Colorado-UCF Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Really happy for these guys, everybody in that locker room, what we've been through over the last month and a half and just battling and fighting and scratching and clawing coming up short. These guys have stuck together. They haven't lost their belief in each other or themselves, which is a testament to them. So it's nice to see them rewarded and really rewarded in a game where we were far from our best. I just feel like on a scale of 1 to 10, I think we played at like a 6 today. Now we made free throws, we made enough shots to kind of keep them at bay, but our defense and our rebounding was at a high, high level. I know Andre (Jakimovski) made some shots for us there in the second half, but I thought his defensive effort on (Keyshawn) Hall was terrific. He had to work for everything he got, and he (Andre) really battled him all night. And Julian (Hammond) was good. He was on (Darius) Johnson a lot in the second half, a little bit in the first half. Those were their two key players. So I thought both these guys (Jakimovski and Hammond) defensive efforts were great, and as a team they were. Assane Diop gave us great energy, great rebounding effort in the minutes he played. So a lot of positive things, but there's a lot of things we could do a lot better, both offensively and defensively. We got back to 19 turnovers. I don't quite understand how that works, against two of the better defensive teams in our league, we turn the ball over 20 times in 80 minutes, and tonight, we turn it over 19 times in 40 minutes. Just doesn't compute to me, but that's who we are, I guess so, room for improvement and move on.
On this win overall:
“I'll just return to what I said in the opening statement. I'm happy for our players. When you go through this, and I've been through it before and they haven't, but I have in my career, and it's no fun. That's for damn sure. But you got to remind yourself why you coach, and you coach to help young men to have a positive impact on their lives—losing sucks. There's no getting around it. When you lose 13 in a row, and you come up short five or six times as we have, it wears on you, but it's all about trying to pour all my energy into the players, helping them get better. You mentioned that stretch in the first half. I let them have it. We had kind of a deer-in-the-headlights look, like we were kind of feeling sorry for ourselves and didn't have great body language. And I just said it's time to grow up. And they did. They responded, and so I was happy, but at the end of the day, this is not about me. This is about the student-athletes. It's about making sure they're having a positive experience even when it's hard to. It's hard to have a positive experience when you lose. But I give them a lot of credit for sticking together, not pointing fingers, and not playing the blame game. And I've tried to do my best not to do that as well. So it's nice to see them get rewarded for defending and rebounding at a really high level, which is what this program is built on, and we did it tonight, and we got a win. Amazing.”
On the challenge with coaching during a dry spell:
“For example, the turnovers in the Houston game and the Kansas game have been a problem for this team all year. But then, when you have two games like that against really legitimate competition, you have to build on the positive. So, you build on the things that you're doing well. The problem with us is the only thing that we're consistent is our inconsistencies. That's just who we are. And again, eight turnovers against Houston, 12 against Kansas, 19 against Central Florida. I just scratch my head. So, build on the positive and don't lower the standard of the program. We have nine game goals. We're not changing those game goals just because we can't win a game. If we hit three, four, or five game goals, we're going to win some games. You don't have to hit all of them. But in our 13 losses, we never hit more than two. So what that tells me is we weren't doing anything at a high level to win a game like defense, rebounding, free throw, shooting, whatever it might be on any given night. And tonight, we did. I know we hit our free throw goal. I know we hit our defensive goal. I know we hit our rebounding goal. I don't know about the other six. We didn't hit our turnover goal, that's for damn sure. But so I just build on the positive, don't lower the standards, and to keep challenging and encouraging them. Yelling at them and berating them was over a long time ago, even though I got after him at a time out tonight, when they were feeling sorry for themselves.”
On how the team got out of dry spells:
“We kept guarding. We kept guarding. So we went on that dry spell. But guess what? Central Florida was on a dry spell, too. I think it got cut to five, and then we hit a shot or two and got it back up to 10. Andrej hit a big shot, and we had some really, really good looks in that stretch. Tonight is the first time I've yelled at a kid in 15 years of Colorado for missing shots. First time ever. I just had enough. At some point, you gotta nut up and make a shot. When you get an open shot, you just have to do it. There's a little frustration probably coming out with me, but, but, I mean, that's the truth. I mean, we spent a lot of time on shooting. The thing about Andrej is that he may not shoot the ball every game, but it's not because he's not working on it. I can tell you that he works on it. I don't know if all of our players work on it. Some guys are taking open threes, and they think it's a good shot for us, and it's a good shot for the other team.”
