Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.27.24

Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.27.24

What what does this week mean for you and where you guys are at it’s always great to be at home uh feels like we haven’t been here for a while but it is it’s a special weekend um um for our whole program but certainly for our

Seniors um but with our guys I I think it it’s certainly a different level for our senior guys you know specifically um Brandon although he did go through this a year ago I know it’s going to be a lot different for him I think emotionally um just you know he grew up

A youth fan um I think it’s very rare nowadays to see a guy stick it out for five years or four years right at one place uh it’s home for him he had some he could have had a lot of opportun well he did have a lot of opportunities last

Year uh obviously tested the waters and um uh and there was never a doubt you know if he was coming back to school he was GNA come back to be a you he cares about it deeply he loves his place and obviously he’s a legendary player here

Um so I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of emotion that way and then Cole you know um little bit different story right three schools in three years graduated last year at Washington came here as a grad transfer but it’s still you know

It’s a it’s an end of a chapter in your life and and now you go out into the the real world so to speak you know in a lot of respects but um those two guys done a great job for us um you know throughout the year um

Certainly being able to coach Brandon for three years there’s just seeing where he was three years ago and where he is today uh it’s just night and day so super proud and then we have some other guys that are going to graduate um from school here and and um that we’re

Going to honor and and they they do have a year of Eligibility left with whatever they decide to do if they decide to go pro or hang it up or or stay or transfer and so um but I think when you get to this this uh the last home stand you know the

Pack 12 it’s always too almost always two games a lot of leagues it’s just the one game uh there’s just a lot of emotion that come into play um and the guys that aren’t going through it can see things maybe in a little different light and if you have a close locker

Room like we do it means a little bit more to those guys too because they want it super bad for their teammate uh because that one day is going to be them so uh and then just for our team it’s good to be at home you know um uh it’s

Been three weeks obviously it’s hard to believe the last home stand was Arizona and Arizona State and so um two very different games um but we’ve played well at home and and hopefully we’ll continue that Trend what’s the message to the team right now you get ready to head down the

Stretch try to get a higher SE yeah there’s you know there’s still going to be a lot of I don’t know if this is the right word but ju to positioning within the league like I just think a lot of things can change um you know every most teams have four

Games left some have three and so but that’s how tight everything is and things can flip pretty quickly for the good or The Bad And so there’s a lot to play for it’s never too late it’s just it’s never too late and so uh we had a tremendous practice yesterday and some

Real heart to hearts and you know those things are great to have and and they can help but you got to be able to go out and prove it on the floor and um and there’s some things that we can certainly you know the beauty of this

Whole thing is we control it right so our attitude our effort our execution right are we a perfect team no we have some limitations but we have some real strengths too and we got to do a better job of playing through those you you’ve obviously had some of

The high where you’ve been able to be competitive beat teams but then you had games like this last weekend balance that as aach especially coming yeah it’s hard and that’s the you know you have you know 31 games in the regular season and then whatever you earn in postseason

Play uh I thought it was one of our worst two games of the year uh but I also thought Colorado played really really well like they they played really really well and you got to give them a lot of credit to that I felt like this

Is what good teams do when you make mistakes they make you pay there were plenty of mistakes to go around that night specifically defensively you know we allowed them to score at 1 Point Four Points a possession I mean that is really really really poor every time

They had the ball they scored almost a point and a half that’s really hard to win puts a lot of pressure you know on your offense in the second you know I thought we did a good job just like keeping it at Bay going into half we had

It nine and we kind of see some momentum there and uh second half though we missed nine point blank shots at The Rim nine uh I mean that’s 18 points let’s say you make eight out of nine I because these were not really contested either I

Mean semi contested at best so uh you got to you got to make teams pay that way right and we’ve we we’ve shot ourselves in the foot at times with those kinds of things uh and then we didn’t get to the foul line and we didn’t make our free throw you we

Weren’t very what it was 7 for 13 I remember exactly what it was but um but all in all you got to cut your problems in half that was a tough game uh we had a great film session yesterday again sometimes you know you

Get to game 27 can be a little bit of a broken record this team needs to have better consistency this team when things in practice things that we really work on or harp on I feel like we do a good job in a game but then we get tend to have

Some slippage in other areas which isn’t crazily abnormal but the we we just have more of that and I think there’s a multitude of reasons for that and I don’t want to spend the whole day talking about that but there is um um so the bottom line is we got to learn

From it I I I think you know it’s so easy to say this but it’s just really lacking in our world you got to we people have to be able to look at themselves and be real with themselves and just be honest it’s hard to do for

