CU-CSU Post Game Quotes

University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General

"I'll start by saying, obviously that was a very disappointing loss for the Colorado Buffaloes tonight. I take ownership, as the head coach. We didn't finish that game out, we didn't make enough plays down the stretch. We've got a lot of things to work on as a basketball team. We're 5-3. My hat does go off to Colorado State. They came in here and did what they had to do to get a win. I knew it was going to be a hard fought game before it ever started; it was. We came up a little short. I thought they made plays down the stretch; we didn't. Close games in college basketball are won by teams that have the gumption to finish it out, play smart, and make plays down the stretch. They did and we didn't."

On Final Moments Of Game

"I've got confidence in our group. In retrospect, you look as a coach, I should have called a timeout after that free throw when it was a three-point game and twelve seconds to go. We needed a three (point shot) at that time. We work on time and score every day in practice. I assumed that our guys knew we needed a three at that point. I think with 20 or 30 seconds left, four-point game, you don't' need a three. You'll take it if you got it, but you don't need it. We work on those situations a lot, so I have confidence in our players. I expect our team at this stage to be more mature than they are. This is our first close game that we've been in all year. That's why in practice we put ourselves in those situations. Our guys battled. I can't fault the fight of our team; I can't fault the competiveness. The maturity part and playing smart, those were the two issues."

On G Dominique Collier Being Out

"I feel really bad for Dominique Collier. He's very frustrated. He started out the year with a two game suspension, then he had a bad ankle sprain. Now he sprained a couple of ligaments in his wrist. We won't have him on Saturday either. Hopefully he'll be back for the Hawaii tournament. He's a guy that can help make our offense better, because he does not let the ball stick in his hands. He has the ability to try to get other guys involved. We could have used him tonight, but that's not an excuse. We've got enough good players in uniform to get it done. We just didn't get it done tonight. I take responsibility for that. I'm not going to make any excuses for it. I've got to do a better job; we have to make better plays."

On End Of Season Goals Potentially Being In Jeopardy

"We can't even be concerned about what our goals are. Your goals come to fruition by the day-to-day work you put in, whether that's in the weight room, classroom, shooting on your own in the gym, or in practice. We've got to be concerned with one thing. We've got to get better every day. We can't look at games, records, and RPI's. We've got to get better every day, and if we don't do that, those goals will take care of themselves. When we put this schedule together, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy schedule. I didn't expect to be 5-3 right now, but guess what we are. We're a decent basketball team right now. We're not good; we're certainly not great. I don't think we're bad; we're decent. Decent isn't good enough. I'm not interested in being decent; our players aren't interested in being decent, but guess what, right now they're decent."

University of Colorado Student-Athletes

Josh Scott, Junior, Forward

On Offensive Struggles Through The Night

"Bottom line is I think I played terribly. I think Ski (Askia Booker), XJ (Xavier Johnson), and Wes (Wesley Gordon) kept us in the game. But in the end we just didn't make plays. I just really didn't shoot the ball well."

On This Team Having Struggles And Comparing That To Teams In The Past

"I think every team, that I've at least been a part of here at CU, has had their own issues. I remember freshmen year we got blown out by Kansas, and we lost to Wyoming pretty handily. You know its part of the process, and this team has its own process to go through."

On Fixing The Issues Facing This Team

"I think that's a complicated question, I think you could choose a number of factors in terms of stuff we need to improve on."

Askia Booker, Senior, Guard

On Losing To CSU

"Every loss hurts. This was our quote-on-quote main rival, and we just loss in our own house so they have the bragging rights for this state. Both Wyoming and CSU can say they beat us this year. It hurts."

On G Dominique Collier Being Out With A Hand Injury

"It hurts. I mean a lot of the pressure was on me to come off of ball screens and make plays. [G/F] Xavier Johnson and [G] Tre'shaun Fletcher are capable players but a lot of those ball screens come down to me, [G] Jaron Hopkins and [G] Xavier Talton to make plays. Whether it be to hit to roll man or hit the guy that's coming out of the corner to post the basketball. Taking care of the ball is where we missed those guys (Jaron Hopkins and Xavier Talton both in foul trouble throughout the game) the most."

On Handling Issues With This Team

"Main issue we have to deal with is defense, second is to take care of the ball. Those are two right there. Guard the ball, box out, I mean you can go down the list. Like he (Josh Scott) said, there's a number of things. Maturity, we are down four with 52 seconds left. I didn't make enough plays, he (Josh Scott) didn't make enough plays, the team didn't make enough plays. I take full responsibility for that, I should have shot a three with 12 seconds left, instead I took a layup. That's a complete mistake on my end. I realized that after I shot the ball. But I'm going to try and learn from it."

Colorado State Head Coach Larry Eustachy

On J.J. Avila

"He was [huge]. He made some big plays. The thing I like about this win is that the team reflects J.J. We can play a lot better but we showed a lot of character in beating an NCAA tournament team. It's just a cool win."

On CSU's Character Tonight

"I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know to be honest with you. We didn't think we were going to come in here and lose. I had a good talk with Coach Tad Boyle before the game. He has a really good team and sometimes you take your lumps early and you're better for it when it really counts. This was a great game. We tried in a lot of way to lose it with free throws and other things. I'm proud of our guys. They're happy in there."

On Fans

"I heard the Colorado fans a lot tonight, particularly the student section. But, we are 9-0. This team is a whole different cat than they were last year. Daniel Bejarano and J.J. Avila have grown up so much. It's a great win and something we can build on. The great thing is that we can get a lot better."

On Game Turning Point

"It was when we grabbed the ball with 2.5 seconds to go. I think Joe De Ciman's three was the game, really. That was huge. We couldn't keep them off of the boards and we couldn't do what we were supposed to be able to do. It's a very exciting game. I give Colorado a ton of credit because Coach Boyle was questioning them, I read an article about it, but I thought even though they didn't win they answered with an unbelievable effort late in the game. If they tipped in it we lose, or overtime. It's a bang-bang play, but the biggest play was Joe's three."

On Holding Josh Scott To Two Points

"That was our plan; we said we'd give him one basket. No, I'm his biggest fan. I had a good hand shake with him before the game. He has huge character and is an NBA player. Tiel Daniels did a great job. Tiel's the unsung hero in this game. He made some big time finishes around the basket and he denied Scott the ball for most of the game."

On What Win Means For Program

"I think it's cool for the guys in there. For me, we're moving in the right direction. Had we won this game or not, no one game is a game changer or a program changer. We've been doing it right since the day we walked on campus and we've had all the support in the world from the administration. So, this helps but we're already headed where we're going to end up. It hasn't really sunk in yet. To be honest, I still remember last year's loss more than this year's win right now. It's crazy how you remember that. Program wise we're moving in the direction. It's a great game. I always thought we should play twice. Why go to Georgia and do that when you can come up to Fort Collins, we'll even pay for their dinner. How can you find a more exciting game than this? Have they had a bigger crowd this year? Maybe they have, but I doubt it. It seems pretty big to me."

On John Gillon

"John was good tonight. He makes his free throws. We almost lost the game because we struggled at the free throw line. But, he was big. He's hard to guard. He's just going to get so much better. We just have to stay healthy is what we have to do."

On Coors Event Center

"I think this is a venue. If we were to play again now, Colorado could avenge the loss tonight. It would be a great situation like going to an Arizona up in Fort Collins. I've been begging for it. Look at last year's game, look at every game. Neither program is going to hurt each other's RPI, so why not in two weeks have them drive up and have revenge on their hands. It just makes sense. I'd like to hear a negative."

Related Videos