Colorado-DePaul Post Game Quotes

University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General
"It was a good win for us, DePaul is a talented team. You look at their record, 6-5 doesn't jump off the page, but they've lost to some good teams and they're a quality bunch, they don't have quite the depth. I thought transition in the second half we got some easy run outs and we handled their press better in the second half than we did in the first half. We turned it over nine times in the first half, and that's too many. We want 10-12 for the whole game and we ended up with 12 in the game which I can live with, but nine in the first half was a little too many. We did a better job in the second half, handling it, playing without fouling, we fouled them so much in that first half and we talked about those two things a lot. Our guys responded, I thought Askia Booker was terrifc tonight, very efficient, made easy plays and we finished enough to win the thing but it was a good win."

On Josh Scott And Other Players Stepping Up
"They played the first eight minutes of the game man-to-man. We need to get Josh more touches, even against the zone. We played against 30-32 minutes of zone tonight, it's hard particularly for a big guy to get touches in the zone sometimes. But, we need to do a better job of attacking inside-out against the zone because we are going to see it tomorrow against GW. The fact that they play zone doesn't mean that Josh can't be effective. It was one of those games, and we talked about this at halftime, we have to finish plays, because you get the ball to the rim and there may be some contact, but there may not be a whistle. So, you have to play through it, you have to finish it, and he (Josh Scott) normall finishes better than he did tonight, and he may have gotten a little frustrated. But again, he defended and rebounded great, and I thought he was terrific against a really good player in [DePaul C] Tommy Hamilton [IV]. Josh was the difference defensively against that kid."

On The Rebounding Performance By Colorado
"Well, not good. 16 offensive rebounds (for DePaul) is way too many. I thought coming into the game that was an advantage we had, and we didn't do a very good job. We have to credit DePaul. Rebounding is just an aggressiveness, a want-to, a mentality, and we have to have that. We want to be plus-eight on the boards and we got out-rebounded by four. So, if there's a down-side to this game, when you win by 14 on a neutral court, is we got out-rebounded. The good news is we played pretty well offensively, especially in the second half. We did a great job at the free throw line, 81 percent, we got there 38 times. We were aggressive, we attacked; when we attack the basket, we're good."

On Chemistry Being Built On This Trip
"Yeah, a little bit. The one thing about our team is we have good chemistry, guys like each other, I don't think we need a trip like this to necessarily bond, but it is good when you are away from home and you are at a place like Hawaii for the Holidays. We talk about family a lot, and this is a good opportunity to be together as a basketball family. We have a close team."

On Jaron Hopkins Starting
"A couple reasons. The main reason was because of [DePaul G] Billy Garrett, a 6'6'' point guard on the other team, who is a good player, we wanted to have size on him. It was more of a defensive challenge and defensive adjustment. The fact that he has been practicing well, and he has been playing well lately, certainly makes the decision easier. But, I don't get caught up on who starts the game, it's how well do you play when you are in there. I thought Jaron was good tonight, and we're going to need for him to be good. But we're going to need our bench, we're going to need X. Talton, we're going to need Dominique Collier, we're going to need Dustin Thomas and Tre'Shaun Fletcher. Tory [Miller] is off to a little frustrating start, but he is going to be a good player when it is all said and done. There's a learning curve for him going on right now. I like our team, I like our depth, and I'm very confident in every one we put in the game."

On George Washington
"They're good, they've got good personnel, they're well coached, they're long. They're a Pac-12 level basketball team in terms of size and length and skill. They're a good team, and they will be better than the team we played today in a lot of respects. Again, they went to the NCAA Tournament last year just like we did, they have a lot of guys back. We have our hands full. We're going to have to play well tomorrow to win. This will be a conference type, NCAA Tournament type game we play tomorrow, we better be ready to roll."

University of Colorado Student-Athletes

Askia Booker, Senior, Guard

General
"I think we played well. I think we started off the game very hot, we were in the gaps, we were rebounding, we were contesting shots, and we made a lot of buckets in transition. Then they made a run towards the end of the half and the game was neck and neck. But coach went into halftime and just telling us, 'Keep grinding defensively, contest shots, get the boards and get out in transition, they can't guard us in transition.' I think we took advantage of that in the second half, and we did that very well."

On Enjoying The Fast-Pace Game
"I love it, especially pitch-aheads, get guys easy buckets. I can either pull-up or get to the rim, get fouled. Today I think I got a lot of free throws, which is unusual a little bit, but it worked out."

On His Confidence
"It's all about confidence. I think the first four games of the season my head wasn't there. It was just some stuff I had going on, but I think I figured it out. Coach [Boyle] and I talked about some stuff, he made things clear, and he let me know that they (his team) need me. I figured that out and it's not just me scoring the ball, I have to distribute, I have to play defense, I have to rebound, I have to push the ball, and I think I'm doing a pretty good job of that right now."

On His Play Raising The Level Of Play Of His Teammates And Whether He Understands That
"Yeah I do, but you have to give credit to my teammates. Xavier Johnson, Jaron Hopkins, Josh Scott, Wesley Gordon, Xavier Talton, those types of guys, they make plays once I get them the ball. I hit Xavier Johnson on the three-point line and he drives and gets a layup. Jaron Hopkins, I put it at the rim, he dunks it. Wesley Gordon, I get a behind the back pass in transition and he dunks it, so those guys are making it a lot easier for me when they finish those plays and get to the rim like they do."

On This Tournament Preparing The Team For Pac-12 Play
"No doubt, especially with all the physicality out here. The teams we are playing against, they are big, they're strong, they're athletic. It also gives us time to bond, the first two days we were here we were all hanging out together, we ate, we relaxed and walked around a little bit. But we're here to take care of business, today was the first game and tomorrow will be the second."

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