Players Mentioned
CU-Elon Postgame Quotes
December 14, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“It gives you an idea of where our program is when you win a game at home by 17 and people are kind of disappointed and frustrated, so I guess that's a good sign. We beat a good Elon team tonight, that team is going to win a lot of games in their league, their record is very deceiving. We did what we had to do, this was kind of a take care of business game and our guys did that, we rebounded the ball well, we got to the foul line, we played inside-out, it was a good win and there's still a lot of room for improvement with this team.”
On The Slow Start
“I told them at halftime, if you're starting it's your job to be ready to go when we tip-off. We didn't take care of the ball, we had twelve first half turnovers, we only turned it over 3 times in the second half. I thought our bench did a good job tonight, I was pleased with our bench play.”
On Rebounding and Turnovers
“At halftime we had 11 offensive rebounds and they had 11 rebounds total. Xavier Johnson was a beast; he was the difference in the first half. Overall, a workman-like effort, we did what we had to do, and some nights it's not always going to be as pretty as you want. We have to take care of the basketball, to have 8 turnovers against Kansas and then to have 16 against Elon, it's something as a coach that you kind of scratch your head on that one, there's no way to explain why.”
“A lot of opposing coaches say that he's the toughest matchup on our team. At the four spot he's a really tough matchup, he can make threes, he can put the ball on the floor, and he can rebound, so he's a tough matchup for opposing teams. Everybody knows you have to put a big guy on Josh [Scott], but if you put a little guy on Xavier he's going to take them down low and abuse him, you put a big guy on him and he'll lure him out and shoot 3s or drive around him. He's kind of like Andre [Roberson] but he goes inside a little better than Andre and shoots the ball a little better, and tonight he rebounded like Andre and we'll take that.”
On Free Throws
“We chart every free throw they take, from the first day of practice until today. The worst free throw shooter on our team in practice is shooting 75 percent, so the mechanics are there; they're able to shoot them. I have confidence that they can shoot them, they just have to do it in the game. It has to translate from practice to the game. Fatigue might be a reason, and confidence might be a reason, but the only way you get confident is to get in the gym and work on it, and I believe in every one of our guys I can tell you that.”
On George King
“Defensively he's trying, he's coming along. With our freshmen, whether it's Jaron [Hopkins], [Tre'Shaun Fletcher], Dustin [Thomas], or George [King], they're all going to have their moments, they're all capable. When all those freshman are playing well we are pretty dynamic, but right now we're a little bit hit and miss, we're not as consistent as we need to be.”
On Their Longest Win Streak In 52 Years (10 Games)
“It's another milestone that this program reaches; I didn't know that before the game. In the big scheme of things that's great, I haven't talked to this team a lot – because we're so darn young – about what their legacy is going to be. But, as we move into conference play I think those are the things we need to talk about and celebrate, it's a great thing, 52 years is a long time. This program continues to make milestones year in and year out and I want those players in that locker room to take tremendous pride in that.”
University of Colorado Student-Athletes
Spencer Dinwiddie, Junior, Guard
On Elon keeping the game close
“They shot threes very well. They are a very good shooting team. They shot over half of their shots from outside. The open looks that we gave them in the first half – that we shouldn't have – that they missed, went in the second half. That along with them slowing us down in the zone really made it close. We missed some layups.”
On defending Elon's shooting
“A lot of their actions stem from back screens into down screens, no matter who is shooting you can't just give them a wide open layup. That and if you're not switching out on pick-to-pick action quick enough, it gives them that split second of daylight. We play the shots high like coach says and sometimes they are going to go in. Other than that, it was just transitions where we had blown assignments on some open threes.”
On the team's energy at the beginning of the game
“It was something we talked about. We didn't go out there and execute. The starters came out and we were a little sluggish. They hit some open threes that we gave them early in the game. When all the starters got called out, it was low scoring and we were only kind of doing our jobs defensively. Offensively, we weren't playing with much pace. We weren't very crisp. We had a bunch of turnovers in that first little segment.”
On playing for the first time after beating Kansas
“I credit our team, because we move on from victories and losses very, very quickly. This time, all it was is that we didn't come out sharp. You hate to say that you might take an opponent for granted. We came out and I don't think we gave them the attention they deserved.”
George King, Freshman, Guard
On getting extra playing time
“Like Coach Boyle said, I'm just ready to get my number called. I didn't know I was going to get this much time, but I had success on the boards and attacking their defense. I got more time and I took advantage of it.”
On the team struggling from the free throw line
“We just need to get in the gym more and shoot more free throws. Our percentage has got to go up. I shot the ball a little bit better myself, but there is always room for improvement. As a team, we need to get better.”
Elon Head Coach Matt Matheny
General
“Well we did not play with aggression in the first half. We have a lot of great guys on our team and I thought they prepared very well. I thought they really focused on scattering the court. I thought the team, in the first half, really tried to do what our coaches are asking (them) to do. And we did it without aggression. That's my fault. That's us as coaches. We have to do a better job, not only giving our players information and aksing them to do what we're asking them to do, but we also have to get them ready to play with aggression. To Colorado's credit; first of all they are very good, they are very talented. But they out-rebounded us in the first half by 22 rebounds and we cannot expect to hang around with a top-25 team. They really just abused us at the glass. I thought our players revived at half time, came back at the second half with aggression. We did some things differently defensively; played some zone, played some combination defense. It got us back in the game. Our offense was much better. We were very reliant on the three point shot, but foul trouble caused us problems in both halves. But, we fought our way back and it just wasn't enough tonight.”
On Elon's Zone Defense
“I like the zone. But the way they're calling the game now, everyone's tired of hearing it. The way they're officiating the game now makes it very difficult to play 40 minutes of defense against a team that's a little bit better than you. So we went to the zone and it was effective for us. We had Colorado a little bit on their heels. They had a pretty big lead. It's very difficult to be a ranked team and to get a team that they don't know very well, to have a big halftime lead and come out and us go into a zone. That knocked them on their heels a little bit. Our offense, their flow was much better, and so we were able to chip away. And we shot the three very well and that kept us in the game. We have a long way to go. We have to get better.”
On Game Rhythm
“Both Tanner Samson and Sebastian Koch are [in the rhythm of shooting the basketball]. We love Jack Isenbarger. He has had a tremendous career here, and he's still out of rhythm. He's trying to get himself back into it a little bit. I told him at one point in the game, 'I believe in you, man.' Everybody believes in Jack, knows what he can do, but we just have to find our rhythm with him. But Sebastian and Tanner have a great rhythm and Austin Hamilton is doing a great job attacking and getting looks. We have to continue to improve.”
On Turnovers
“Their pressure did have an effect on us. It did knock us out of rhythm particularly in the first half. But we didn't turn it over much and I really felt, particularly in the second half, that we broke pressure and stayed in our system pretty well and as a result, I thought we did better.”
-COLORADO-