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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2012Tad BoyleAustin DufaultAndre RobersonLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Colorado – 63 THE MODERATOR: Coach, a few opening remarks, please? COACH BOYLE: Well, to me, that's what basketball in March is all about. Win or lose, obviously we're elated because we won. But when our guys put the kind of effort forth that they did, as a coach it just makes you real proud. I think you've got to tip your hat to Oregon, too, because their guys competed. It was just a great college basketball game by two teams going toe to toe. We had a nice lead there going down the stretch, and they overtook it. Our guys kept our composure and made plays when we had to, and we won the game with defense, which is how we won the game against Oregon when we were in Boulder. So it's a gratifying feeling this time of year to win a game like that. I'm just proud of our players for the effort they put forth. Q. When the score was 58‑50, did you actually look at the score and maybe try to‑‑ it seems like the team wanted to slow it down a little bit, but then it kept going, and then sort of slowed it down again? COACH BOYLE: You know, we try not to play the scoreboard until there are two or three minutes unless it's a 12 or 14 point lead. Our whole mantra with this team is get a good shot every time. I thought sometimes we took some four shots down the stretch. So there is a very fine line in milking the clock, which we don't necessarily want to do and losing your aggressiveness. We might have done that a little bit but, again, it's all about getting good shots. We weren't laying time and score with the score 58‑50. We just wanted to get good shots every time we had the ball, because that's all can you ask. It's too much time to go five minutes to go to start running the clock down. So we wanted to maintain our aggressiveness, and we lost that a little bit. There's no question. Oregon got the momentum back and made some shots, but our guys bucked up when they had to. Q. André, did you feel like the lead was bigger than it was? Were you aware that Oregon was getting closer? ANDRÉ ROBERSON: Yeah, we were kind of aware that. We just wanted to get a good shot, like Coach Boyle said. I feel like sometimes we rushed into it. We're a high tempo team and all, but sometimes you slow it down sometimes. But it turned out well in our favor. Q. Can you talk about playing Cal again? You just played them fairly recently and beat them at your place. What did you see tonight if you watched them at all, and what do you expect from them? COACH BOYLE: Yeah, I watched them. Number one, they're a great team. They've got good players. They've got a good inside player in Harper Kamp, and they've got great perimeter players, the Cobbs kid, and Jorge Gutierrez is "Player of the Year" in our league and Allen Crabbe who didn't play as well as he's capable of tonight. So we've got to keep their guys under wraps. They've got a lot of different weapons. But we'll turn our attention. I haven't thought about them a lot up until this point, but certainly when this is over with, we'll turn our attention to Cal. I will say something about Austin Dufault. We've won the last two games with him being in foul trouble. Austin, to me, is one of the most underrated post defenders in our league. I think the match‑up that he's going to have‑‑ and André does a great job down there too, don't get me wrong, but to win this game with one of our top two post guys in foul trouble says a lot about our team. Harper Kamp is a load down there that we're going to have to contend with tomorrow. Q. Austin, were you surprised by their last play at all? Did you think they'd set something up more? AUSTIN DUFAULT: No, not really. I was expecting them to go to Joseph. He's been their best player pretty much the whole year. He's just a great player with the ball in his hands. He knocks down step backs, and he can really create for himself. So I was expecting to get him the ball and kind of just got out of his way. Nate did a great job on him the whole night. That last possession he was up in his grill, and just did a great job defending him. Q. Speaking of that perimeter defense, did you do anything different than you had previous games with them? COACH BOYLE: No, we didn't do anything different, but I thought Carlon did a great job on Singler. Like Austin just said, Nate was terrific on Joseph. Joseph, again, made some big‑time shots even in the second half. Nate was right in his face. And I thought Spencer really guarded and Askia in the second half, for a freshman those guys have grown up defensively. So Oregon presents problems with Sim and they're kind of a three‑headed monster in the back court with Sim and Singler and Joseph. So each of our guys was challenged in a different way. The one thing we talked about before the game with both Joseph and Sim were to try to make them drivers. Try to get them to put the ball on the floor, because Joseph is such a good step‑back, and size‑you‑up kind of a guy. We wanted to get him to put the ball on the floor, and our guys did a good job of that. Q. For the players, actually, there was a big student section here tonight, and it was rocking pretty good when the final buzzer went off. What is it like to sort of win a game like this and have that kind of support there? Were you feeling that all night? ANDRÉ ROBERSON: Yeah, definitely. It feels great to have the support. Thank Coach Boyle for doing that for us. It just really helped us out a lot on the court, giving us the energy and enthusiasm to go out there and play that much harder. We just do it for them. COACH BOYLE: And I said this last night, but I don't Do serve the credit for that, our athletic Mike Bohn is the one that organized those students and made that happen and got them on a plane and got them out here. It's a testament to him, and his staff, and leadership. I said that last night and I'll say it again tonight. To have them out here and the support they've given both our men's and women's teams since they've been here means a lot to us. We're playing for more than just ourselves. We're playing for all of our students back at home, and all of the Buff Nation throughout the country. Q. André, can you talk about that last offensive possession for you guys Spencer's missed shot, your offensive board, and the shot there? ANDRÉ ROBERSON: We were just trying to attack we didn't want to take a jump shot late in the game. Coach Boyle always tells us to attack the rim. I just felt like when I saw Spencer go, I just crash the board like I normally do. It fell into my hands and got it up, so... Q. You guys were in this position last year in the Big 12 Tournament against Kansas. Did you learn anything from that as far as how to get your guys the same sort of energy with their third game? COACH BOYLE: I thought we competed our tails off against Kansas last year in the semifinals. The one thing that won't be here tomorrow is 18,000 KU fans cheering against us, so that's a nice thing. But we're going to get off our feet, approach tomorrow's game like we approached today's game. We'll conserve energy. We'll get our guys rest and hydrated well and put our game plan together. These guys are here on a mission, and I like the focus of our team right now. But if we can compete like we did against KU in the semifinals last year, as a coach, I'll take that. What I want is our guys to lay it on the line every night and be able to look each other in the eye when they come in that locker room and know that they fought. You had two teams fighting out there tonight, and I was really proud of the Buffs for coming out on top. It's not going to be easy. Cal's a good team. I don't know if I learned anything or not, but I learned that you have to compete this time of the year because there are no tomorrows. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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