Jan. 25, 2012
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
Coach Alford
Opening Statement…
“I am very pleased with the guys’ efforts. One of the hardest things in athletics is when you get knocked down and see how you are going to react and our guys really reacted even better than what we had hoped. I really thought we defended and guarded well tonight, top to bottom, and we got everyone in. We did a lot of good things defensively and that was good to see because we have obviously lost two in a row and have been shaken a little bit. I thought the response we got tonight was what we have been hoping for and this is just the beginning of it. Hopefully we can improve on that Saturday.”
On the complete all around game tonight…
“We aren’t getting to the free throw line all of the sudden, which is still a concern and I don’t quite understand it. Up until league play we were getting to the line a lot and we have played four games now, and we have not got there and we need to figure that out. Other than that, I thought we attacked, I thought we played strong and we were physical. We did a really good job on the backboard. I thought defensively, that was the biggest key. We knocked the ball loose a lot and took six charges. We haven’t taken six charges in a combined month and Drew (Gordon) had two or three, which has to be a career high for him. When we are playing defense like that we are a very good basketball team and I thought that was the key tonight. We defended the three-point line. This is obviously a team that likes to shoot three’s and can make three’s and I thought getting them up to the three point line was huge.”
On defense…
“Our talking has to keep getting better from a defensive standpoint and we have been working on that the last few days and all year long. We are just not a very talkative group, but tonight it was a little better. We still have a lot of room for growth there and we have to start communicating better at the defensive end, in transition and calling out screens and those types of things. I liked our help, our aggressiveness and I thought we were physical on the ball and those are things that I thought were lacking last week.”
On the importance of this win…
“This is good for the guys. We have been on them and have challenged them and told them that this was going to be the 13 days of challenge. We are now at day two of 13. They know they have to wake up tomorrow and attend. They have to continue this beat and it is a four game stretch before we get to that mid point and before we get to where we have a week off. We have told them that we don’t care if they are sore or banged up; this is what basketball is at this level. You have got to find a way and tonight they did that. We have two days to get ready for a TCU team that is playing well. They (TCU) have won two in a row and now I have to watch them on television against Air Force. They are athletic and big and they do a lot of good things. We have a team coming in here that has a little bit of confidence so we have to play well on Saturday, but this is a good start to the week.”
On the toughness of the league…
“It is hard; it is hard winning on the road in this league and its hard getting home wins. When you are the fifth-ranked league in the country it is going to be a fight every night. That is why I was so pleased tonight because this is a good basketball team that we beat tonight, and to beat them the way that we did was impressive. Hopefully, our guys feel good about it and we can carry this momentum into Saturday.”
On Hugh Greenwood…
“He is a little more healthy but is still not 100%. We have talked about that, part of toughness is learning how to play when you’re body is not 100%. You can’t put your head down. I told him the other day “you can’t pout” and he looked at me goes “what does that mean?” So I need to learn what pout means in Australian. He just got frustrated and you can’t do that. You are going to be nicked and banged up. We probably have half a dozen guys that aren’t 100% but it doesn’t matter, that is part of toughness. I thought he fought through a lot of good things tonight so hopefully that will make him feel a little bit better. The last three games he has not been very healthy and he gave it a go at UNLV, but it was obvious that he wasn’t ready yet.”
On leading by 20…
“I was getting on them and told them that this is going to be 13 days like they have never seen. The red blazer will be out again on Saturday and it is on. They know it and I am going to step on them as long as I have to. I told them that if they come out of the next 13 days then they will have the best next six weeks that they ever had in college basketball, but we need the next 13 days. You don’t play one game and then all the sudden develop toughness. We have done a lot of good things defensively and done a lot of good things in winning games. We have won 80% of our games this year, we are 16-4. We are having a great year but we have challenged our guys. We want to have a special year and to do that we have to get tougher. I think that is on the coaches to try and make them tougher. I think the next 13 days aren’t going to be a lot of fun for them, but hopefully we will come out better on the other end.”
On the keeping the intensity going…
“It is hard and college basketball is hard, but it is part of what they have to learn. We want to be better and better than 16-4. We have less than 48 to turn around and play the Princeton offense in a match-up zone. We have to go on the round and obviously Boise State is playing really well. None of these steps are easy but I think that is part of training and teaching. Basketball is not easy at this level and a lot is going to be thrown at them. This is a pretty important 13 days of teaching that we are doing and the guys have bought in so far, but they still have a long way to go.”
