MBI Quotes – Boise State 68, Colorado 55

Boise State Coach Leon Rice – “We knew we had our hands full tonight. I’ve watched them a lot and have tons of respect for them. They got my attention when they beat Tennessee at Tennessee and then they come here and score 103 on Texas A&M. We knew we had to compete with them on the glass, we had to limit to limit their 3-pointers because they had 16 of them the other night. They’ve some guys that if you let them shoot, they’re going to make them.” (On the improvement in the final two games): “We tell our guys we’re going to face adversity, well, good. That’s why you play good teams, that’s why you play in these events because the adversity early in the season helps you and forces you to grow. If we didn’t get any better, we were going to go 0-3 in this tournament. Credit to my staff the way they consolidated everything and simplified everything. You’ve got 100 things to correct this time of year and these guys responded and got better.

Boise State forward Tyson Degenhart – “We had a little heart-to-heart at halftime of the Charlotte game. We had to pick up our energy and I think we saw the benefits of starting off the game with energy and keeping that energy throughout the games.”

Colorado Coach Tad Boyle  “We have to get tougher. We wilt like flowers when people get into us. There’s no other way to put it. We start feeling sorry for ourselves, we start looking at the referees, we start listening to fans. We’re just not tough enough mentally, we’re not tough enough physically. UMass climbed up into us, we couldn’t handle it, we couldn’t finish. Boise State did the same thing. We’re so poorly coached right now it makes me want to puke because we are not living up to our end of the bargain when it comes to wearing the Colorado basketball uniform.”

Colorado guard KJ Simpson – “I felt like we don’t know how to respond. We’re good when we’re up and have shots falling and we’re moving the ball. When shots don’t fall we’re not responding at all. We didn’t have any fight at all. That’s why they deserved to win.”