Colorado-Main Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement “Not a nail biter tonight, thank goodness. We didn't have to worry as much down the stretch but I thought our guys took about eight minutes to kind of wake up and figure out that part of our game plan was defensive pressure and intensity. We still need to try to figure out how to put together a full 40 minute game and how to get going from the jump but overall I'm pleased. We hit a lot of our numbers tonight. In terms of our individual game goals; 40% defensive field goal percentage, plus eight on the boards - we dominated the boards - we only gave up five threes, only gave up four offensive rebounds and we had 10 turnovers. So when you hit those numbers, the score kind of takes care of itself. Hopefully our young guys can learn from that - not that we're gonna hit all those goals every night - but every one of them is important based upon who you're playing. That's what we have to figure out as we play more formidable teams down the stretch which is going to start Friday with Southern Illinois.”
On the second half intensity
“Our intensity picked up and we started pressing a little bit at the end of the first half and it kind of got us going. We wanted to wear them down. Part of playing here (in Boulder) is wearing teams down. Good teams come out, and they came out in the first eight minutes and it was kind of tit for tat. We weren't able to string together many stops and we weren't great offensively either. But I thought in the second half we really started sharing the ball well. We really made some unselfish plays in that second half, which is really heartwarming. If our team does not play with an agenda - individual agendas - offensively we have a chance to be pretty good because we have a lot of weapons. A lot of guys that can score on different nights and that’s one of the mantras we've had the last couple days in practice that will continue. We have to make plays for each other and not make plays for ourselves. If we do that, we'll be pretty good.”
On Nique Clifford and K.J. Simpson providing a spark off the bench
“I think Nique and K.J., you can put both those guys in the same category. Both come in, both are perimeter players and both play with a lot of energy. Nique is rebounding the ball well and doing a lot of really good things for us. So I look at him as the sixth starter and K.J. has kind of embraced that role coming off the bench. He's a guy that can make plays as well, especially in the open floor. We really haven't seen K.J. in the open floor much. We need to get stops so we can do that. He showed a couple of flashes tonight. The turnover bug didn't hit us too bad. K.J. had four, it was kind of his night to have a lot of turnovers. Jabari (Walker) and Tristan (da Silva) were the first night (Nov. 9 against Montana State) and Keeshawn (Barthelemy) was the second night (Nov. 13 against New Mexico). Tonight it was K.J.’s turn. Once we get everybody playing with that ball under control, we’ll be good. We’re a good shooting team, all we need to do is get shots on goal - kind of a soccer analogy there.”
On the depth and more guys getting minutes
I thought Julian Hammond did a really good job. It took him a while. He was a little nervous when he got in there and had a couple tough fouls, but it's a learning curve for him. He hadn't experienced the first two games like everybody else. Luke O'Brien I thought played really well. He had four steals and was really active. He got a big offensive rebound there in the first half. I love his aggressiveness. He had a nice drive and dish to Keeshawn there in the second half. I thought both those kids did a good job in the minutes that they had. It's hard to play 10 in a rotation - usually it’s about eight or nine. Those guys just have to be ready when their numbers are called. It's sometimes a tough position to be in but they got to figure that out and I think they will. I have confidence in both of them.”
On the Play of G Keeshawn Barthelemy
“Keeshawn (Barthelemy) wants to be a good player. He wants to do the right things and (be) conscientious. I don't worry about any individual guy. On some nights, when you’ve got to understand it may not be your night in terms of making plays, that's when you have to rely on your teammates and not try to do too much. Keeshawn has a scoring mentality. He's going to find out as we go deeper (into the season), teams will be scouting him. They're going to be helping on drives more. Maybe they're going to be double teaming on ball screen. He's going to have to learn how to become a distributor
as defenses key in on him. That's the beauty of this team. We've got other guys that can step up and do that. When (Keeshawn) has space and he's in the open floor, and our spacing is such a big part of our offense, he's really tough to guard in space. He's so fast and quick. He's got great elevation on his jump shot and it's really worked on his floater and pull up games. He's doing some nice things for us.”
