Utah Basketball Wins 95-90 Over Washington | POSTGAME

Utah Basketball Wins 95-90 Over Washington | POSTGAME

Yeah I mean yeah coach kind of got into me my case a little bit um at the halftime for just being a little soft and so you know I kind of took as a challenge to just be a little bit more aggressive and you know I needed to be

Better uh you kind of just get complacent sometimes and you just got to be locked in and focused and just you know had a tough mindset the whole time so I thought I just you know kind of take it up myself to do better that second half um Gabe when you look at

Just not just by everybody in that second half you come up with a few shots and I mean there at the end of the first half um was it you and I think we both fit three Co it was that’s right it was Co um how key was especially the end of

The way that half yeah you guys ended that half to be able to kind of set the tone to be able to get yeah it’s always good to end a half on a high not you know carries a little momentum going in um but yeah I mean I think this group

I’ve said it so many many times I feel like I’m just repeating myself but you know just veteran guys is I think the difference this year just a lot of guys who’ve played a lot of games and aren’t going to get down when you’re things aren’t going your way or you’re down at

Halftime or whatever cuz I think it was my first year here or something we didn’t win a game when we were losing or something like that at halftime so to have a couple this year already just shows that experience I think and Brandon kind of a similar question just

What would you say about the resilience that you’ve SE seen from this team I mean this isn’t the first time you guys have done something like this you know coming back from a from double digits this year yeah I mean like Gabe said last year or two especially two years

Ago any kind of you know halftime lead we were just we’d struggle to come back with this team really just I think just think we in the past years we’ve struggled to finish out games and it’s just not being locked in mentally not being mature enough for 40 minutes and I

Think this team really has that that ability to just stay focused uh for all 40 minutes and you know block out some of that noise and the things we can’t control and just you know finish out strong obviously there’s still a lot left to play in the Pack 12 but how

Important is it to be able to get those first couple of wins and um I’m not sure how many guys how many games you played in December that you go undefeated December yeah it’s always good to start off on a high note um and now you can

Carry a little momentum and you know have a tough challenge next week but I think we’ll be ready for it well uh hey great weekend tough win tonight really proud of how we grinded it out it was um I’m not sure how to describe that game I’m really not um but

Anytime you can you know win get a sweep obviously you got to take care of business at home um but that there was just I I just don’t even know how to describe that game but I’m really really proud of our guys um thought you know

The end of the first half a great start to the game not so good uh in the middle of that first half and I thought it was big the last two minutes or so that first half um Cole hit a three uh on the right right wing and then Ry hits that

One in the in the right corner and it just kind of got our footing back because nothing was going right in every way shape and form and a lot of that was Washington and some of that was certainly self-inflicted um but what I’m really proud just how we responded you know down 15

Um you know I think we’ve been in that situation one time this year um I think the St John’s game I’m not sure any other game we’ve been down like that and um to be able to come in at halftime and really kind of regroup and and just

Recompose and just kind of get our self together and not get distracted there’s a lot of outside influences in in sports and you just got to be able to control what you can control and I’m just really proud of how our guys did and we galvanized and came together and even

When we made that huge run there just were some things that didn’t go well for us you know uh um free throw shooting has been a strength of ours tonight it was not um but we were able to get loose and and get some easy ones and then um

The last 15 minutes of the game uh they only got one offensive rebound that was a real issue for us in that first half and so I think they had eight and so um really galvanized came together played with a lot of emotion again tonight’s

Crowd wasn’t quite as big as it has been last year Sunday after New Year’s Eve I get all that but the fans that were here I thought were again really impacted it and you can feel that energy and that voice and I appreciate them sticking

With us you could feel them trying to to will us so uh that’s real talk that’s not just saying it to say it like it was you can feel this home court getting better and better and and um so I really really appreciate that as do our guys um

Again 20 assists 12 turnovers anytime you get 20 assists I think a big time time thing um at the end of the day it was really a tail of two halves you know the first half felt like one game and the second half was a totally different

Game you know we have what did we get 60 points in the second half um 48 points in the paint uh and then we just found a way to get a bunch of stop so um obviously Brandon Carlson really let us I mean I don’t know if that’s a career

High John 34 points uh I think he had a career high with seven assists so when you get is that right John when you get two career highs in points and assists you’re uh you’re doing something right and and we wrote him I mean we uh played

Through him in every way in that second half we didn’t take him off the floor um but so many great things I mean Gabe Madson 11 and 11 K high with rebounds uh and we’ve been saying this for a while now Gabe’s really become a complete guy

Uh a complete player obviously he’s a uh incredible shooter he’s become a much better playmaker a couple of the passes he had tonight I thought were really good um and now he’s getting his nose dirty and attacking rebounds um in a great way Five Guys in double

Digits or sorry four guys in double digits and two more with nine so BC with the big Knight but then a lot of other guys chipping in um so good win took care of business at home this weekend and on to the next um just going back to Brandon one