On how this league has no forgiveness or comfort:
“There is none. I always say, if we don't fix our problems, our opponents will. Our opponents have been exposing us in the first month and a half being back in this league. So it’s a learning opportunity for our young guys. Our seniors are coming down the stretch run here with six games left in the league before the tournament. But it was great having Derrick White here. Derrick addressed our team before the game, and I thought the message he sent them was spot on. He's a smart guy. Obviously, he's a really smart player, but I said he might have a future in coaching. He talked about doing a little things because people forget Derrick’s year that he played here we started out 0 and seven. We were over 13 now. That's a bit longer drought, but Derek went through it as a player and talked about just doing the little things, coming to work every day, and trying to get better. And our guys did that tonight, and we won a game when we weren't at our best. I would put a five or a six out of 10 on performance tonight. I think we could do a lot of things a lot better.”
Speaking on Sebastian Rancik
“We knew he was a great player when we recruited him. He's going to be a great player. He's a freshman that's still making mistakes, but his mistakes are not made because he's afraid or scared, or doesn't believe in himself. He believes in himself, and I believe in him because he plays well. He's one of our better shooters in practice, for sure. He's going to be a future NBA player in my mind, I believed that when we recruited him, and now that I've coached him for three-quarters of a season, I still believe that it's going to take some time. It's going to take some development, a big off-season for him, but he's not afraid of the moment. I can tell you that's what I love about him.”
Speaking on RJ Smith
“He gives us a defensive presence of that guard position. He went through a stretch where he was not playing very well. His body language wasn't very good, and I think when you go through a losing streak like that, we’ve still had some guys that mentally are not quite where they need to be. RJ was there for a stretch of the season. But he's come out on the other side of this. So that again is a positive. And it's growth. He's sat for two years, and played six games like a freshman.”
On his long losing streak at Northern Colorado compare to here
“When you're the coach at Northern Colorado and your games aren't on television and there's a couple 100 people in the stands instead of 1000s you kind of fly under the radar. My first year there we were 4-24 and I don't know what our streak was in terms of losing, but I think two of the four wins were against Division Two teams, so that was a rough year. But I always said it's easier when you're bad. I'd rather be bad than mediocre. We're mediocre because you're capable of playing better. You have players who are capable of performing better, but you're not. That's the most frustrating thing as a coach, and that's what I've been through. It's just the hand, I put the roster together, and I signed a scholarship agreement. The blame goes right here. It doesn't go to them. But when you're bad, you know you're bad, and you just have to get your young guys better and recruit better. But when you're mediocre, it's really frustrating. And we were bad my first year at Northern Colorado.”
On executing successfully
“You've got to execute offensively. You have to get a great shot for your team. That's part of my job as a coach and and a part of our players jobs is to execute, you know? We can't set screens for them, we can't make jump shots for them, but we can try to put guys in positions where they're the most effective. And then you have to get stops. The next close game we're in, guess what? We have to execute offensively and get great shots for the team. You've watched this program, whether it was Derek white his senior year, or whether it was McKinley, or whether it was KJ Simpson, you name the guy, good players make plays down the stretch, and that's what we're going to have to have. We're going to have to have guys make plays offensively, and we're going to have to get stops. I hope we're in some close games, because it's fun to win those close ones. We haven't done it this year.”
Colorado Players
Julian Hammond III, Sr. G
On if the win today is more satisfying given this season's record:
“Yeah, it definitely feels good. We've been struggling. Thirteen losses in a row is not something you ever want to go through. But we’re getting back on the right track and hopefully, we can carry over to Iowa State on Tuesday.
On if tonight’s win will help in future close games:
“Yeah definitely. Once you win one game you just want to build on all of the good things. We rebounded the ball really well tonight so we want to take that into Iowa State. Obviously, there's no pressure on us anymore so we're gonna go out and try and compete and play hard every night. Whatever we do well in past games, we want to carry that into the next six league games.”
On coming back after UCF’s 10-0 run:
“We know that teams are going to go on runs. We don't want it to be 10-0 runs. We’d prefer it to be 4 points or 6 points. We just talked about how we’ve got to get stops, we’ve got to rebound the ball and then the offense side is going to take care of itself. We’ve just got to get the ball and move. I felt for a little while that our offense was pretty stagnant and that the ball was sticking a lot. We just talked about getting the ball, moving, cutting, setting screens, rolling quickly, getting stops, and trying to run."
Andrej Jakimovski, Gr. F:
On if UCF defense contributed to his shots today:
“Not really. I'm just happy to hit shots. It's been a long time so it feels good to see a couple of shots go in.”
On what’s contributed to his recent good form:
“Just being in the gym every day. Every night I'm coming back and getting some extra shots up. I think all the guys on the team have been putting in a lot of work, especially through this rough stretch, and it finally paid off. I'm just happy for the team and for the coaches.”
