Utah Basketball Press Conference | 1.16.24

Utah Basketball Press Conference | 1.16.24

Yeah it’s been a frustrating uh week for sure I mean a great you know obviously the week got started off great but some of these injuries you just can’t it’s part of it obviously and we do everything we can from a um I think we have a really good sports

Science team um built of about five different people uh covering a lot of different facets we’re really in tune to that we really are very very diligent to load management and and and what we need to do to help put our guys in the best position you know from an athletic

Standpoint and a freshman freshness standpoint while still getting the work done that you got to get done and so it’s an unfortunate deal um you know Raleigh um just don’t know exactly how this is going to all play out both Raleigh and Lawson are doing test as we

Speak and so and seeing the appropriate medical um Personnel Raleigh’s I think just more of a um you know I guess something kind of happened in the in the UCLA game and went through some things throughout the week and quite frankly we thought there was a good chance he was going to be

Able to play um on uh Sunday but obviously that didn’t work out so we’ll see how his testing and everything goes uh today uh and Lon you know you mean you’re three minutes into the game right and it’s unfortunate Lon I thought was really starting to play I I mean Lawson

Does some things that certainly don’t show up in this um at a very high level he’s one of our best defensive players now does he make the all the highlight real plays that c makes no he’s different right he’s very different but he I think is an elite Defender uh and

He covers up a lot of mistakes um for our team and he’s he’s done that part all year and so um with those two guys all of a sudden out on the on the snap of a finger uh it certainly changes some things and um and we really had to get

Into our bench and that’s why guys got to always be ready to roll you know you we’re in a tough spot right now because we’re you know we had the one loss of a scholarship guy early on and then will obviously out for the year and now these

Two guys you know we’ll see um what what happens if they’re going to be able to play on Thursday or Sunday or or or not you know so hope I think we’ll know a lot more by the end of the day um and certainly tomorrow so they came in and

Did all the training they needed or all the recovery and all that kind of stuff yesterday but now they’re seeing the who they need to see and hopefully we’ll get some feedback here by by the end of the day coach uh de Smith first start in the

Last game and no big deal just goes out and Records just the fourth triple double for the running M since 97 998 um how big how big is that to have a guy that’s coming in that transfers in and don’t get a triple double in his first

Start how huge is that your team forward yeah thought Devon did some really really good things um you know first and foremost we took care of the ball we had five turnovers on the night I think a lot of that is obviously Devon uh the ball’s in his hands the majority of the

Time and um they pick up pretty full court and they really do some things to um to help a or to make it life very very difficult on Gabe and on Cole uh so I thought he did great things I mean you obviously you see him going in attacking

Rebounds that was something that I mean between him and wer those are two Elite rebounding guards um which we need uh he plays with a great Pace um and obviously we put the ball in his hands he made a lot of really really good decisions for

Us so um you know he’s got to keep getting better um with some things which he will you know he’s uh he’s a veteran guy he was a top I believe he was a top 50 recruit out of high school um so there’s a lot of things that he can do

And I think he’s starting to settle in right to knowing how we play what we’re trying to accomplish the things that we’re trying to do and so uh he played 32 minutes which is certainly the most minutes he’s played here um and uh hopefully he can continue to do that uh

Moving forward and keep on getting better and better but you’re starting to see certainly some things that he can do specifically on the offensive end with with your lineups now I mean how how do you kind of Mi a match that knowing that it’s impacted both your your have you

Kind of settled on where you’re at if those two guys aren’t able to play yeah my eyes probably look a little more black uh than they’ve looked in quite some time um but it is you’re constantly re we uh we’re redefining ourselves certainly as as we go and um you know we

Do have on our front line we do have some depth certainly um and that’ll be tested now and um you know the good news is like CBA K’s got to work hard hard like K’s been good I thought he took a wasn’t great you know on Sunday thought

