Colorado-Pacific Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“I don't know if I should start with a positive or the not so positive, but some good things happened tonight. The second half was obviously a lot better than the first half. For some reason we weren't ready to play. That's on me. We got to be better. Our defensive effort tonight, I thought was a carryover from practice yesterday. I saw it coming yesterday in practice, and we tried to warn our guys about Pacific and not being scared. They've got some guys that have played at this level, so they're good players. If you don't guard them, and then you let them feel comfortable, they're gonna make shots, because they're good players. Every team in America has good players. With this transfer portal, it works both ways, because sometimes players transfer down maybe a level, so to speak, and now they're playing for a team that comes in here, and they're playing loose and and that's how you get a guy like Elias [Ralph], who has 24 points and [Elijah] Fisher has 17. That's their two leading scorers. We gotta be able to find a defensive stop. Right now, we don't have one. I thought we did with Elijah, or with Andrej [Jakimovski], but Andrej, I thought, played a really undisciplined game tonight, defensively. Had a lot of guys reaching, and not disciplined. Can't guard the ball. Our ball screen defense was designed to keep the ball out of the paint, believe it or not. It's hard for you guys to believe that, but that's what it was designed to do. At halftime, they got 24 points in the paint and we got eight, and Elijah Malone has one shot attempt and it’s from three. That's not how Colorado basketball is going to win games this year, so our guys got to figure that out.”
On what was different defensively in the second half:
“We started trapping a little bit when we went small, and tried to create some offense with our defense. We wanted to keep the pace of the game going. I thought our guys did a good job of that. Pacific got tired. Playing in this building at this altitude is a huge advantage for us. It helped us win this game tonight, because if they don't get tired and they're still making those shots, because they were getting pretty good looks there, they started missing them like we missed in the first half. I think in the first half, we were four for 17 inside the arc, but you got to figure out a way to win that way, and the way you do that is by getting stops, but we didn't do that. That's why they had 38 points at halftime. We're down nine, and we played much better defensively in the second half, I thought. We did change a few things up, nothing major, though. Just did it better.”
On RJ Smith’s development
“RJ [Smith] is a good player, and RJ is an important player for this basketball team. You look at his assist-turnover ratio, he was three to one tonight, which is fantastic. I think in Hawaii, he was positive in a big way, so he's doing a good job now. I think in the ball screens, he's got to get better at probing, and getting downhill and making decisions. He's sometimes, and again, I'd rather have it this way then the other way, where he's driving in the lane and leaving his feet and turning it over. Three assists and one turnover, we’ll take it all night. He's just got to continue to improve, but he's given us good minutes. There's no doubt about it, RJ was a big part of the game tonight, as was Harrison Carrington off the bench.”
On Trevor Baskin’s assisting game tonight
“Fantastic. He's sharing the ball. He's moving the ball. We tried to go to him in the second half. We got him a couple post touches there, and he wasn't finishing the ball at the rim very well tonight, but seven assists and one turnover, that's fantastic. That means he's getting other guys involved, and the one thing about Trevor is he's going to make things happen. He's going to make things happen. They're not always good, but he makes things happen. I'm more concerned with him on the defensive end of the floor than I am on the offense. I don't worry about Trevor on offense. He's a good offensive player, as long as he makes good decisions and takes good shots. The misses at the rim and the non-finishes, does it frustrate you as a coach? Absolutely, but I'm not mad at him for that. You get beat off the bounce, you don't help when you're supposed to help, or you do help when you're not supposed to help, those things make me angry, because I'm a defensive minded coach, and that's why I was utterly embarrassed the first 20 minutes of this game. I felt like coming out of halftime with a paper sack over my head, like those baseball fans used to do. I didn't have a brown paper back so I couldn't do it.
On Bangot Dak’s defensive game tonight
“Well, he had a good defensive night protecting the rim. Guarding the ball, it's a different story. Watch the film, okay. He's got the ability to be a great defender. He's got to get the mindset. The one thing Bangot does for our team, his team, is he protects the rim. The block shot he had when we were down, I think we cut it to seven, he made a great block, and we got a bucket and transition, and kind of got the crowd into the game. That was big. Again, if Bangot will guard and rebound, he'll have more minutes than he knows what to do, as will Sebi [Rancik], as will Trevor [Baskin], as will Elijah [Malone], all of them, but defensively, I'm searching still. I'm searching, and I'm going to keep searching. I'm not going to lower the standards of Colorado basketball. That's what I'm not going to do. That's why Harrison got his chance tonight, and he stepped up. I thought, defensively, he wasn't perfect, but he was disciplined. We were undisciplined defensively. When you foul 94 feet from the basket twice and you're not pressing, it's not disciplined.”