Opening Statement
“Really happy for these guys, everybody in that locker room, what we've been through over the last month and a half and just battling and fighting and scratching and clawing coming up short. These guys have stuck together. They haven't lost their belief in each other or themselves, which is a testament to them. So it's nice to see them rewarded and really rewarded in a game where we were far from our best. I just feel like on a scale of 1 to 10, I think we played at like a 6 today. Now we made free throws, we made enough shots to kind of keep them at bay, but our defense and our rebounding was at a high, high level. I know Andre (Jakimovski) made some shots for us there in the second half, but I thought his defensive effort on (Keyshawn) Hall was terrific. He had to work for everything he got, and he (Andre) really battled him all night. And Julian (Hammond) was good. He was on (Darius) Johnson a lot in the second half, a little bit in the first half. Those were their two key players. So I thought both these guys (Jakimovski and Hammond) defensive efforts were great, and as a team they were. Assane Diop gave us great energy, great rebounding effort in the minutes he played. So a lot of positive things, but there's a lot of things we could do a lot better, both offensively and defensively. We got back to 19 turnovers. I don't quite understand how that works, against two of the better defensive teams in our league, we turn the ball over 20 times in 80 minutes, and tonight, we turn it over 19 times in 40 minutes. Just doesn't compute to me, but that's who we are, I guess so, room for improvement and move on.
On this win overall:
“I'll just return to what I said in the opening statement. I'm happy for our players. When you go through this, and I've been through it before and they haven't, but I have in my career, and it's no fun. That's for damn sure. But you got to remind yourself why you coach, and you coach to help young men to have a positive impact on their lives—losing sucks. There's no getting around it. When you lose 13 in a row, and you come up short five or six times as we have, it wears on you, but it's all about trying to pour all my energy into the players, helping them get better. You mentioned that stretch in the first half. I let them have it. We had kind of a deer-in-the-headlights look, like we were kind of feeling sorry for ourselves and didn't have great body language. And I just said it's time to grow up. And they did. They responded, and so I was happy, but at the end of the day, this is not about me. This is about the student-athletes. It's about making sure they're having a positive experience even when it's hard to. It's hard to have a positive experience when you lose. But I give them a lot of credit for sticking together, not pointing fingers, and not playing the blame game. And I've tried to do my best not to do that as well. So it's nice to see them get rewarded for defending and rebounding at a really high level, which is what this program is built on, and we did it tonight, and we got a win. Amazing.”
On the challenge with coaching during a dry spell:
“For example, the turnovers in the Houston game and the Kansas game have been a problem for this team all year. But then, when you have two games like that against really legitimate competition, you have to build on the positive. So, you build on the things that you're doing well. The problem with us is the only thing that we're consistent is our inconsistencies. That's just who we are. And again, eight turnovers against Houston, 12 against Kansas, 19 against Central Florida. I just scratch my head. So, build on the positive and don't lower the standard of the program. We have nine game goals. We're not changing those game goals just because we can't win a game. If we hit three, four, or five game goals, we're going to win some games. You don't have to hit all of them. But in our 13 losses, we never hit more than two. So what that tells me is we weren't doing anything at a high level to win a game like defense, rebounding, free throw, shooting, whatever it might be on any given night. And tonight, we did. I know we hit our free throw goal. I know we hit our defensive goal. I know we hit our rebounding goal. I don't know about the other six. We didn't hit our turnover goal, that's for damn sure. But so I just build on the positive, don't lower the standards, and to keep challenging and encouraging them. Yelling at them and berating them was over a long time ago, even though I got after him at a time out tonight, when they were feeling sorry for themselves.”
On how the team got out of dry spells:
“We kept guarding. We kept guarding. So we went on that dry spell. But guess what? Central Florida was on a dry spell, too. I think it got cut to five, and then we hit a shot or two and got it back up to 10. Andrej hit a big shot, and we had some really, really good looks in that stretch. Tonight is the first time I've yelled at a kid in 15 years of Colorado for missing shots. First time ever. I just had enough. At some point, you gotta nut up and make a shot. When you get an open shot, you just have to do it. There's a little frustration probably coming out with me, but, but, I mean, that's the truth. I mean, we spent a lot of time on shooting. The thing about Andrej is that he may not shoot the ball every game, but it's not because he's not working on it. I can tell you that he works on it. I don't know if all of our players work on it. Some guys are taking open threes, and they think it's a good shot for us, and it's a good shot for the other team.”