He was really good against um uh UCA but got to work hard without fouling got in early foul trouble again got two quick fouls and that hurts us right and so he’s got to be able to play hard without following BC obviously he’s played the five his whole career and Ben is very

Comfortable started every game last year played a lot of minutes um but it’s still hard to play with just three you know Luca is going to have to get some time in there um and I thought Luca short you know what he play six minutes

Or just under that I thought he gave us some good minutes on both sides of the ball um he’s a Savvy guy now in the offensive end obviously Devon Cole gabri are gonna be your core and uh I thought Hunter had a played very well against

UCLA and had a good week of practice uh it’s got to you know it’s got to continue to keep moving forward that way and Jaden T’s gonna play I mean Jaden’s a Jaden’s a feisty guy I think he’s got he’s a competitor uh um the good news is Jaden

Never has a bad practice like he shows or very rarely like he shows up ready to compete on a day-to-day basis so he’s been very locked in like for a guy that’s very rarely played like he knows our sets he knows what we’re trying to accomplish he knows our terminology he

Know so like and he competes hard and obviously we played him in there down the stretch he’s a very good shooter uh and good decision maker so he’s going to play so uh uh it’s you know that’s that’s nine guys right there and and and

And you got to be able to depend on I feel like our bench has done a good job of staying engaged and motivating they’re getting good reps in practice it’s not like they’re over there sitting there you know so that’s the good part as they’ve been engaged and I feel like

It’s obviously different when you go play a game um but we do a lot of competing and practice and a lot of fives so I do feel like um although they don’t have maybe the Synergy with some of our top guys they’ve had had they’ve had to compete on a day-to-day basis and

I think that really matters but last thing so but without those two guys you still got we are we just had about a two-hour meet like you’re kind of I don’t want to say redefining yourself but guys are in different roles so guys got to be able

To right and we got to pick you know play through some different people you know the other night we really played through Devon uh a lot and it showed obviously with those with those numbers um obviously if if righ’s missing any other more time he’s always been a huge

Facilitator for you how have you kind of seen Devon yeah um Devon’s been outstanding uh Raleigh I mean Raley’s been he’s a pillar of our program right like you just there’s just he just he impacts winning in so many ways and certainly with Raleigh you see it in the stat

Sheet when like he’s a stat stuer in terms of you know 10 11 points and five or six rebounds and five or six assists and think he’s been one rebound or one assist away from a triple double three or four times and and so but he’s also

Just a stabilizing Force for your team and he guards the other team’s best player every night we really missed him on the we Lawson and Raleigh are two of our best defenders if not our two best defenders and so there were some things and it and it

Showed the other night just we weren’t great down the defensive end but but that’s part of it and you got to get to the next guy so with Davon and Raleigh I mean Raleigh obviously playing primarily point guard his whole career um and now we’re I mean when those two played

Together we played those two together a lot um once Davon came back and it was nice because you could kind of alternate and you’re really playing with two point guards turnover numbers went way down decision making I thought went way up uh uh I thought everybody was getting the

Share of the ball we were really selfless with the ball all in all and so um uh and now without Raleigh I mean obviously the ball’s in Devon’s hands primarily you know uh Gabe has taken a big step forward I think with some of his playmaking ability off the bounce

He’s not just a specialist anymore um but still he has room to grow in that area right so Devon becomes really our true primary playmaking guard on our team and so um you know I I feel like he’s got very good feel I’ve said that from the start with him this Summer

Um not only seeing him playing in Spain but also just our practices his numbers from last year in my opinion I didn’t think correlated to what he really could become now you got to go prove it in games and that’s the nice part I think he’s getting better uh I thought he

Really got better from that Arizona trip to this week with UCLA and and um and Stanford and we’re going to need him to continue to climb and be even better as we progress through Pack 12 Play or’s always kind of been that elusive program for

This time yeah them and kind of what is your focus I know Sunday you got but what is it about them that makes them so difficult for maybe you guys you know I can’t uh what I mean the numbers are I think we’ve only beaten them two times