On Harrison Carrington’s practice performance to game minutes
“He’s consistent, and I trust him. He does what he does. He doesn't try to do what he can't do. Now, can he still get better? Yeah, I thought he could have finished better in the first half, but a lot of guys could have finished better. The charge he had was just not a smart basketball play, but the thing I love about Harrison is he's going to make mistakes, but he's going to make them playing hard. He gives you great effort. He's going to help rebound. I thought he was a pretty good, disciplined defender there in the second half. Now, he wasn't perfect. Fisher scored on him, just like he scored on everybody, but I trust Harrison, and he's solid. He's rock solid in what he does and gets out in transition. Obviously, he's pretty athletic, and had a couple dunks, and so I think that was a step in the right direction for him and for our team tonight.”
On making sure Elijah Malone is established in games:
“Number one every first play of the game we call for him. I'm not giving out trade secrets here, but we want to establish him inside. When you're looking at the stat sheet at the end of the first half, he's got one attempt, and it's from three, there’s something wrong with your offense. Now, part of it's his fault for getting in foul trouble, part of it’s his fault for not getting down there (in the paint) and demanding the ball. But, in the second half, we did a much better job of establishing him inside. He got four buckets but we have to do that every time he's in there, not that he has to score, but he’s a problem for other big guys and if they double him, we have to make them pay for that. We worked on that in practice and we’re going to work on it again, because my guess is CSU is going to double him in the post. If they don't, you have to make them pay for not doing that. He's a big weapon offensively for this team that we have to as a team understand, that I understand as a coach. If I have to call a play down every time to get him (Malone) the ball, maybe that's what I have to do. It’s no fun to play that way, it’s no fun to coach that way, you’d like to have it happen organically through your offense. But anyway he was good in the second half.”
On Javon Ruffin not playing a lot in the second half
“He’s fine. He tweaked his ankle yesterday in practice. He tweaked it again tonight. He was limping, and if he can’t play with a limp I’m not going to play him. Ruff (Javon) and I talked about that today at shootaround so it wasn’t anything penalizing and he’s not in the doghouse or anything like that. He’s just got to get that ankle better.”
On playing not playing a road game until 2025:
“You gotta keep getting better everyday. That's the mindset. Get better. We're off tomorrow. Get better tomorrow. Get in the treatment room, get in the weight room, and maybe we can finish at the rim. Get in the gym, get shots up, get to the free throw line, so you become a 75% to 80% free throw shooter. Get better everyday whether it’s a day off or a day of practice. Then Wednesday morning, I got these guys at 7:30 (am) and we're going to get better. That's the mindset, and I'd like to play well too. So we can have a little bit more excitement after a win. The wins we've had at home, there was Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington which was kind of good, Fullerton (California State University) was good. But other than that, it's been tough. Obviously the UCONN win was fantastic, but I look out there and I think how did this team beat UCONN. That’s the consistency factor that I’ve been talking about. Our inconsistency is as evident as any team I've ever coached. If we play like that on Saturday night, we'll be six and three. We won't be seven and two. The roster isn’t going to change, it’s going to be the same guys out there tonight. We might add some things offensively, we might not, but we just have to execute and be more consistent.”
On the rebounding
“It was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. We have length on this team, but length doesn't mean anything if you don't have heart. We got guys that think they got Velcro on their hands because they're going up with one hand trying to get a rebound. Dr, J, couldn't even do that. You have to go grab a rebound with two hands, and then you gotta chin it. If you get an offensive rebound you gotta go back up with it, keep it high, bring it down. We got out rebounded by six per game on average in Maui. We thought we were a great rebounding team and we found out we aren’t. The numbers look good after the first four games, but other teams are going to see that we don’t box out and they’re going to crash the glass. Pacific was averaging 11.7 offensive rebounds a game going into tonight, and they had 14. That means they were better than their average, which is a reflection on us as a group, and it's unacceptable. It gets back to the embarrassment factor.”
