Colorado-UCLA Post Game Quotes
January 03, 2015 | Men's Basketball
University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
"I think that if a team ever needed a win, the Colorado Buffaloes needed a win tonight. I don't even want to think about where our heads would be if we didn't win. We gained a lot of confidence from this and didn't play our best, but won. If you turn the ball over 18 times, shoot 37.5 percent from the field and win by six you're pretty fortunate, but it's a tribute to our defense. I thought out perimeter defense was great and [F] Wesley Gordon on the interior, with seven blocks and a double-double, I thought he was a man-child in there. Obviously, with [F] Josh [Scott] not playing, Wesley stepped up, [F] Tory Miller had some great minutes off of the bench, [F] Dustin Thomas stepped into that starting role and it was just a great team victory."
On Momentum Changes Throughout The Game
"I thought we showed great toughness and resiliency all night with that stretch of rough calls and the way we started the second half where we missed a wide open three and then they made it. I thought Xavier Johnson gave us an unbelievable spark and energy during that second half. He wanted the ball, demanded the ball and was going strong. We played him in the second half at the four-spot, and he doesn't like to hear me say it, but it's kind of his natural position. He was a beast down there, really rose to the challenge and gave us unbelievable energy and spark."
On The Preparation For The Game
"The thing that we challenged our guys with before the tip was to compete for 40 minutes. We had to compete for 40 minutes, and I thought we did that. We didn't necessarily play great, but we competed and showed great toughness throughout the game."
On The Energy Level Throughout The Game
"It's the first time that I've seen it for pretty much 40 minutes. We've had that high-energy in spots before. Usually your energy, grit and determination come out when you're making shots, and tonight it came out when we didn't make shots. To me, that's a great sign of toughness because it's hard to dig deep when the ball isn't going in for you. It didn't go in really well for us tonight, but our guys battled and we showed that grit and toughness in adverse conditions for the first time, and for 40 minutes for the first time."
On The Team Responding To Josh Scott Being Inactive
"I told them about thirty minutes before the game rather than wait to announce the starting lineup. I wanted to give them some time to digest that, understand that we were a man down and that it was time for us all to step up to the challenge. Coach [Bill] McCartney came and talked to our team about resolve, digging deep and playing together, and I thought our guys really responded."
On The Difference In The Final Minutes
"I thought that we made free throws, for one thing. We went 21-for-25 from the line, so we made our free throws down the stretch. Other than a few turnovers, we took care of the ball pretty well. We executed offensively and didn't get stops on defense every time, but we got enough stops. When it was 55 to 51, I told the guys that if we got stops we would win the game. Down the stretch we executed offensively, made our free throws and got enough stops and rebounds on defense to put the game away."
University of Colorado Student-Athletes
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Xavier Johnson, Junior, Forward
On Big Win Against UCLA
"It feels good. All the hard work we put in finally showed. I'm happy we were able to come out with the victory, and we are going to keep progressing forward from here."
On Finishing Strong At Home
"We just wanted it. We had a lot of players step up since [F] Josh [Scott] was out. [F] Tory [Miller] stepped up huge for us. Along with [F] Dustin [Thomas], Fletch (F Tre'Shaun Fletcher), and [G] Jaron [Hopkins]. Everybody stepped up big for us and put in work for us tonight and that's how we were able to come away with the victory."
Askia Booker, Senior, Guard
On The Team Playing With A 'Chip' On Their Shoulders
"Right before we came out onto the court I grabbed the guys and I told them, everybody in the gym doesn't think we can win without Josh Scott. And I told them we are guaranteed to win this game if we play hard enough and we play together. The outcome is that we won, we played together and hard. We didn't technically play to smart, including myself. But we played hard and we played together."
On Overcoming And Winning Without Starting F Josh Scott
"We defended and rebounded. That shows you, through thick and thin, if you defend and rebound you can still win the game, whether it be by one point, 10, 15 or 20 points. But if we do cut those turnovers down, somewhere between 10-12, maybe we win by 20 or 15. It wasn't one of those nights we didn't take care of the ball including myself. I think that we are going to get better at that and make better plays. But due to our defending and rebounding we won the game."
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
General
"I thought the guys fought hard, I appreciate the effort. We had a lot of similarities to the Alabama (game), the last four or five minutes we just couldn't make enough plays."
On Getting Out To Fast Start
"It was, I thought all that was really good, we got the ball moving, we got defensive stops. We had a good run to start the, I thought the first half and the second half, I thought both of those things were really good."
 On Why Team Couldn't Sustain Offense In Second Half
"Don't know. Didn't make many shots. If you shoot 30 percent, that makes it hard on you."
On G Bryce Alford Shooting 2-of-16 From The Field
"Yeah he had a tough game from shooting it, I thought he handled it well, getting hounded pretty good. This was one game he didn't shoot it well, and he has a lot of pressure on him, a lot on his shoulders, I understand that and appreciate that. He gave great effort, I thought he handled the ball well, did a lot of good things that way and was solid defensively, it was just a night where he couldn't make a shot. You're going to have nights like that, hopefully he doesn't have too many of them. There were some ill-advised shots, he wants to do so well, there were some tough shots and we've had several guys take some tough shots and that's what we've been working on, working on our offense more to where we are attacking the rim going inside-out. I thought [C] Thomas Welsh was terrific tonight, off the bench. We just couldn't get things going quick enough where we could get to the free throw line, we got beat bad at the free throw line, and they (Colorado) are very good at doing that."
On CU F Josh Scott Not Playing
"Well, obviously a great player. Hopefully he will get feeling better, I don't know what his status is. They are obviously a lot better with him, but I thought their kids fought and I thought our kids fought, I thought both teams really fought hard and tried to get it. They had some guys step up and do some good things for them."
On Changing Anything After Four Consecutive Losses
"We've said it, I knew back in October this was going to be hard. This was going to be a very difficult stretch, we go December 13th to January 27th and play two home games, so I knew it was going to be a difficult stretch, it's just hard. We knew we were going to be slight in the backcourt and that makes it really hard on us and puts a lot of pressure on the backcourt. We just have to keep working; the guys have done a great job working and they are a fun group to coach and I feel for them because they are giving great effort."