From the audio provided by @J. Apodaca , here are the highlights from the postgame convo with Grant…
Opening Statement:
“Northern Colorado has got a really good team, man, they're our hard team to defend. They can score in a lot of different ways. I thought their pace was really good. Starting the game, we started slow, and I think my favorite part of this game was starting the second half, we challenged our group to be better defensively, and I thought we started the second half like one for set. They were one for seven from the field, and we were just more connected and more competitive on some ball screen scenarios. Got a great lift off the bench from Kevin Overton and Christian Anderson. Those two guys were tremendous. Thought their lift really changed the game and broke the game open. And that's the awesome part about depth. And I think the strength of this team is we can score on different nights, and KO shot it well in the last couple weeks. But, man, he's worked and he's been consistent in his work habits, and that always proves fruitful. And so, man, we had a lot of stretches where we weren't very good, but I thought Darrion Williams consistency and JT Toppin, even though his shots weren't going in, I loved his competitiveness on the glass. I thought his effort was tremendous down there. And man, I'm really excited to get this team working. It was great to have EY back out there. I thought he gave us some solid minutes at the end. And obviously Federiko keeps getting better and the more minutes he plays, the better he'll get.”
Curious about what you thought Kevin Overton was able to do?
“He's going to grow into a role that I think is going to be a guy that's got a chance to be one of the most impactful players on our roster. There's a consistency that goes with it every night that I think he's learning. And at this level, you know, there's a lot of different ways that you can impact winning, and just got to find that balance of when maybe Chance’s night and maybe Kerwin's night, and maybe Christian's night, maybe KO's night. And tonight, I loved the way our team kept giving him opportunities, and it felt like he was taking advantage of it. But really his defense in the first half was really solid, and that's where he can really help this team.”
Able to hold them to 6-23 from deep, what did you think of the defensive results?
“That's been our negative through these first few games is when we play good teams that can make open threes. Their best players have made threes, and we've got to eliminate that. And I thought there was a concerted effort for that to happen tonight. Obviously, Bloch got it but it felt like he got one in the first half off a stagger, and then got another one on the baseline in the same action, but we made it difficult on him. Hawthorne has been one of their best scores. Langston has been one of the best scores, and I felt like they had to earn it with a lot of different ways. And when you can limit a team from making threes, it really puts you in a good position. And you know, a couple of those were in the last few minutes of the game, which we've been consistent. Unfortunately, in doing that with four minutes to go, we've given up the most threes at home. But you know, this team, I thought, took the urgency that we needed defensively on the perimeter and got better.”
Thoughts on the aggressiveness in going to the basket, both looking to score and looking to draw fouls?
“No question. I mean, it's obvious the difference when somebody's hunting a foul and someone's going putting two feet in the paint trying to go score with the purpose, and then you get fouled. And we've, we've navigated in between those two things. And I thought KO's attack early kind of started that. But don't underestimate the just the gravity that JT has on people. And I thought, I don't know what the number is, but he ended up drawing six fouls, D5 ended up drawing five of them. So those two guys really that inside out, even though, you know JT didn't score a lot, man. I thought his attention down there, really, you know, was the core to us getting to the free throw line. And then Chance driving to the basket was good. KO got to the free throw line, and it's one thing to get there. It's another thing to take advantage, and to go 24 for 26 to make more free throws and the other team attempts. That's a good sign."
With JT Toppin’s turnovers tonight and defenses keying in on him more, what’s the next step to elevating more confidence around that?
“Weirdly enough, you would think they're on post, but they're actually on short rolls. And they got us a couple of times in rotations, and then a couple of them, I think it's just he got a rebound and got some loose balls, and then they knocked it out of his hand, you know, in there. So I don't know if all five of them are like him getting double teamed in the post. It was more making reads on short rolls. And I love this about JT, because he comes to those time outs and he looks at you with the intent that he wants to learn. And he said, Man, I'm playing terrible. It's my bad. I mean, he does. He does really care about this team and I and that's that hard. He'll always get better. I mean, in games like this, where you start to press a little bit, you could tell, I think he pressed and made a little quicker decision than he needed to, maybe to try to make something happen. And that's where his experience will learn to be more composed and be more patient and let the defense kind of show its hand, and then make the right read and be aggressive, and he'll get better at it, because he wants you to bring guys in.”
Was there ever a conversation with Kevin Overton about his role and not starting on this team?
“I actually talked to him a lot about just his impact on the team, and I love this about him, like today in shoot around. We talked about, like, what his role is with this team before practice for a few minutes, and he said, Coach, I got your back, you know. And I love that about him. Now, is it easy to do no, but it's something that I feel like he's seeing the need for and embracing. But let's be honest. I mean, he played the second most minutes on the team, or third tonight, but behind D5 and Chance and then him. So anytime you're going to play a majority of the minutes, I don't think anybody's going to complain about when they're playing. And he's one of those guys that I think is embracing it and really stepping up playing well.”
Saw a lot of perimeter double teams in the first half and not so much in the second half…
“Let's give our guys credit. On spacing, there's two components to this that are really important. One is spacing and making sure that you understand where people are supposed to be. And we're still making a lot of mistakes, to be honest, but I think this, our staff's done a tremendous job of helping guys get that spacing, which allows you to put your best players in positions where they can make plays. And then two, I do think our team believes, the more we can move the basketball, the better we are. There's fatigue that's set in a few times, that stuck with lineups a little bit. But I think anytime you can have this kind of spread in your minutes played, and you can keep limited numbers under 30, over 30 minutes where you don't have a lot of guys doing that, I think you get the best of both ends and you can see the ball gets shared when we're fresh, and man, I do appreciate our unselfishness, and our willingness willingness to share them all, especially the first half.”