Colorado Players
Trevor Baskin, Gr., F
On first half struggles
“Honestly, there's no excuse for our defensive performance in the first half. We had two days of practice. Coach warned us to not have this like Maui hangover and we had it. I think our energy was just a little bit off from the start. And I think that's on us as older players to be able to really get the guys locked in before and be able to start the game off on the right foot. And I think we didn't do that properly today.”
On defense, shot blocking
“Like we've kind of talked about quite often, one of our strengths is our length and athleticism. And I mean, Bangot Dak is a shot blocker. He's unbelievable at it, and I'm glad. That's what we want to get out of him every single game, is him altering and blocking shots. I think he can really be a very, very valuable defensive anchor. He can get to shots that maybe no one else in the country can get to. And I think just utilizing our length and our ability to block shots is definitely something that will help in the long run with teams that just aren't used to that size, our size.”
On importance of December games
“Extremely important. I think Maui was, like Coach mentioned quite a bit, it was a midterm, and it allowed us to see a lot of glaring things we have to fix as a team. These next games, we have to use to our advantage. Because once 2025 hits, it's the gauntlet. It's tough team in, night in and night out. I think Maui was extremely valuable. I got a tan going, so that was good, and I learned a lot of things about our team in Maui. So just ready to get better every day.”
On seven assists and one turnover during game:
“Really just trying to let the game come to me. A lot of my turnovers are me trying to make plays, hit home runs and sometimes that leads to decisions that should not be made. I think my teammates did a very good job of catching the ball when I threw it to them. A seven to one assist to turnover ratio I will take every day. I always pride myself on being a good passer, and today it just happened to be that there was a lot of lanes and availability, and the open guy was there. I'm always willing to make the extra pass, and today it worked out.”
On offense progression and cohesion
“We have to take every advantage to get more and more comfortable. I feel way more comfortable now than I did my first game. This is my eighth game as a Division I player, and I'm very confident that this team will blend together the more and more we play together, and my play will just get better and better. I think we just have to have that growth mindset, just getting better every day.”
On Rocky Mountain Showdown:
“It’s definitely exciting, but we also can't put too much pressure on it. It's a rivalry game, and we know that the fans and the students are all going to show up. We know what happened last year. Granted, I wasn't a part of that team, but I'm taking it personal about last year. It's kind of what you have to do in this game. Growing up in the state of Colorado, those are the two teams that represent it. They have a very good team over there and I'm just really, really excited for Saturday. It's gonna be a fun game.”
On being aggressive in getting shots off:
“I think eventually the floodgates will open in some aspects. We have no lacking of confidence on this team. I think our shot selection can sometimes be a little bit better, and that that involves kicking it out a lot more and getting good looks from that. Then once they see a couple threes go in, then it really starts to open up, because they have to respect our three point shot a lot more. That then maybe opens up some easier lanes and some easier finishes. I know I was not very happy with the way I finished around the rim, but this is stuff that we can improve upon. I think we did a really good job of kicking it out and then attacking their closeouts.”
RJ Smith, So., G
On defensive adjustments after half time
“I would say, more energy and effort, be more competitive, actually just going out there and competing. It's what we do every day in practice, and we got to show the way we practice, we got to try to translate that to games.”
On 3-pointer after a key defensive play
“It was good. It got our team going, team rallied up. Really, just want to get another stop after that. Our defense was our momentum tonight in the second half. So getting that, pushing it out, facilitating to other guys, that's really what it started.”
On consistency and getting comfortable
“I'm just focused on making the right plays, letting the game come to me. But to be honest, I've been getting more comfortable playing, and I haven't been playing the past two years, but get more comfortable playing. So I feel like my game is coming back, and I feel like, coming back from Maui, I got that little confidence boost. We played against the top five teams, I can handle the pressure, I can handle all this stuff, so I'm just ready and taking advantage of the opportunity I get.”
On Harrison Carrington’s performance and progression:
“It was great to see because he's worked really hard. We’re the same class and he started off as a red-shirt, and now he has scholarship. To see where he's come is great to see. He's put in a lot of work, and I'm glad to see his paying off. It's really good to see, he's a great player for sure.”
