Colorado-BYU Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Just want to start by apologizing to our fan base, apologize to every former player that's worn the Colorado uniform. We're not living up to our end of the bargain as a coaching staff or as players in the program. So I want to apologize to our fan base, but especially the ones that came out tonight on a Tuesday night at nine o'clock to support this team and program. They deserve more than we gave them. And obviously got to throw that halftime speech in the toilet and flush maybe multiple times because we didn't come out in the second half ready to play. BYU did. If you let a team shoot 67.9% from the field in your building after half, something's wrong, and we better fix what's wrong, or we're going to continue to get the same result.”
On if second half showed which team wanted the win more
“Without a doubt. Their energy level, their toughness level, their everything, you name it, they were the aggressor. They were better. And it wasn't just one guy. It was their whole team. So again, this doesn't fall on one guy for the Buffaloes. I mean, if it did, I'd fix that. It falls on our entire group. We're up 23- 22 in the first half. We're shooting 75% from the field at the time. And we're up one, because we turn it over seven times. So we went up with 16 for the game, and we're just not very good with the ball right now, not very good passers and catchers. We didn't take BYU strengths away from them. The strength of BYU team is their ability to shoot the ball from multiple positions. We talked about that on our defensive game plan. They’re averaging 11 threes a game. Guess what? They made 11 threes, and I consider it 13, because we fouled two three point shooters. And that was a key to coming in the game and winning this thing, having a chance to win it. And we didn't do it, just like against Oklahoma State. Key to the game was holding them to one shot and not letting them get multiple opportunities at the goal. They're averaging 13 rebounds coming into our game, they got 13 offensive rebounds. BYU is averaging 11 made threes a game. They came in and got 13 on us. We're not taking away the other team's strengths and then you go down that rabbit hole. I sense for the first time that we didn't compete in the second half, and we didn't believe. I thought we did in the first half, even though we're down two at halftime, which I felt like we should have been up 10. But we shot 50% from the field in the first half, but couldn't buy one in the second half, didn't finish the half very well defensively or offensively. It's frustrating, but I have to do a better job. I know I keep saying that, and I'm not. I'm really disappointed in myself.”
On if game was lost at the end of the first half
“No, absolutely not. Now you're down two at halftime, and you let them go on that run. I said guys, "we gotta, we gotta guard better." You're up 32-22 and maybe you had struggled to score. We had 36 points at halftime. They had 22 points with five minutes to go in the first half. And they end up with 38 so they scored 16 points in the last five minutes. Now, is that us or is that them? I think a lot of it has to do with us, personally. Watching film with these guys, I'm going to continue to do it. I'm not going to stop doing what I do. I've been here for 14 years, this is year 15. I haven't lost confidence in myself. I can tell you that I feel like I can coach this game, but I'm not doing a very good job coaching this team, coaching these players, and I gotta go back to the drawing board and see how I can get to them, because right now I'm not getting to them.”
On the mentality of the team
“Here's the thing about our team, when things go bad, we feel sorry for ourselves. And I don't want anybody to take what I'm saying when I say it's on me, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I can tell you nobody needs to feel sorry for me. I need to do a better job. Our players are feeling sorry for themselves, and that's a problem because when you internalize and feel so woe is me, you're not helping your team. So Andrej Jakimovski is guarding their best player, who's a good player, had 25 points on us tonight, I think Richie Saunders is an all league player, drives by him on the baseline, and we're supposed to have three guys on the weak side with two feet in the paint, and he drives by him and lays it in the goal, and there's nobody there to help him. Those guys are thinking about themselves. They're not thinking about helping Andrej. Defensively you have to help each other if you're going to be any good at this game, at this level. And we're not helping each other because we're concerned about ourselves, and that is a problem, and we've talked about it, we've showed it on film, and again we've got a pretty good coaching staff. I really believe that. I thought our game plan tonight, Coach Grier did a great job on the scout. I wouldn't go back and change them. We're not executing the game plans. Last year, Washington State, I talked to Andrej about this. They would start out in zone and then they would go to man like halfway through the possession. Well, guess what? BYU did that tonight. We practiced that yesterday. We knew what we were supposed to do when that happened. We didn't do it. So it's the execution of the game plan that we're not getting done. And again, that falls on the head coach. Now I don't feel sorry for myself. It just falls on me, and I'm going to keep trying.”
