Colorado State University Athletics
CSU vs. Air Force Postgame Quotes
1/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2007
Coach Dale Layer
"I thought it was a great college basketball game. I really appreciated the support of the crowd. I thought they were treated go a great game. The atmosphere was tremendous. I appreciate the fans responding to our team in a great way. I cannot say enough about the fans in green and gold.
"I thought we were tentative, that they were the aggressor in the first half. I thought that we were the aggressor in the second half.
"I am proud of my guys for battling. I thought we got better. We did that tonight. We're a good team that's improving.
"This is a disheartening, tough, demoralizing loss, but good things came of it.
"I think Air Force is a terrific team. You look at the notches in their belt. They've got five seniors on the floor some of the time. They are battle-tested. This is a really good basketball team (Air Force). You have to give them credit.
"We've got a chance to be that good, but we've got to keep working.
"We could have played better. We've got a little higher ceiling ahead.
"You have to play almost a next-to-excellent game to beat Air Force anywhere. We played about 25 minutes that way."
On playing F Jason Smith after he was called for a fourth foul
"It's do or die. You have to roll the dice a little bit. I wasn't sure we could beat them without him on the floor."
Corey Lewis, CSU Point Guard
"We knew they were going to double (Jason Smith) and (Stuart Creason), so when they kicked it out, is guards had to stay aggressive and make a play."
On first half guard play: "I thought we were being kind of passive, because nobody wanted to mess up, nobody wanted to make a mistake. The guards were being kind of passive. But in the second half we adjusted and made a run."
"I thought in the first half we weren't communicating as well, they were getting open shots."
On AFA's first half: "I haven't seen a team play like that, they played flawless. They don't turnover the ball, they don't take bad shots, they are just a very good team."
On CSU's second half: "We knew we didn't play our best half in the first half, we knew we were a better team than that. We just got more aggressive."
"If you make one too many mistakes, that might cost you the game against a team like that. And it did, we couldn't overcome those mistakes."
"They are a very good team, hats-off to them."
Stuart Creason, CSU Center
"I think that the size of the crowd hurt us a little bit, we didn't run our (offense) like we wanted to, as far as getting the ball in early, especially the way Jason (Smith) was playing the way he was."
"We closed the gap within two, because we kept getting shots at the rim or we were kicking it out to our guards. We need to learn from that and continue to do that in the future."
"At the end of the game, we just can't let them get us out of our game."
On AFA's open shots: "It's very frustrating and that's why teams have been ending up losing by 20 or more points to this team. But at the beginning of the year we said we were never going to give up and I think we proved that tonight."
Jason Smith, CSU Forward
"I was just trying to see what the refs were going to call, and as soon as they called that first one I knew it was going to be a close called game. I just had to play more fundamental."
"I think that we let them dictate the game, let them run the game the way they wanted to run it. We were just kind of following their lead and we can't do that. We have to play our offense and dictate them on defense."
On Air Force: "They have movement of the ball and they are so good on their outside shots. They just kept knocking down shot after shot after shot. It is definitely a tough offense to guard."
"I think this is the best game we have had (during Smith's tenure). We had a nine game winning streak, but coming in against the no.16 ranked team in the country is a tough feat. I thought our team handled it very well, we competed with them and I think we learned from this game."
Jeff Bzdelik, Air Force Head Coach On playing on the road
"I can't say enough about our players, they have embraced playing on the road."
On defensive technique
"Our goal every game is nine turnovers or less. Anymore than that is not good. Every conference game is meaningful."
"We practice specific situations everyday. We practice pressing the offense all the time. When you're prepared the team is confident and our players feel confident with a close game."
On First Conference win of season
"The conference is so competitive. Everyone's had great runs. Everyone's done well."
Tim Anderson, Air Force #12, G
On the win against Colorado State University
"Colorado State is a great team. Close games are fun in a way because they are good experience for the team and the coaching staff. We are really blessed with experience on this team and we're thankful for that."
Dan Nwaelele, Air Force #34, F
On team effort
"First conference win is a big, big win for us. We practice and play well together so we have a kind of chemistry going. We have a comfortable feeling with each other and really try to limit turnovers."