Opening Statement:
“Northern Colorado has got a really good team, man, they're our hard team to defend. They can score in a lot of different ways. I thought their pace was really good. Starting the game, we started slow, and I think my favorite part of this game was starting the second half, we challenged our group to be better defensively, and I thought we started the second half like one for set. They were one for seven from the field, and we were just more connected and more competitive on some ball screen scenarios. Got a great lift off the bench from Kevin Overton and Christian Anderson. Those two guys were tremendous. Thought their lift really changed the game and broke the game open. And that's the awesome part about depth. And I think the strength of this team is we can score on different nights, and KO shot it well in the last couple weeks. But, man, he's worked and he's been consistent in his work habits, and that always proves fruitful. And so, man, we had a lot of stretches where we weren't very good, but I thought Darrion Williams consistency and JT Toppin, even though his shots weren't going in, I loved his competitiveness on the glass. I thought his effort was tremendous down there. And man, I'm really excited to get this team working. It was great to have EY back out there. I thought he gave us some solid minutes at the end. And obviously Federiko keeps getting better and the more minutes he plays, the better he'll get.”
Curious about what you thought Kevin Overton was able to do?
“He's going to grow into a role that I think is going to be a guy that's got a chance to be one of the most impactful players on our roster. There's a consistency that goes with it every night that I think he's learning. And at this level, you know, there's a lot of different ways that you can impact winning, and just got to find that balance of when maybe Chance’s night and maybe Kerwin's night, and maybe Christian's night, maybe KO's night. And tonight, I loved the way our team kept giving him opportunities, and it felt like he was taking advantage of it. But really his defense in the first half was really solid, and that's where he can really help this team.”
Able to hold them to 6-23 from deep, what did you think of the defensive results?
“That's been our negative through these first few games is when we play good teams that can make open threes. Their best players have made threes, and we've got to eliminate that. And I thought there was a concerted effort for that to happen tonight. Obviously, Bloch got it but it felt like he got one in the first half off a stagger, and then got another one on the baseline in the same action, but we made it difficult on him. Hawthorne has been one of their best scores. Langston has been one of the best scores, and I felt like they had to earn it with a lot of different ways. And when you can limit a team from making threes, it really puts you in a good position. And you know, a couple of those were in the last few minutes of the game, which we've been consistent. Unfortunately, in doing that with four minutes to go, we've given up the most threes at home. But you know, this team, I thought, took the urgency that we needed defensively on the perimeter and got better.”
Thoughts on the aggressiveness in going to the basket, both looking to score and looking to draw fouls?
“No question. I mean, it's obvious the difference when somebody's hunting a foul and someone's going putting two feet in the paint trying to go score with the purpose, and then you get fouled. And we've, we've navigated in between those two things. And I thought KO's attack early kind of started that. But don't underestimate the just the gravity that JT has on people. And I thought, I don't know what the number is, but he ended up drawing six fouls, D5 ended up drawing five of them. So those two guys really that inside out, even though, you know JT didn't score a lot, man. I thought his attention down there, really, you know, was the core to us getting to the free throw line. And then Chance driving to the basket was good. KO got to the free throw line, and it's one thing to get there. It's another thing to take advantage, and to go 24 for 26 to make more free throws and the other team attempts. That's a good sign."
With JT Toppin’s turnovers tonight and defenses keying in on him more, what’s the next step to elevating more confidence around that?
“Weirdly enough, you would think they're on post, but they're actually on short rolls. And they got us a couple of times in rotations, and then a couple of them, I think it's just he got a rebound and got some loose balls, and then they knocked it out of his hand, you know, in there. So I don't know if all five of them are like him getting double teamed in the post. It was more making reads on short rolls. And I love this about JT, because he comes to those time outs and he looks at you with the intent that he wants to learn. And he said, Man, I'm playing terrible. It's my bad. I mean, he does. He does really care about this team and I and that's that hard. He'll always get better. I mean, in games like this, where you start to press a little bit, you could tell, I think he pressed and made a little quicker decision than he needed to, maybe to try to make something happen. And that's where his experience will learn to be more composed and be more patient and let the defense kind of show its hand, and then make the right read and be aggressive, and he'll get better at it, because he wants you to bring guys in.”
Was there ever a conversation with Kevin Overton about his role and not starting on this team?
“I actually talked to him a lot about just his impact on the team, and I love this about him, like today in shoot around. We talked about, like, what his role is with this team before practice for a few minutes, and he said, Coach, I got your back, you know. And I love that about him. Now, is it easy to do no, but it's something that I feel like he's seeing the need for and embracing. But let's be honest. I mean, he played the second most minutes on the team, or third tonight, but behind D5 and Chance and then him. So anytime you're going to play a majority of the minutes, I don't think anybody's going to complain about when they're playing. And he's one of those guys that I think is embracing it and really stepping up playing well.”
Saw a lot of perimeter double teams in the first half and not so much in the second half…
“Let's give our guys credit. On spacing, there's two components to this that are really important. One is spacing and making sure that you understand where people are supposed to be. And we're still making a lot of mistakes, to be honest, but I think this, our staff's done a tremendous job of helping guys get that spacing, which allows you to put your best players in positions where they can make plays. And then two, I do think our team believes, the more we can move the basketball, the better we are. There's fatigue that's set in a few times, that stuck with lineups a little bit. But I think anytime you can have this kind of spread in your minutes played, and you can keep limited numbers under 30, over 30 minutes where you don't have a lot of guys doing that, I think you get the best of both ends and you can see the ball gets shared when we're fresh, and man, I do appreciate our unselfishness, and our willingness willingness to share them all, especially the first half.”