On whom he relies on the floor
“This team is a collective team. We don't have one guy that can carry this team offensively or defensively. We have to rely on each other. We're playing 9, 10, or 11 guys. I have confidence in all of those guys. The problem is you don't know which guys are going to show up. Andre played pretty well offensively and did some really good things. He picked up a couple fouls but now when Sebi comes in, or Harrison comes in, or whoever comes in, I don't feel like we need to drop off. So it's not like oh we didn't have Bangot, we didn't have Andre, we can't stop BYU. Forget that. We got other guys that can guard. Just got to do it. I don't look at one guy and say, oh man, if we don't have him we're in trouble. But if we collectively don't compete defensively and collectively don't move the ball and share the ball offensively, this team has no chance to win. Because we don't have that dude. We've had some dudes in the past. We don't have that dude right now, so we have to rely on each other, and we're not doing that right now.”
On the team playing together
“I just think we feel sorry for ourselves. I don't think that we're not together. You'd have to ask the players about the belief. I'm just going to speak for myself because I can't speak for them. I'm just going to tell you right now I believe in this group of guys. I believe in each individual in that locker room. I believe they're great kids from great families. I believe that they're not playing up to their potential right now. I believe we have to try to figure out a way, and they need to be a part of that. Coaches can only do so much. It's my job as a coach to make sure we get a great shot on offense and our guys understand what a great shot is. You can't get a great shot if you turn it over. We all know that. But I felt like against Oklahoma State, we took some bad shots. Tonight, after I watch the film, I'll let you know. I didn't feel like we took a bunch of bad ones. But maybe we did. I'm not talking about the end of the shot clock. I'm talking about early in the shot clock and making them work. Defensively BYU by the numbers, is not one of the better defensive teams in our league. But their defense was good enough to guard our offense tonight.”
On what he previously said about how close this team is to a first conference win
“Look, next game. What do we got to do to beat Arizona? One thing I want to challenge our guys. You want a chance to do something that's never been done? Well, guess what? We'll have an opportunity to do that Saturday. Now, will we embrace that opportunity? Will we take it on as a challenge and say, ‘Okay, let's go?’ Or we say, ‘Oh, well, previous teams can't do it. We can't do it’. If that's our attitude this season, we're not going to get that first conference win. So again, it's about the next game. My thing is, we've got to win our games at home, and we're not doing that right now. That's disappointing to me. Against BYU, there's no altitude advantage, which we usually have in this building. We don't have that because they're in Provo and they train it out to do just like us. So, no, I don't think we're any further now. We're further away if we don't play up to our capabilities and our potential, and that's what we have to do.”
On the importance of positivity
“I get up every day and say, ‘How can I help this team? What do I need to do to help this team? How can I help the players in that locker room?’. And tomorrow's gonna be no different. I'm gonna continue to try to help them, and I don't feel like I'm doing that right now. That's why I continue to say how disappointed I am in myself, because I'm not getting that done. They need to help, they have got to believe. I can't make them believe if they don't believe. I wish I could.”
On Bill McCartney Memorial
“Before I go, I'll just say, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, we're gonna honor a guy whose life was really good at making guys believe. I'm not half the coach Bill McCartney was, and my heart goes out to his family, and we'll see you guys tomorrow at 10.”
Colorado Players
Julian Hammond III, Sr., G
On what went wrong for CU after half-time:
“They came out, had a couple of threes. We had some good shots that we missed. That’s really it. Turned into they were making shots, we're missing shots. That's what it was.”
On if solid first half adds to the frustration over the loss:
“Yeah definitely. But we've known that shot making is not always a problem for us. It is sometimes. Obviously from about the 10 minute mark on it was then. But we turned the ball over. They're getting offensive rebounds.. So this really has nothing to do with shot making. We’ve got to lock it on defense and just take care of the ball. Get more shots.