On how this league has no forgiveness or comfort:
“There is none. I always say, if we don't fix our problems, our opponents will. Our opponents have been exposing us in the first month and a half being back in this league. So it’s a learning opportunity for our young guys. Our seniors are coming down the stretch run here with six games left in the league before the tournament. But it was great having Derrick White here. Derrick addressed our team before the game, and I thought the message he sent them was spot on. He's a smart guy. Obviously, he's a really smart player, but I said he might have a future in coaching. He talked about doing a little things because people forget Derrick’s year that he played here we started out 0 and seven. We were over 13 now. That's a bit longer drought, but Derek went through it as a player and talked about just doing the little things, coming to work every day, and trying to get better. And our guys did that tonight, and we won a game when we weren't at our best. I would put a five or a six out of 10 on performance tonight. I think we could do a lot of things a lot better.”
Speaking on Sebastian Rancik
“We knew he was a great player when we recruited him. He's going to be a great player. He's a freshman that's still making mistakes, but his mistakes are not made because he's afraid or scared, or doesn't believe in himself. He believes in himself, and I believe in him because he plays well. He's one of our better shooters in practice, for sure. He's going to be a future NBA player in my mind, I believed that when we recruited him, and now that I've coached him for three-quarters of a season, I still believe that it's going to take some time. It's going to take some development, a big off-season for him, but he's not afraid of the moment. I can tell you that's what I love about him.”
Speaking on RJ Smith
“He gives us a defensive presence of that guard position. He went through a stretch where he was not playing very well. His body language wasn't very good, and I think when you go through a losing streak like that, we’ve still had some guys that mentally are not quite where they need to be. RJ was there for a stretch of the season. But he's come out on the other side of this. So that again is a positive. And it's growth. He's sat for two years, and played six games like a freshman.”
On his long losing streak at Northern Colorado compare to here
“When you're the coach at Northern Colorado and your games aren't on television and there's a couple 100 people in the stands instead of 1000s you kind of fly under the radar. My first year there we were 4-24 and I don't know what our streak was in terms of losing, but I think two of the four wins were against Division Two teams, so that was a rough year. But I always said it's easier when you're bad. I'd rather be bad than mediocre. We're mediocre because you're capable of playing better. You have players who are capable of performing better, but you're not. That's the most frustrating thing as a coach, and that's what I've been through. It's just the hand, I put the roster together, and I signed a scholarship agreement. The blame goes right here. It doesn't go to them. But when you're bad, you know you're bad, and you just have to get your young guys better and recruit better. But when you're mediocre, it's really frustrating. And we were bad my first year at Northern Colorado.”
On executing successfully
“You've got to execute offensively. You have to get a great shot for your team. That's part of my job as a coach and and a part of our players jobs is to execute, you know? We can't set screens for them, we can't make jump shots for them, but we can try to put guys in positions where they're the most effective. And then you have to get stops. The next close game we're in, guess what? We have to execute offensively and get great shots for the team. You've watched this program, whether it was Derek white his senior year, or whether it was McKinley, or whether it was KJ Simpson, you name the guy, good players make plays down the stretch, and that's what we're going to have to have. We're going to have to have guys make plays offensively, and we're going to have to get stops. I hope we're in some close games, because it's fun to win those close ones. We haven't done it this year.”
Colorado Players
Julian Hammond III, Sr. G
On if the win today is more satisfying given this season's record:
“Yeah, it definitely feels good. We've been struggling. Thirteen losses in a row is not something you ever want to go through. But we’re getting back on the right track and hopefully, we can carry over to Iowa State on Tuesday.
On if tonight’s win will help in future close games:
“Yeah definitely. Once you win one game you just want to build on all of the good things. We rebounded the ball really well tonight so we want to take that into Iowa State. Obviously, there's no pressure on us anymore so we're gonna go out and try and compete and play hard every night. Whatever we do well in past games, we want to carry that into the next six league games.”
On coming back after UCF’s 10-0 run:
“We know that teams are going to go on runs. We don't want it to be 10-0 runs. We’d prefer it to be 4 points or 6 points. We just talked about how we’ve got to get stops, we’ve got to rebound the ball and then the offense side is going to take care of itself. We’ve just got to get the ball and move. I felt for a little while that our offense was pretty stagnant and that the ball was sticking a lot. We just talked about getting the ball, moving, cutting, setting screens, rolling quickly, getting stops, and trying to run."
Andrej Jakimovski, Gr. F:
On if UCF defense contributed to his shots today:
“Not really. I'm just happy to hit shots. It's been a long time so it feels good to see a couple of shots go in.”
On what’s contributed to his recent good form:
“Just being in the gym every day. Every night I'm coming back and getting some extra shots up. I think all the guys on the team have been putting in a lot of work, especially through this rough stretch, and it finally paid off. I'm just happy for the team and for the coaches.”