Most people um I probably do it too much uh but uh you got to be able to look in the mirror and take accountability to what’s going on right and and figure it out and find a way to get better so it’s a decision and so um you know we do have

To learn from it they are a very good team there’s a lot of things we know we’re better that it’s easy to forget just two weeks ago we played the number nine team in the country to Triple overtime and we had the ball in the last

Possession to win that game uh and we showed so much courage and heart USC the first eight minutes of the game we were a disaster with turnovers and shoot shooting right and we missed a ton of open looks that night that was one of those night we just could to make a shot

We defended really really hard and did some good things and then we found a way to beat UCLA by eliminating losing we made our free throws we got to the foul line we didn’t turn it over nine turnovers we defended really really hard so we got to be able to have consistency

And know exactly what we’re going to get but I’m very confident we’re going to learn from that game and be able to um figure things out with the right mindset and attitude and playing with great connectivity uh because we’ve lacked with that consistently how’s the feeling

In the room kind of been obviously you guys were in a position where everybody was talking in CAA tournament that path has gone a lot more comp it’s not impossible but it’s complicated know how how’s everybody feeling yeah you know I think you know I’ve been doing this a

Long time some teams really handle that well when you’re in the thick of it and and and some people can’t help but just stare at the everyday you know lenardi and all this stuff and and and and and some can’t handle it we have a lot of

Guys that haven’t been used to winning at the college level at this high level and it’s hard it’s really really hard and you got to be able to overcome all of that from a physical standpoint a mental standpoint everyone’s telling you how good you are right um just a lot of

Different things and and we’ve you know at the end of the day the last 11 games we haven’t been nearly as good our our our defensive numbers have really dropped like our point field goal defense has really dropped our two-point field goal defense has dropped right our

Assist numbers have really dropped as a team um and so and and and then some so the world’s not caving in but we got to be able to find tune and understand how we were in that conversation for a lot of the year and and get back to that

Style of basketball um certainly the reality of is Raleigh hasn’t played for quite some time and we miss him that’s just the facts nobody wants to talk about it but it’s reality and so we have to figure that out right we have to figure that out from a leadership

Standpoint from a toughness standpoint from a connectivity standpoint and we got the guys in the locker room to do it but we got to do it and we got to make a conscious decision to do it so how are they handling it you know uh if you

Asked me that on Saturday I’d say not very well uh because we didn’t play for you know as well as we needed to to compete to find a way to win at the end of that game now Colorado’s them and Arizona two best home teams in the

League I think Washington State might be right there as well with all with one loss I think um so it’s a really difficult place to win and they’re very very talented and they might be just hitting their stride here we’ll see um but I I think it’s kind of like you know

What all that stuff it it we’ve been trying to say this all year it doesn’t matter I know they hear it all the time so I know it matters but at the same time it really you guys have heard me say this we can’t control any of that

Stuff oh we can control is our attitude our effort our toughness our execution and then we’ll see where the chips fall so a little bit cliche but I will say this um you know Monday’s practice like it felt like it was one of the best

We’ve had all year so I hope that’s a good sign we had a great film session our guys approached it in the right manner without sensitivity yet taking maybe some things personal as we should uh and being able to look in the mirror and I thought we had a great team

Meeting and so we’ll see that stuff’s all fine in Dandy on Monday we got to be able to figure it out on th well today and Wednesday and obviously when the lights go on on Thursday what stood out about Stanford the last time you played some kind of takeways from that game

That you can Implement as you rematch yeah that was a interesting game uh watch it this morning um you know that was the first game without rale uh we found out that morning he wasn’t going to play Lawson got hurt three minut you know what roughly three three and a half

Minutes in that game and I thought we looked a little Shell Shocked Stanford now the last few time I mean um uh after us beating him two times in a row on the road right then they came in here last year was our first game without Gabe and

They they took it to us and then they beat us in the conference tournament and and they were able to win the other night or not the other night whatever it was six weeks ago um they’re very very talented got they beat Arizona at home by making 16 threes they beat USC you

Know two three weeks ago by making 19 threes it is hard to make 16 threes in a game it is insanely hard I think it was a school record when they made their 193 so they have the ultimate neutralizer because most times on the floor they have five guys that can make

Threes and so you just you don’t have to be perfect defensively but you really got to be on point with your positioning you got to know personel you got to make sure they feel you because once they start seeing that ball go in the hole like any team team good shooting’s

Contagious bad shooting is very contagious so um you know rain out is playing at a high level he’s their starting center at 7 foot 71 he’s stretching the floor Brandon Angel those two guys have really hurt us the last couple times out like really taking it