On uncharacteristically low number of assists tonight:
“They put a lot of pressure on the ball or in the gaps when you drive. And they shot 21 of 46. We missed some easy shots. We missed some wide open threes. Just rough shooting night for the last about 30 minutes of the game.”
On what happened on the defensive side of the second half:
“We didn't take away threes. We knew on the scout that they wanted to shoot threes. They’re a good three point shooting team, so we just simply didn't take away their threes.”
On if the team is fighting a mentality battle when they go down:
“Kind of. Obviously it's hard not to feel like that when we've been in so many close games and we lose by a few possessions here and there. We just can't win a game right now. It's tough going through stretches like these, for sure.”
On if the later tip-off affected made the game more difficult:
“I don't really think that the tip off had anything to do with that. I think it's just on us to be better.”
BYU Head Coach Kevin Young
Opening Statement…
“First half, they had that big run. And then I was really proud of our guy’s response, because we certainly carried it into the second half. I don't know what the final numbers were on that run we went on, but that was certainly the big takeaway. I’m proud of our guys for coming together at halftime and just saying, ‘we're going to go find a way to win’.”
The second-half run…
“Every game has a life of its own. This game, it was foul troubles. I was trying to find a group, and I think we eventually found a group that sparked. I thought Mihailo coming in at the five really opened the game up on both ends. Honestly, his size defensively. Then I thought, his slip roles against their switching really helped open the game up. And then the starting group in that second half really propelled into that big run.”
Coming into this game…
“We wanted to make them beat us from the three. I thought our guys didn't get derailed, and that's part of the reason why they got that lead. They hit shots. That's not something that has been a calling card of theirs. They want to attack the rim, they want to get to the paint, they want to get to the free throw line, which they definitely got to the free throw line. But I thought in the second half, we really did a good job and our zone was good. It was effective kept them out of the paint, kept them away from the rim, and that was kind of our defensive focus coming into the game.”
Opening Statement
“Just want to start by apologizing to our fan base, apologize to every former player that's worn the Colorado uniform. We're not living up to our end of the bargain as a coaching staff or as players in the program. So I want to apologize to our fan base, but especially the ones that came out tonight on a Tuesday night at nine o'clock to support this team and program. They deserve more than we gave them. And obviously got to throw that halftime speech in the toilet and flush maybe multiple times because we didn't come out in the second half ready to play. BYU did. If you let a team shoot 67.9% from the field in your building after half, something's wrong, and we better fix what's wrong, or we're going to continue to get the same result.”
On if second half showed which team wanted the win more
“Without a doubt. Their energy level, their toughness level, their everything, you name it, they were the aggressor. They were better. And it wasn't just one guy. It was their whole team. So again, this doesn't fall on one guy for the Buffaloes. I mean, if it did, I'd fix that. It falls on our entire group. We're up 23- 22 in the first half. We're shooting 75% from the field at the time. And we're up one, because we turn it over seven times. So we went up with 16 for the game, and we're just not very good with the ball right now, not very good passers and catchers. We didn't take BYU strengths away from them. The strength of BYU team is their ability to shoot the ball from multiple positions. We talked about that on our defensive game plan. They’re averaging 11 threes a game. Guess what? They made 11 threes, and I consider it 13, because we fouled two three point shooters. And that was a key to coming in the game and winning this thing, having a chance to win it. And we didn't do it, just like against Oklahoma State. Key to the game was holding them to one shot and not letting them get multiple opportunities at the goal. They're averaging 13 rebounds coming into our game, they got 13 offensive rebounds. BYU is averaging 11 made threes a game. They came in and got 13 on us. We're not taking away the other team's strengths and then you go down that rabbit hole. I sense for the first time that we didn't compete in the second half, and we didn't believe. I thought we did in the first half, even though we're down two at halftime, which I felt like we should have been up 10. But we shot 50% from the field in the first half, but couldn't buy one in the second half, didn't finish the half very well defensively or offensively. It's frustrating, but I have to do a better job. I know I keep saying that, and I'm not. I'm really disappointed in myself.”
