Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.22.24

Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.22.24

That you can kind of help apply with this game there yeah I think you learned a lot for watching the the first game uh um you know it was a back and forth game tie game at Halftime and obviously you know we were missing a couple guys but

They were missing a couple guys that was Lawson’s first game back from his injury after missing I think four games um but they’re a good team you know it’s amazing how similar a lot of things have been through the course of the season in terms of when we’ve won they’ve won and

Vice versa and you know they’ve been unbelievable at home I think their only loss at home this year is Arizona um they have a great home court um in Boulder and they play with a lot a lot of energy specifically at home but ton of Talent on that team Tad boell

Does a great job um of course when we played him the first time um Cody Williams who’s a you know a true freshman and you know ranked or uh expected to go top five in the draft in almost any mock draft that you look at

Uh as high as number one as low as number five but no lower than that uh I’ve seen mock drafts where they have where Cody Williams um Tristan dilva and um KJ Simpson are all projected to go in the first round and certainly all three projected to get drafted so and then the

Role guys are really really good Annie lampkins a force down there um um so you know you learn a lot from you watch those games of course they’re going to make adjustments we’re going to make adjustments um they’re playing a little bit differently we’re playing a little

Bit differently and you go from there what uh what do you specifically see out of Cody Williams that he does really well well he’s got excellent size first of all at the guard and he can play you know essentially any spot on the Flo I mean any perimeter spot one two three

He’s really really long uh very good athlete and he can get it going in any number of ways he’s just a I say just at his size and his length when he gets around the rim he’s able to finish at all kinds of angles Les uh over shot

Blockers and so he shoots the three really really well he’s got an excellent pullup game and he can tack the rim and get fouled um just the other night against UCLA uh I believe he started the game eight for eight from the field something like that maybe nine for n um just

Watching that game the other day so he puts a lot of pressure on you uh and he’s a good Defender because he’s so long you know what I mean you can get deep and you might have a half a step Advantage but with his length he can

Catch up and make those plays so he’s a dynamic player and he certainly makes them different um how do you kind of avoid a let down after you know such a huge emotional Victory on Sunday and you’re going back again on the road third straight game how do you just

Prepare to be like hey you know it’s not over we’ve got this yeah I don’t think you know in terms of let down obviously that was a very emotional game we had two of them I mean both those games came down to last possession last weekend in

La um we l one one1 but you know we have a whole we have a a bye-week so to speak where you play one game uh it’s been good for our guys to kind of get the legs back under them recharge mentally recharge physically I thought we had a

Great practice the other day um so I don’t I don’t anticipate that being any issue in any way I’m just so happy for our guys that we’re able to find a way to win that game um just back and forth and you know I think we’re down six with

Right around three to play and against UCLA that’s hard because they just grind you and they’re so Elite defensively so it’s a great uh win for us and hopefully we can build off of that uh on Saturday um is there any update on Raleigh at this point there’s no spe

Yeah there’s no specific update uh but I do not anticipate him playing on Saturday Okay um and just specifically going against Colorado what’s one thing maybe two things that you kind of telling the guys this we this is something we really want to focus on well first of all they’ve been so good

At home they just play with so much energy they have great fan support um that backs that team and and they’re I think they’re Elite in transition um and when I say Elite like they are they can get it and go KJ Simpson is super fast with the ball um

But he’s also very unselfish so he’s willing to pitch it ahead when he sees those wings flying down the floor whether it’s Cody Williams or Tristan D Silva uh Eddie Lin’s a big physical guy so they’re just they’re very fundamental very rarely they they rarely lose the

Game like you have to beat them to beat them you know so I think it all starts with our it’s going to start with our transition defense we can’t let them get loose in transition and start you know getting dunks and layups and easy threes and living at the foul line secondly

They’re they are you know what you’re going to get with Colorado they’re they’re an elite rebounding team it’s hard to get offensive boards against them and they’re going to crash you know three guys every time they just they do their job their role guys are excellent

At what they do and so just you got to work your you got to play with physicality and box out um and part of boxing out in them is they’re so good because all their guards can get to the rim so if you don’t contain the ball or

You don’t stay in front of the ball now they’re attacking the rim and now your shop Locker got to rotate over which opens up offensive rebounding Lanes you know for the rest of those guys so it’s a combination of of eliminating you know or neutralizing second chance

Opportunities but a lot of that so that’s boxing out but a lot of that is being able to stay in front of the ball and guarding the ball I thought we did a pretty good job with that last time and then and then for us on the offensive

End is we got to we got to Value the ball you know we finally had a single digit turnover game meaning against UCLA we only turned it over nine times part of that’s a lower possession game but we didn’t have nearly as many unforced turnovers against

UCLA um and I thought that was a big reason we won that game and we have to have that kind of effort as well uh in colge Colorado um just last question you know obviously you don’t want to look too far ahead at this point but I mean

Down to the last quarter of this pack 12 you got the Pack 12 tournament coming up quick after that what’s just kind of message for the team you know at this point message for our team you know you get the last 25% of the Season everything’s so you know what Arizona

One game leave over Washington State who I think has a one game leave over maybe Oregon I don’t know the exact number but I just I know there’s a bunch of teams right in the middle where we’re at right where any you know you you get a two

Game sweep things can change however none of that matter like I just want our message is be where your feet are at right all we can do is do what we can do let’s be where our feet are at today and practice to get better in preparation to

Play this excellent Colorado team um you know that’s fighting for an NCA tournament birth as well so we just got to be where our feet are at let’s put our best foot forward let’s be the very best at we can possibly be and then whatever happens happens

Hear from Utah Basketball Head Coach Craig Smith discusses their next match up with Colorado as the Runnin’ Utes come off a buzzer beater victory over UCLA.