To us Spencer Jones is a really good player he’s a fifth year guy he’s a bowling ball out there but a three-level scorer great leader super Defender um the Carlile kid and um um uh um sto yakovich those guys are highlevel freshmen um that are projected to be

Draft picks at least one of them and the other one will be eventually if it’s not this year so they have a lot of weapons out there um I also thought we shot ourselves in you know I think we went four for 12 from the free throw line

Right and you lose in a in a tighter game I mean you just can’t do that I mean four for2 right so we we have to do a better job of eliminating losing um to be able to beat these guys and and uh do our best to return the form that we know

That we can play at play at the level that we can play at this point of the Season consider down that already or is there a CH oh we’ve had a lot of conversations believe me so I know I’ve been a little bit of a broken record but

I can only re tell you what I know so I’m not trying to um you know he he’s going through right now his I would say his last thing that we’re trying trying to get done to see if he can make it back uh I supposed to go to the doctor

Late this later this week it’s either to Wednesday or Thursday I think it’s Wednesday but it might be Thursday um and and we’ll see so but you you know let’s say he does get cleared now he’s gotta start doing his stuff right and so I mean hasn’t done anything really uh

For for since we played Stanford you know because that was the day we found out he wasn’t going to be able to go so um so I know I’ve keep saying well I think we’ll know more next week I think we’ll know well and that’s kind of what

We but but it hasn’t been the case so obviously it’s going slower than we had wanted I know this Raleigh’s a competitor Raleigh does everything humanly possible from a recovery from doctors from I mean you name it he’s goingon to do it because he’s just

Itching to be out there and I feel for him you know same with will I mean will came to that conclusion you know shortly right after Christmas but it’s hard for those guys when you’re out um the Silver Lining can be for those guys long term um maybe you see things

Through a different filter maybe you see things in a different light and I think uh there’s a maturity level that guys can grow from when they go through that because it’s something taken away that you truly love and and you know that I mean both those guys would be helping us

Tremendously right now but it’s just Sports and that’s life and so you got to be able to figure that thing out and our team and our coaches we got to figure that out how can Lawson you know he was hurt against Stanford how can he help you in

The match yeah he so Lawson had he was playing well now he scoring and all that stuff you know I I think he’s just going to keep getting better on that but first of all it’s depth he’s a he’s played very well since he’s been back he he

Probably should be playing more not not probably he should be playing more quite frankly uh he’s an excellent post Defender he’s a massive human being right he’s a legit 71 very long in incredible instincts uh what he does on the defensive end of the floor um he’s

Not always going to make the highlight real plays right where he’s just going and swatting it into next week or you know jumping above the square to get a rebound but but he is our Raleigh’s our best communicator but but Lawson is our best Communicator of the guys that are

Playing right and when your fiveman can be an elite Communicator like they’re the air traffic controller that’s constant cuz fives are always for the most part you’re below everybody else so you have this ability to kind of survey and see the floor and most of the time

Those guys are going up and setting ball screens so like when you can direct traffic and communicate that gives everybody else a lot of confidence gives everybody confidence that you know that you got a a footer back there protecting your back he’s got you so it gives you confidence to know

Uh that you’re not on an island it also gives you confidence to know when you are semi on an island you know what I mean and you’re not going to get blindsided right whether it’s a back screen a ball screen whatever it might be he boxes out every time um he

Communicates all the time he Sprints the floor he was our best player now there was a little incentive against Colorado but watch him on defense very rarely is that guy straight-legged right he’s down in stance and he’s ready to go it’s been an issue for our team like even when we

In the right position a lot of times we’re standing straight up and down and like I tell our guys I talk about football and boxing all the time if you’re in a boxing ring and you’re standing out like you might not just lose the fight you might lose something else in

In football if you’re if you’re not in stance and you’re not sitting down you just might lose your career like you got to be in stance and be athletic and ready to compete Lawson does that right and then the other thing is he’s an excellent passer although one of the

Passes against Colorado wasn’t excellent uh if you watch the game but but he does have very good feel for the game and understands spacing at a very high level on both ends of the floor so uh he does a lot of really good things and then the

Other part of it just depth right just simple simply the depth of being able to play Lawson CBA BC and Ben like that’s a really good front line but we got to go prove it because that Stanford front line is kind of kicked our butt the last couple times we played him

Utah Basketball Head Coach Craig Smith talks about their upcoming matchup against Stanford at the Jon M. Huntsman Center and honoring our senior players before they face Cal on Saturday night.

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