On if game was lost at the end of the first half
“No, absolutely not. Now you're down two at halftime, and you let them go on that run. I said guys, "we gotta, we gotta guard better." You're up 32-22 and maybe you had struggled to score. We had 36 points at halftime. They had 22 points with five minutes to go in the first half. And they end up with 38 so they scored 16 points in the last five minutes. Now, is that us or is that them? I think a lot of it has to do with us, personally. Watching film with these guys, I'm going to continue to do it. I'm not going to stop doing what I do. I've been here for 14 years, this is year 15. I haven't lost confidence in myself. I can tell you that I feel like I can coach this game, but I'm not doing a very good job coaching this team, coaching these players, and I gotta go back to the drawing board and see how I can get to them, because right now I'm not getting to them.”
On the mentality of the team
“Here's the thing about our team, when things go bad, we feel sorry for ourselves. And I don't want anybody to take what I'm saying when I say it's on me, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I can tell you nobody needs to feel sorry for me. I need to do a better job. Our players are feeling sorry for themselves, and that's a problem because when you internalize and feel so woe is me, you're not helping your team. So Andrej Jakimovski is guarding their best player, who's a good player, had 25 points on us tonight, I think Richie Saunders is an all league player, drives by him on the baseline, and we're supposed to have three guys on the weak side with two feet in the paint, and he drives by him and lays it in the goal, and there's nobody there to help him. Those guys are thinking about themselves. They're not thinking about helping Andrej. Defensively you have to help each other if you're going to be any good at this game, at this level. And we're not helping each other because we're concerned about ourselves, and that is a problem, and we've talked about it, we've showed it on film, and again we've got a pretty good coaching staff. I really believe that. I thought our game plan tonight, Coach Grier did a great job on the scout. I wouldn't go back and change them. We're not executing the game plans. Last year, Washington State, I talked to Andrej about this. They would start out in zone and then they would go to man like halfway through the possession. Well, guess what? BYU did that tonight. We practiced that yesterday. We knew what we were supposed to do when that happened. We didn't do it. So it's the execution of the game plan that we're not getting done. And again, that falls on the head coach. Now I don't feel sorry for myself. It just falls on me, and I'm going to keep trying.”
On whom he relies on the floor
“This team is a collective team. We don't have one guy that can carry this team offensively or defensively. We have to rely on each other. We're playing 9, 10, or 11 guys. I have confidence in all of those guys. The problem is you don't know which guys are going to show up. Andre played pretty well offensively and did some really good things. He picked up a couple fouls but now when Sebi comes in, or Harrison comes in, or whoever comes in, I don't feel like we need to drop off. So it's not like oh we didn't have Bangot, we didn't have Andre, we can't stop BYU. Forget that. We got other guys that can guard. Just got to do it. I don't look at one guy and say, oh man, if we don't have him we're in trouble. But if we collectively don't compete defensively and collectively don't move the ball and share the ball offensively, this team has no chance to win. Because we don't have that dude. We've had some dudes in the past. We don't have that dude right now, so we have to rely on each other, and we're not doing that right now.”
On the team playing together
“I just think we feel sorry for ourselves. I don't think that we're not together. You'd have to ask the players about the belief. I'm just going to speak for myself because I can't speak for them. I'm just going to tell you right now I believe in this group of guys. I believe in each individual in that locker room. I believe they're great kids from great families. I believe that they're not playing up to their potential right now. I believe we have to try to figure out a way, and they need to be a part of that. Coaches can only do so much. It's my job as a coach to make sure we get a great shot on offense and our guys understand what a great shot is. You can't get a great shot if you turn it over. We all know that. But I felt like against Oklahoma State, we took some bad shots. Tonight, after I watch the film, I'll let you know. I didn't feel like we took a bunch of bad ones. But maybe we did. I'm not talking about the end of the shot clock. I'm talking about early in the shot clock and making them work. Defensively BYU by the numbers, is not one of the better defensive teams in our league. But their defense was good enough to guard our offense tonight.”
