaches. That's one area in coaching we can continue to grow.”
On CJ Fredrick’s contributions to the game
“I said to him back in November, early December somewhere, that if he sticks with it, there's going to be a time this year that he's going to really impact winning on the floor, not just in practice, in the locker room, which he always does. He's a terrific kid, and I think he's really given us a lift with Connor out the last two games. It's good to see him not just contributing, but playing well.”
On how to keep momentum going
“They want to get back to Cincinnati tonight. We've had a lot of traffic problems. I don't think we've had, and I'm complaining, but I don't think we've had a flight take off on time in two weeks. I think we just want to get back to Cincinnati tonight on time, get these guys some rest, and then focus on getting better and preparing for the next game. We just got to keep getting better preparing for the next game.”
Simas Lukosius, Sr. G/F
on confidence in his shots
“Both of the threes at the end of the game, they felt good. I had high hopes while the ball was in the air.”
On tonight’s performance kickstarting a home game win
“We kind of hit a wall in a bad spot during the season, and that's how you get out of it. Grind a win out and everybody feels the taste of it again. And I think it's definitely going to help.”