Opening Statement
“I don't know if I should start with a positive or the not so positive, but some good things happened tonight. The second half was obviously a lot better than the first half. For some reason we weren't ready to play. That's on me. We got to be better. Our defensive effort tonight, I thought was a carryover from practice yesterday. I saw it coming yesterday in practice, and we tried to warn our guys about Pacific and not being scared. They've got some guys that have played at this level, so they're good players. If you don't guard them, and then you let them feel comfortable, they're gonna make shots, because they're good players. Every team in America has good players. With this transfer portal, it works both ways, because sometimes players transfer down maybe a level, so to speak, and now they're playing for a team that comes in here, and they're playing loose and and that's how you get a guy like Elias [Ralph], who has 24 points and [Elijah] Fisher has 17. That's their two leading scorers. We gotta be able to find a defensive stop. Right now, we don't have one. I thought we did with Elijah, or with Andrej [Jakimovski], but Andrej, I thought, played a really undisciplined game tonight, defensively. Had a lot of guys reaching, and not disciplined. Can't guard the ball. Our ball screen defense was designed to keep the ball out of the paint, believe it or not. It's hard for you guys to believe that, but that's what it was designed to do. At halftime, they got 24 points in the paint and we got eight, and Elijah Malone has one shot attempt and it’s from three. That's not how Colorado basketball is going to win games this year, so our guys got to figure that out.”
On what was different defensively in the second half:
“We started trapping a little bit when we went small, and tried to create some offense with our defense. We wanted to keep the pace of the game going. I thought our guys did a good job of that. Pacific got tired. Playing in this building at this altitude is a huge advantage for us. It helped us win this game tonight, because if they don't get tired and they're still making those shots, because they were getting pretty good looks there, they started missing them like we missed in the first half. I think in the first half, we were four for 17 inside the arc, but you got to figure out a way to win that way, and the way you do that is by getting stops, but we didn't do that. That's why they had 38 points at halftime. We're down nine, and we played much better defensively in the second half, I thought. We did change a few things up, nothing major, though. Just did it better.”
On RJ Smith’s development
“RJ [Smith] is a good player, and RJ is an important player for this basketball team. You look at his assist-turnover ratio, he was three to one tonight, which is fantastic. I think in Hawaii, he was positive in a big way, so he's doing a good job now. I think in the ball screens, he's got to get better at probing, and getting downhill and making decisions. He's sometimes, and again, I'd rather have it this way then the other way, where he's driving in the lane and leaving his feet and turning it over. Three assists and one turnover, we’ll take it all night. He's just got to continue to improve, but he's given us good minutes. There's no doubt about it, RJ was a big part of the game tonight, as was Harrison Carrington off the bench.”
On Trevor Baskin’s assisting game tonight
“Fantastic. He's sharing the ball. He's moving the ball. We tried to go to him in the second half. We got him a couple post touches there, and he wasn't finishing the ball at the rim very well tonight, but seven assists and one turnover, that's fantastic. That means he's getting other guys involved, and the one thing about Trevor is he's going to make things happen. He's going to make things happen. They're not always good, but he makes things happen. I'm more concerned with him on the defensive end of the floor than I am on the offense. I don't worry about Trevor on offense. He's a good offensive player, as long as he makes good decisions and takes good shots. The misses at the rim and the non-finishes, does it frustrate you as a coach? Absolutely, but I'm not mad at him for that. You get beat off the bounce, you don't help when you're supposed to help, or you do help when you're not supposed to help, those things make me angry, because I'm a defensive minded coach, and that's why I was utterly embarrassed the first 20 minutes of this game. I felt like coming out of halftime with a paper sack over my head, like those baseball fans used to do. I didn't have a brown paper back so I couldn't do it.
On Bangot Dak’s defensive game tonight
“Well, he had a good defensive night protecting the rim. Guarding the ball, it's a different story. Watch the film, okay. He's got the ability to be a great defender. He's got to get the mindset. The one thing Bangot does for our team, his team, is he protects the rim. The block shot he had when we were down, I think we cut it to seven, he made a great block, and we got a bucket and transition, and kind of got the crowd into the game. That was big. Again, if Bangot will guard and rebound, he'll have more minutes than he knows what to do, as will Sebi [Rancik], as will Trevor [Baskin], as will Elijah [Malone], all of them, but defensively, I'm searching still. I'm searching, and I'm going to keep searching. I'm not going to lower the standards of Colorado basketball. That's what I'm not going to do. That's why Harrison got his chance tonight, and he stepped up. I thought, defensively, he wasn't perfect, but he was disciplined. We were undisciplined defensively. When you foul 94 feet from the basket twice and you're not pressing, it's not disciplined.”