On having fun tonight and over the next few weeks…
“It is fun and we have talked about that. I put all the defensive stats on the board. We held them to 21% shooting behind the line and that hadn’t happened a lot to them. We held them to 37% shooting overall; we forced 20 turnovers and held their leading scorer to 11 points. We held them to 52 points and took six charges. Those are all a lot of positives and I want them to have fun with that. There is a board in our locker room that says, “if you work hard, you work smart then you have fun.” I think that last week we got that all jumbled up. Coach Knight used to tell me more than 20 years ago that you need to keep those things in order, you have to work and think and then the fun comes. If you forget to work or forget to think you don’t have much fun and last week wasn’t much fun. I am proud of them and I want them to have some fun and enjoy this, but when we meet tomorrow it will all be preparation for TCU.”
New Mexico 85, Colorado State 52
January 24, 2012
Postgame Quotes
Senior Forward Drew Gordon
On why his/the team’s intensity level was higher tonight than against UNLV and San Diego State last week…
“I think we were just a little more comfortable. At the UNLV game and the San Diego State game we were feeling comfortable at half time, but then we didn’t keep the pressure up. This time we had to make sure that we maintained focus and kept the pressure the whole game.”
On whether or not the Lobos can get tougher…
“I think it’s pretty clear to see–even today, even though it has only been a few days–guys are hungrier, we’re getting to loose balls that we weren’t getting to in the last two games. He really got on us about be tougher, but it’s obviously paying off.”
On whether or not he specifically had a chip on his shoulder for tonight’s game…
“No, not really. I just wanted to make sure that I was leading by example. It’s tough to go two losses back-to-back and then get hyped for another game. I just wanted to make sure that the younger guys knew that it was time to play and it was all business. We can’t lose three in a row, and like I said, I wanted to keep my intensity up–that was something that was really important to me.”
On the Lobos’ defense tonight and the number of charges taken…
“I think it’s a lot better than we have been doing. I think the main thing today was intensity. Everybody was intense and got to the right spots on defense and made big plays. We have to pay that to practice. We’ve really keyed on defense in practice and it translates into the game. It pays off.”
On the lack of intensity at the start of the second half…
“I think we were falling back in to what we had done in the last two games–coming out a little flat. Coach talked to us at the first time out and made sure we picked it up. He got into us and we were able to pick it up.”
On CSU picking up momentum in the second half and then A.J. Hardeman getting a technical foul…
“It was tough for A.J. He had a tough night. Even though he had a tough break, other people were able to pick him up and keep his spirits and the team’s spirit high. That definitely helped us. We rallied behind it and we stepped up our defense even more.”
On how the Lobos taking several charges in the first half set the tone for CSU on offense…
“I think it keeps them from driving to the basket. They think twice about it instead of just getting whatever they want in the paint. They really have to think about how they’re going to drive and where they’re going to drive. Once you take a few charges, it’s always in the back of their mind–it makes them a little more hesitant.”
On why the Lobos aren’t getting to the free throw line…
“I think the other teams are throwing a lot of doubles at us–speaking for the big men, it’s tough to make a post move and try to go up. If you find yourself in a double, you’ll have to kick out usually. We have such a good shooting team that kick outs are pretty much just three-point shots if they’re open. Hanging around the three-point line is something that Tony (Snell), Kendall (Williams) and Hugh (Greenwood) and everybody likes to do. It’s not often that you get a four-point play, but that’s probably my best guess.”
On if the bigs want to automatically kick it out if they’re doubled…
“Well, we’re going to try to make the best play. We don’t want a turnover, or to throw up a shot that’s going to hurt us in the end. We want to make sure to make the smart play and kick it to the person that’s open. The guards will reward us by passing it in when we’re not double teamed so we have to reward the guards when we’re double teamed by passing it back out.”
Junior Guard Jamal Fenton
The bench scored as many points as the starters…is that what this team needs?
“I would say we need a little bit of everything. Everybody from the bench to the starters needs to bring their `A’ game every time we step on the floor with Coach Alford.”
On how he likes Coach Alford’s in-your-face intensity…
“He was in my face all game today. These past two days he has been preaching about how the next 13 days are going to be the hardest time of our lives, but it’s going to be the best time of our lives, too, because the coaching staff is really going to push us to become better and win the Championship.”
On what the team has been doing in practice to get tougher…
“No mistakes in practice. If you make a mistake, Coach is going to get in your face. We’re focusing on doing the little things right with him in practice and then relaying it to the game. Like tonight, we took six or seven charges. These past few days we’ve been doing a couple of charge drills every practice and we’ve been really into it and it came out successful tonight.”
On how much better this team can be…
“I’d say the sky is the limit. Our chemistry just keeps building and you can never tell from that. Coach’s motto is, `Hold the rope,’ so if we hold each other’s ropes, we’ll be fine.”