On what he previously said about how close this team is to a first conference win
“Look, next game. What do we got to do to beat Arizona? One thing I want to challenge our guys. You want a chance to do something that's never been done? Well, guess what? We'll have an opportunity to do that Saturday. Now, will we embrace that opportunity? Will we take it on as a challenge and say, ‘Okay, let's go?’ Or we say, ‘Oh, well, previous teams can't do it. We can't do it’. If that's our attitude this season, we're not going to get that first conference win. So again, it's about the next game. My thing is, we've got to win our games at home, and we're not doing that right now. That's disappointing to me. Against BYU, there's no altitude advantage, which we usually have in this building. We don't have that because they're in Provo and they train it out to do just like us. So, no, I don't think we're any further now. We're further away if we don't play up to our capabilities and our potential, and that's what we have to do.”
On the importance of positivity
“I get up every day and say, ‘How can I help this team? What do I need to do to help this team? How can I help the players in that locker room?’. And tomorrow's gonna be no different. I'm gonna continue to try to help them, and I don't feel like I'm doing that right now. That's why I continue to say how disappointed I am in myself, because I'm not getting that done. They need to help, they have got to believe. I can't make them believe if they don't believe. I wish I could.”
On Bill McCartney Memorial
“Before I go, I'll just say, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, we're gonna honor a guy whose life was really good at making guys believe. I'm not half the coach Bill McCartney was, and my heart goes out to his family, and we'll see you guys tomorrow at 10.”
Colorado Players
Julian Hammond III, Sr., G
On what went wrong for CU after half-time:
“They came out, had a couple of threes. We had some good shots that we missed. That’s really it. Turned into they were making shots, we're missing shots. That's what it was.”
On if solid first half adds to the frustration over the loss:
“Yeah definitely. But we've known that shot making is not always a problem for us. It is sometimes. Obviously from about the 10 minute mark on it was then. But we turned the ball over. They're getting offensive rebounds.. So this really has nothing to do with shot making. We’ve got to lock it on defense and just take care of the ball. Get more shots.
On uncharacteristically low number of assists tonight:
“They put a lot of pressure on the ball or in the gaps when you drive. And they shot 21 of 46. We missed some easy shots. We missed some wide open threes. Just rough shooting night for the last about 30 minutes of the game.”
On what happened on the defensive side of the second half:
“We didn't take away threes. We knew on the scout that they wanted to shoot threes. They’re a good three point shooting team, so we just simply didn't take away their threes.”
On if the team is fighting a mentality battle when they go down:
“Kind of. Obviously it's hard not to feel like that when we've been in so many close games and we lose by a few possessions here and there. We just can't win a game right now. It's tough going through stretches like these, for sure.”
On if the later tip-off affected made the game more difficult:
“I don't really think that the tip off had anything to do with that. I think it's just on us to be better.”
BYU Head Coach Kevin Young
Opening Statement…
“First half, they had that big run. And then I was really proud of our guy’s response, because we certainly carried it into the second half. I don't know what the final numbers were on that run we went on, but that was certainly the big takeaway. I’m proud of our guys for coming together at halftime and just saying, ‘we're going to go find a way to win’.”
The second-half run…
“Every game has a life of its own. This game, it was foul troubles. I was trying to find a group, and I think we eventually found a group that sparked. I thought Mihailo coming in at the five really opened the game up on both ends. Honestly, his size defensively. Then I thought, his slip roles against their switching really helped open the game up. And then the starting group in that second half really propelled into that big run.”
Coming into this game…
“We wanted to make them beat us from the three. I thought our guys didn't get derailed, and that's part of the reason why they got that lead. They hit shots. That's not something that has been a calling card of theirs. They want to attack the rim, they want to get to the paint, they want to get to the free throw line, which they definitely got to the free throw line. But I thought in the second half, we really did a good job and our zone was good. It was effective kept them out of the paint, kept them away from the rim, and that was kind of our defensive focus coming into the game.”