Here are some comments I transcribed after the game from Self:
On Hunter’s big game…
I thought he was the best player in the game, obviously, and he was terrific. Got us off to a great start. He and K.J. You know, they killed us on the glass. If it weren't for Hunt, we would have been annihilated on the glass. But he was great. He played like an All-American tonight.
What felt different about this Colorado team from when you played them in Lawrence…
To be honest with you, in Lawrence, it was kind of similar. We had control of the game and then they came back and made it interesting and tonight we had control of the game and then obviously they came back and even took the lead.
I can't speak for Tad, but I thought they were a better team tonight than they were two weeks ago. And I think that's evidenced by, you know, their scores in other games. I actually thought were a better team tonight too than were two weeks ago. We made the game hard on ourself in a lot of ways tonight, but Colorado also had some missed opportunities too. So, it was a good competitive game. We desperately needed it. I'm proud of our guys because we did hang in there and fight after it got kind of hard.
Two-point game, three minutes and change left, and you talked a lot about tougher team wins at that point. Did you think you guys were tougher down the stretch…
I think if I were to say that it would be disrespectful, but I do think we executed better down the stretch. You know, we bailed them out a couple of times by fouling and they made free throws. But the things that have been giving us problems in other games, we actually were a lot better tonight down the stretch.
The middle eight minutes of the game kind of gave you guys trouble again. How was the team able to bounce back from that…
You know, we actually should have gone up at halftime, a minimum of seven. Juan made a terrible play to give him the ball back and then Zeke gets beat back door on a simple deal. So that cut it to five in the second half. To start the second half, we weren't awful. We started out 1 for 6 from the free throw line and you’ve got to make free throws to stem the tide and we didn't do that. So not to do a lot of things well, that would be the type of plays that helps you maintain your lead.
I thought that was probably good for us to experience that some success after kind of pissing it away and then going and getting it back.
How did you manage this late of a tip off and the challenges associated with it…
It wasn't that hard for me. I went for my walk right around 11:00 and then took my nap before pregame at 5:00. So, I handled it fine. It wasn't that big a deal.
When you got Hunter did you think he could carry a team like that…
I actually thought he would do it multiple times a year and he's been inconsistent in doing it like that. But we've also been inconsistent on helping him. It's hard when you have a hard time spacing the floor and doing some different things when you have your best players in the game. But tonight, he scored a variety of ways. I mean he was a power player and a finesse player tonight.
How big is this win for building confidence on the stretch and where do you think the confidence compares after the Utah road trip…
It's actually much higher than the Utah road trip. 10 is obviously a bigger number than one too. So, it didn't take much to be much higher. I think it'll do wonders for us. You know, 2-0, our season started against Oklahoma State because all we could do, we screwed up the conference season. All we can do is finish the conference season strong to prepare us for post season. So we're 2-0 right now. That's how we're looking at it. We're undefeated so I think we're a little bit more confident.
Your guys have really embraced that new season philosophy and starting 2-0…
I think we were searching for anything to grab onto. We needed something good to happen and that was the one thing that actually made sense to them, at least in my opinion.
On Hunter’s big game…
I thought he was the best player in the game, obviously, and he was terrific. Got us off to a great start. He and K.J. You know, they killed us on the glass. If it weren't for Hunt, we would have been annihilated on the glass. But he was great. He played like an All-American tonight.
What felt different about this Colorado team from when you played them in Lawrence…
To be honest with you, in Lawrence, it was kind of similar. We had control of the game and then they came back and made it interesting and tonight we had control of the game and then obviously they came back and even took the lead.
I can't speak for Tad, but I thought they were a better team tonight than they were two weeks ago. And I think that's evidenced by, you know, their scores in other games. I actually thought were a better team tonight too than were two weeks ago. We made the game hard on ourself in a lot of ways tonight, but Colorado also had some missed opportunities too. So, it was a good competitive game. We desperately needed it. I'm proud of our guys because we did hang in there and fight after it got kind of hard.
Two-point game, three minutes and change left, and you talked a lot about tougher team wins at that point. Did you think you guys were tougher down the stretch…
I think if I were to say that it would be disrespectful, but I do think we executed better down the stretch. You know, we bailed them out a couple of times by fouling and they made free throws. But the things that have been giving us problems in other games, we actually were a lot better tonight down the stretch.
The middle eight minutes of the game kind of gave you guys trouble again. How was the team able to bounce back from that…
You know, we actually should have gone up at halftime, a minimum of seven. Juan made a terrible play to give him the ball back and then Zeke gets beat back door on a simple deal. So that cut it to five in the second half. To start the second half, we weren't awful. We started out 1 for 6 from the free throw line and you’ve got to make free throws to stem the tide and we didn't do that. So not to do a lot of things well, that would be the type of plays that helps you maintain your lead.
I thought that was probably good for us to experience that some success after kind of pissing it away and then going and getting it back.
How did you manage this late of a tip off and the challenges associated with it…
It wasn't that hard for me. I went for my walk right around 11:00 and then took my nap before pregame at 5:00. So, I handled it fine. It wasn't that big a deal.
When you got Hunter did you think he could carry a team like that…
I actually thought he would do it multiple times a year and he's been inconsistent in doing it like that. But we've also been inconsistent on helping him. It's hard when you have a hard time spacing the floor and doing some different things when you have your best players in the game. But tonight, he scored a variety of ways. I mean he was a power player and a finesse player tonight.
How big is this win for building confidence on the stretch and where do you think the confidence compares after the Utah road trip…
It's actually much higher than the Utah road trip. 10 is obviously a bigger number than one too. So, it didn't take much to be much higher. I think it'll do wonders for us. You know, 2-0, our season started against Oklahoma State because all we could do, we screwed up the conference season. All we can do is finish the conference season strong to prepare us for post season. So we're 2-0 right now. That's how we're looking at it. We're undefeated so I think we're a little bit more confident.
Your guys have really embraced that new season philosophy and starting 2-0…
I think we were searching for anything to grab onto. We needed something good to happen and that was the one thing that actually made sense to them, at least in my opinion.
