Colt Ryan was 1 of those rare players who helped his team get better every single year. As a freshman he suffered through the Aces have a losing season for the 9th time in 10 years. As a sophomore/junior he helped Evansville to a pair of 16-16 records. As a senior he led his team to a 21-win year including 3 straight victories in the CIT before losing to eventual champion East Carolina. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Colt about being a great scorer and playing pro basketball. Today is Colt’s 32nd birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
In 2010 at Evansville you were named conference ROY after scoring the most PTS by an MVC freshman in a decade: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I was in a good situation: a lot of seniors from the year before had graduated so we were a very young team that needed some freshmen to step up. I worked my tail off the previous summer and got the spot.
In 2011 you led the conference in FT shooting (87.4 FT%): what is the secret to being a great FT shooter? Shooting a bunch of FTs: we had to make 100/day so it is about repetition. Back when I was in high school and missed a FT my uncle would say, “What are you doing: they are free!”
In February 2012 you scored a career-high 43 PTS/17-24 FG but missed a shot at the buzzer in a 1-PT OT loss at Creighton: was it just 1 of those scenarios where almost every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? Yes it was. I looked back at the tape of that game: there were some shots that I wondered how in the heck I made! I took some challenging shots when I warmed up and everything felt good/balanced that night.
In 2012 you were named MVC Scholar Athlete of the Year: how much importance do you place on academics? I place a huge emphasis on academics: my parents instilled in me when I was young that I had to do well in the classroom as well as on the court. I am such a competitor that I always tried to get better grades than my friends.
You were the only team to beat 2013 Final 4 participant Wichita State twice during the regular season (by a combined 7 PTS): how good were the Shockers that year, and how were you able to get a pair of wins against them? They were a very good team who could have beaten eventual champion Louisville before losing by 4 PTS. They had great athleticism and guards who could handle the ball/penetrate. Carl Hall was just a workhorse inside and they had long guys who can defend. We were able to have some underclassmen make big shots: our whole team played well against them.
In the 2013 MVC quarterfinals you scored 8 PTS and Devonte Brown blocked Ned Cox’s shot at the buzzer in a 1-PT loss to Indiana State (which meant that you missed out on making the NCAA tourney during your college career): where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It was tough, knowing that it was my last chance to make the NCAA tourney, which was our goal all year. The air popped out of the balloon: I did not play well either.
Take me through the 2013 CIT:
You scored a CIT-record-tying 39 PTS (including 30 in the 2nd half) in a 1-PT win over Canisius in the quarterfinals to become the all-time leading scorer in school history: what did it mean to you to set the record, and were you surprised that DJ Balentine was able to break it a few years later? It was a tremendous honor to break the record that Larry Humes set almost 50 years ago. Larry is an outstanding person who would talk to us at practice and share his knowledge/passion. I was sure that someone would break it down the road because records are meant to be broken.
You scored 12 PTS in a loss to eventual champion ECU in semifinals: did you consider your CIT run to be a success (due to making the semifinals) or a failure (due to not winning it all)? It was a success for us. We would like to have played better against ECU, but since my freshman year we improved each year so we left the program in better shape than we found it. The tourney run gave our younger guys some experience for the following year. There are not a lot of chances to compete in a postseason tourney and it was exciting to win game after game.
Your coach Marty Simmons is also considered 1 of the best players in school history: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing you ever learned from him? He was a tremendous player who could score from anywhere and was a very hard worker. He takes pride in his game-planning: he spends countless hours watching film to put all of his players in a position to succeed. His biggest thing is that he is a great person who knows all of the X’s and O’s. He was really there for me if I needed anything.
At the 2013 Portsmouth Invitational you played with several other great seniors including Andrew Smith/Jamal Olasewere/Abdul Gaddy: how did you play, and which of your teammates impressed you the most? We had a lot of great players out there. Andrew did a good job rebounding. It is hard to go out there and just play but it was a good time. I met some guys that I would not have met otherwise. Abdul surprised me with a pretty complete game set: getting to the rim, knocking down shots, etc.
You eventually signed with a team in Brussels: how did you like playing pro basketball overseas? I knew a little about Brussels: they speak French/Dutch so it was a challenging language barrier. I just continued to do what I have done my whole career and got better each day.