On Harrison Carrington’s practice performance to game minutes
“He’s consistent, and I trust him. He does what he does. He doesn't try to do what he can't do. Now, can he still get better? Yeah, I thought he could have finished better in the first half, but a lot of guys could have finished better. The charge he had was just not a smart basketball play, but the thing I love about Harrison is he's going to make mistakes, but he's going to make them playing hard. He gives you great effort. He's going to help rebound. I thought he was a pretty good, disciplined defender there in the second half. Now, he wasn't perfect. Fisher scored on him, just like he scored on everybody, but I trust Harrison, and he's solid. He's rock solid in what he does and gets out in transition. Obviously, he's pretty athletic, and had a couple dunks, and so I think that was a step in the right direction for him and for our team tonight.”
On making sure Elijah Malone is established in games:
“Number one every first play of the game we call for him. I'm not giving out trade secrets here, but we want to establish him inside. When you're looking at the stat sheet at the end of the first half, he's got one attempt, and it's from three, there’s something wrong with your offense. Now, part of it's his fault for getting in foul trouble, part of it’s his fault for not getting down there (in the paint) and demanding the ball. But, in the second half, we did a much better job of establishing him inside. He got four buckets but we have to do that every time he's in there, not that he has to score, but he’s a problem for other big guys and if they double him, we have to make them pay for that. We worked on that in practice and we’re going to work on it again, because my guess is CSU is going to double him in the post. If they don't, you have to make them pay for not doing that. He's a big weapon offensively for this team that we have to as a team understand, that I understand as a coach. If I have to call a play down every time to get him (Malone) the ball, maybe that's what I have to do. It’s no fun to play that way, it’s no fun to coach that way, you’d like to have it happen organically through your offense. But anyway he was good in the second half.”
On Javon Ruffin not playing a lot in the second half
“He’s fine. He tweaked his ankle yesterday in practice. He tweaked it again tonight. He was limping, and if he can’t play with a limp I’m not going to play him. Ruff (Javon) and I talked about that today at shootaround so it wasn’t anything penalizing and he’s not in the doghouse or anything like that. He’s just got to get that ankle better.”
On playing not playing a road game until 2025:
“You gotta keep getting better everyday. That's the mindset. Get better. We're off tomorrow. Get better tomorrow. Get in the treatment room, get in the weight room, and maybe we can finish at the rim. Get in the gym, get shots up, get to the free throw line, so you become a 75% to 80% free throw shooter. Get better everyday whether it’s a day off or a day of practice. Then Wednesday morning, I got these guys at 7:30 (am) and we're going to get better. That's the mindset, and I'd like to play well too. So we can have a little bit more excitement after a win. The wins we've had at home, there was Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington which was kind of good, Fullerton (California State University) was good. But other than that, it's been tough. Obviously the UCONN win was fantastic, but I look out there and I think how did this team beat UCONN. That’s the consistency factor that I’ve been talking about. Our inconsistency is as evident as any team I've ever coached. If we play like that on Saturday night, we'll be six and three. We won't be seven and two. The roster isn’t going to change, it’s going to be the same guys out there tonight. We might add some things offensively, we might not, but we just have to execute and be more consistent.”
On the rebounding
“It was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. We have length on this team, but length doesn't mean anything if you don't have heart. We got guys that think they got Velcro on their hands because they're going up with one hand trying to get a rebound. Dr, J, couldn't even do that. You have to go grab a rebound with two hands, and then you gotta chin it. If you get an offensive rebound you gotta go back up with it, keep it high, bring it down. We got out rebounded by six per game on average in Maui. We thought we were a great rebounding team and we found out we aren’t. The numbers look good after the first four games, but other teams are going to see that we don’t box out and they’re going to crash the glass. Pacific was averaging 11.7 offensive rebounds a game going into tonight, and they had 14. That means they were better than their average, which is a reflection on us as a group, and it's unacceptable. It gets back to the embarrassment factor.”