On CU’s High Rebound Margin in the Game
“That's absolutely what we want. We also know that as we go on the road, that whistle isn't quite as friendly. As you get into Pac-12 play, things seem to even out a little bit more. We can't rely on the free throw. We still want to put foul pressure on the other team and get to the free throw line, but we're probably not going to get there as often as we're getting there now. We always want to play inside out. We always want to be in attack mode. Rebounding is something that we hang our hat on both offensively and defensively. Defensively, tonight we gave up four rebounds. (Maine) was averaging 14 offensive rebounds in the two games they’ve played. They’ve got some big, strong guys. We did a much better job on the defensive glass. I can remember two of their four offensive rebounds. I know when they happened. I know who gave them up. We're striving for perfection, but if we can give teams four offensive rebounds on as many missed shots as they had, we'll take that all night long.”
On Scouting Maine
“It was tough because they’re on the East Coast. We don't recruit in that area very much. We didn't have a good feel for their personnel. Coach (Mike) Rohn did as good a job as he could, but this game was about us. It was a tough scouting report. That's why the game plan was pretty simple -- get great shots, play inside out and attack (Maine’s defense) Defensively, (our game plan was) pressuring the ball and to limit their second chance opportunities. Our guys did a good job of that.”
On C Lawson Lovering’s Play
“Nobody's harder on himself than Lawson is. That can be a good thing. He and I have talked about it. That's something that can be a negative thing and we can't let it become negative because he's going to be a good player. The biggest thing with young post guys – Evan (Battey) went through it, Josh Scott went through, Wes Gordon went through it. You go down the list of our bigs that we've had that have played early in their career. Young big guys get in a hurry. Right now, he's in too much of a hurry when he catches the ball, before he catches it, or even after he catches it. He had one (play) down there, if he just takes his time and comes to a two-footed stop, he goes up and dunks it. It's not an issue but he's just trying to go too fast. He is getting frustrated. He's got to let that go, learn, and continue to get better. Lawson is going to be fine. We're going to need him at times because knock on wood, hopefully Evan’s out of foul trouble. Lawson's a great rim protector. He's going to be a good player for us this year. We’ve just got to get him through those tough moments. The biggest thing he's got to work on offensively too is, before he catches it, be ready before he catches it, rather than catch it, then gather it and go up. That's too slow at this level. He could get away with that in high school. Here, he's got to be low and anticipate the ball coming as it's coming. He's going up as it catches it. Just slow it down -- being quicker but slowing down. The old John Wooden quote, right. ‘Be quick, but don't hurry.’ That's what Lawson's got to figure out, and he will.”
Colorado Players
Keeshawn Barthelemy, So., G
On ball security“I just want to play my game, be aggressive, and look for the offensive possession for my team. Overall I think I did a good job taking care of the ball.”
On team playing in Virgin Islands
“It starts with an intensity and just to take it possession by possession. When we don’t play at home sometimes we rattle but if we increase our defensive intensity from the beginning it shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to focus on Illinois on Friday. We'll take it from there.”
Jabari Walker, So., F
On team’s defensive performance“We preached coming out strong in the first half, and we didn't do the job we expected, so the second half we had an opportunity to improve. [As] starters, we have a responsibility to start the game, and the second half, off strong. We want to improve on that, and I think we made a big shot in the second half.”
On team’s slow start
“I know it put a lot of pressure on our bench when we don't separate early in games. So we just say we can't do that and we accepted the responsibility to start in the games and start right. We have to improve. Second half, we got off to a better start so we didn’t have to put the pressure on the bench to separate the game.”
On young players getting a chance to play
“It is an amazing feeling because they work so hard and they deserve it. They deserve more minutes they played tonight. Anything they get is amazing. They practice every day with us; they work just as hard as all of us. I wish they could play more.”
Maine Head Coach Richard Barron
On Competing Against Colorado
“They expose things that you don't do well. They were deep and talented. They come at you in waves. I was pleased with the first 12 minutes or so of the game. I thought we were executing very well. (Colorado) stepped up their intensity and we've got to learn how to handle that better. We let go of our game plan and our identity when they made a run, which is going to happen against these good teams. There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from watching film.”
On How Maine Can Build from Their Good First 12 Minutes of the Game
“A lot of teaching from film, and then getting after it in practice. We've got to play the way we want to play. We've got to continue to work on our conditioning and toughness, mentally and physically. To be able to do that for 40 minutes, it's getting after it in practice, and it's teaching it through film.”