In Pack 12 Play if that’s right I I remember that my first year I was one time I was astounded by that when I got here um but it’s always kind of stuck in my head because obviously we haven’t beat him since I’ve been here so 0 four

Um so I can’t speak to to prior to that you know a lot of times I just view that stuff as flukish but first of all I look at it like well they’ve been very good um they’ve been a premier program in this league so I think it starts there

Uh you know Dan Alman does a great job they always accumulate a ton of talent I mean they’re loaded with talent and this year’s no different um now um credit to them you know uh bidd has been out for a while and inal Dante has been out who

Had an he was unbelievable I thought he was so good last year but you know the year before that he was hurt so they’re just they’re very athletic they’re very physical they’re very strong um they’re built like a great team is they have a lot of Versatility they can play a lot

Of different ways and it shows with those two guys being out they haven’t missed a beat I mean they got you know they got uh they played in the s in the Sanford pentagon and S sou Falls against Syracuse and got I think they lost by 20

Right around then and and they’ve been very good since then so they adapt they adjust they have a ton of playmaking ability um uh they can beat you in a lot of different ways they’re shooting the ball very very well this year at the same time they can beat you off the

Bounce right and then they’re always going to have to guard or or you’re just not going to play so um you know that I just felt like we’ve really gotten hurt in the paint over the last couple years I thought last year if I remember right they and I haven’t watched our game

Against them last year but I have watched two of their games in preps I always try to work ahead um they just they they’re physically imposing they smashed us on the offensive boards last year we actually did a decent job I thought defending them but then they’d get get second and third opportunities

And so they just they can hurt you in a lot of different ways and they’re very physical and very athletic and we have to match up to that coach uh um you know you have you have the two Oregon teams Oregon State Oregon coming

In this week but so far P 12 play and so far really over the course of the Season you know the Huntsman Center has been kind of like your Fortress at home so like how how huge is it to get those two teams like here at home in front of the

Fans in front of this in front of this fan base like how huge is that to have these two teams play at home yeah I mean um we’ve played well at home certainly we’ve played a lot better at home than we have on the road Road and I mean

We’ve played better at home and we have not performed like we need to on the road there’s no doubt about that we have to get better on the road um but you got to take care of business at home when you look at Pack 12 play I mean you look

At Arizona again right Arizona loses at Stanford Arizona loses the other night at Washington State seems to be a theme right and it seems to be a theme all around the country quite frankly I forget the number this week of top 10 teams and top 20 teams losing all in the

Road yeah teams all lose on the RO yeah so it seems like it’s just been a theme of college basketball this year a lot of parody it’s a ton of parody a lot of close games expect the unexpected right as they say so we got to take care of

Business you know this weekend we gota when I say this weekend right this home set on Thursday and different playing on a Sunday at one o’clock so um we got to do what we got to do we gotta but we just got to worry about putting our best

Foot forward like this is a big week but it’s it’s a big week because if we don’t have ooster and we don’t have lovering and that’s my mindset until I hear otherwise like we got to we got to find tune some stuff right and and put our guys in the best position to

Succeed um and come up with different idea and it’s both on both ends of the floor right on both ends of the floor Oregon State there’s a lot of things at you they always have they they mix up their defenses they anything you can do on the basketball floor they do it right

They they’re also one of those teams that has the most sets if you want to say like they they run a lot of different stuff so you just they put you in a lot of different positions um and so we got to be on point with it and now we’re going to be

On point with it potentially with some guys that haven’t had a lot of real game experience so that is the Silver Lining is we’ve played a lot better at home uh and we got to be able to find a way to take care of business at home no matter who’s on the floor

Hear from Utah Basketball Head Coach Craig Smith as the Runnin’ Utes prepare to take on Oregon State and Oregon at the Jon M. Huntsman Center this week.. Come watch the Utes play! https://utahtickets.com/basketball/

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