Colorado Players
Trevor Baskin, Gr., F
On first half struggles
“Honestly, there's no excuse for our defensive performance in the first half. We had two days of practice. Coach warned us to not have this like Maui hangover and we had it. I think our energy was just a little bit off from the start. And I think that's on us as older players to be able to really get the guys locked in before and be able to start the game off on the right foot. And I think we didn't do that properly today.”
On defense, shot blocking
“Like we've kind of talked about quite often, one of our strengths is our length and athleticism. And I mean, Bangot Dak is a shot blocker. He's unbelievable at it, and I'm glad. That's what we want to get out of him every single game, is him altering and blocking shots. I think he can really be a very, very valuable defensive anchor. He can get to shots that maybe no one else in the country can get to. And I think just utilizing our length and our ability to block shots is definitely something that will help in the long run with teams that just aren't used to that size, our size.”
On importance of December games
“Extremely important. I think Maui was, like Coach mentioned quite a bit, it was a midterm, and it allowed us to see a lot of glaring things we have to fix as a team. These next games, we have to use to our advantage. Because once 2025 hits, it's the gauntlet. It's tough team in, night in and night out. I think Maui was extremely valuable. I got a tan going, so that was good, and I learned a lot of things about our team in Maui. So just ready to get better every day.”
On seven assists and one turnover during game:
“Really just trying to let the game come to me. A lot of my turnovers are me trying to make plays, hit home runs and sometimes that leads to decisions that should not be made. I think my teammates did a very good job of catching the ball when I threw it to them. A seven to one assist to turnover ratio I will take every day. I always pride myself on being a good passer, and today it just happened to be that there was a lot of lanes and availability, and the open guy was there. I'm always willing to make the extra pass, and today it worked out.”
On offense progression and cohesion
“We have to take every advantage to get more and more comfortable. I feel way more comfortable now than I did my first game. This is my eighth game as a Division I player, and I'm very confident that this team will blend together the more and more we play together, and my play will just get better and better. I think we just have to have that growth mindset, just getting better every day.”
On Rocky Mountain Showdown:
“It’s definitely exciting, but we also can't put too much pressure on it. It's a rivalry game, and we know that the fans and the students are all going to show up. We know what happened last year. Granted, I wasn't a part of that team, but I'm taking it personal about last year. It's kind of what you have to do in this game. Growing up in the state of Colorado, those are the two teams that represent it. They have a very good team over there and I'm just really, really excited for Saturday. It's gonna be a fun game.”
On being aggressive in getting shots off:
“I think eventually the floodgates will open in some aspects. We have no lacking of confidence on this team. I think our shot selection can sometimes be a little bit better, and that that involves kicking it out a lot more and getting good looks from that. Then once they see a couple threes go in, then it really starts to open up, because they have to respect our three point shot a lot more. That then maybe opens up some easier lanes and some easier finishes. I know I was not very happy with the way I finished around the rim, but this is stuff that we can improve upon. I think we did a really good job of kicking it out and then attacking their closeouts.”
RJ Smith, So., G
On defensive adjustments after half time
“I would say, more energy and effort, be more competitive, actually just going out there and competing. It's what we do every day in practice, and we got to show the way we practice, we got to try to translate that to games.”
On 3-pointer after a key defensive play
“It was good. It got our team going, team rallied up. Really, just want to get another stop after that. Our defense was our momentum tonight in the second half. So getting that, pushing it out, facilitating to other guys, that's really what it started.”
On consistency and getting comfortable
“I'm just focused on making the right plays, letting the game come to me. But to be honest, I've been getting more comfortable playing, and I haven't been playing the past two years, but get more comfortable playing. So I feel like my game is coming back, and I feel like, coming back from Maui, I got that little confidence boost. We played against the top five teams, I can handle the pressure, I can handle all this stuff, so I'm just ready and taking advantage of the opportunity I get.”
On Harrison Carrington’s performance and progression:
“It was great to see because he's worked really hard. We’re the same class and he started off as a red-shirt, and now he has scholarship. To see where he's come is great to see. He's put in a lot of work, and I'm glad to see his paying off. It's really good to see, he's a great player for sure.”