Last time I mean it’s not the first time you’re going to see not the last time you’re going to see him em but just what was it like to be able to see him go out there and emotionally just kind of that Char you know um man Brandon’s

Um it’s just been amazing seeing his transformation right coaching him for two and a half years now and and I just remember so well what he was like when we first got here amazing person obviously a very good player um but just the level of his game not not

Only it’s easy to see what he does on the floor that that part but it’s his voice and you guys forget like he he never used to talk or very very rarely very very rarely and and just taking command and we challenged Brandon at halftime

In a in a in a big time way and boy did he respond I mean um but he owned it and our guys played through him and our guys you know have all the belief in the world in what he can do and what he does

Do and that’s what the great ones do U but that’s what upper classmen do you know nothing surprises me anymore just the way we can manipulate defenses and the way he’s guarding now playing a whole new position we all forget like he’s playing a completely different

Position than he’s ever for play in his life that’s hard to do and he’s just figuring it out and that’s what’s exciting he’s just learning how to play that spot and almost getting better on a day-to-day basis but a guy like C and Lawson are really really helping him and

Um now the addition of Devon helps and but you know going back just the veteran kind of um I know you asked about BC but this leads into another veteran in Ben Carlson same initial right Ben hardly played the second half the other night played two minutes so

I’m sure you played nine minutes for the game I’m sure he wasn’t ecstatic about that right and then he didn’t play until about the 9 Minute Mark of the second half tonight and Cabo looked like he was you know struggling out there just tired

Right and we put in Ben and oh my gosh she played amazing and that takes a lot of maturity and and stick tutiven right to be able to come in there and I thought he impacted the game in a great way um had the little post touch obviously made

A free throw but the way he was able to guard uh Keon Brooks I thought was big so uh I wanted to just make sure I I said that and I said that to the team I think it’s says a lot about him and the

Kind of uh people that we have in our program but you know with Brandon we can just move things all over the place our guys do a great job of understanding what we’re trying to do as a team depending on how teams guard us I mean

Teams guard us so many different ways so we kind of have to know okay they’re doing this we’re going to this we’re doing this we’re going to that we’re doing that we’re going to that and he has seen about everything and so now um

He’s just taken I mean 34 I knew he had a lot I would have never guessed 34 I what I noticed more was a seven assists you know um so and the way he was guarding so really proud of him um obviously still a lot of games left to

Be played here in December you go undefeated this game they come back from I think it was 12 down in the second half just so what doesn’t speak about the resilience of this team well first of all we have tough kids we have tough kids that love to

Compete and they love to play they they love to be in the gym they care about each other uh can’t understate that stuff you just can’t uh we I know I say this decent amount we have great B we have personal character and basketball character and we have unselfish guys you

Know you think about um you know um we we’ve kind of it’s hard to kind of change some things in the middle of the season and we haven’t necessarily changed how we play but when you add a a new player like Davon into the lineup who’s a very talented player now there’s

Some other guys as there’s ying and yang now there’s some other guys that have some less minutes and you’re trying to develop different roles and so we’re essentially we’re playing two point guards out there together a lot we did that in the second half again tonight with Davon and Raleigh and your

Turnovers go down Raleigh’s kind of learning a new spot and Devon is too they’re both point guards mutually um but they’ve really those two guys have a really good connection off the floor as well but um you know it just says a lot I think it says what we’ve been saying

All year I think good teams can win a lot of different ways and you have the versatility to do it you have the scheme to do it um you have the int Ence to do it you have the toughness to do it and up to this point and we’re what 11 and

Two so it’s 13 games we’re not even halfway through yet so so much season to go I think we can keep getting better but you got to go earn it every night and uh I’m just really proud that we were able to get off to a great start because the Washington State Washington

Playing those two teams it’s gonna be hard to get sweeps in this league you you wait those two teams they’re good teams a lot coming into the weekend most teams have them as the fourth and fifth most prognosticators had him as the fourth and fifth best team in the league

When uh going back to that first half there was such a sizable difference in number of fouls called and obviously that ended up I think it was 19 at the end how much did that just impact how much your team I don’t know if you call it playing tentatively at that point

Those last T minutes of the first half how much was you know you know I need to handle myself better and uh you know as a player that’s right there’s always outside influences that you have no control over like if you’re on the road and you’re playing in front of a great

Crowd you can’t let the crowd in the in the distractions and the fans giving it to you you just can’t let it be a distraction and so um you know with officiating whether you agree or disagree that they have a very difficult job and they got to call the best that

They can and and we got to be able to adjust and control it the way we need to control and I lost my poise I need to be better um for our guys and I thought our guys lost their focus you know and were distracted and it’s so hard to win and

You and it’s really hard to win if you’re distracted you got to be locked into what you need to do if your job is to get back on defense you better get back on defense and we weren’t doing that first stretch in that first half if

Your job was to box out you better box out right you better know what plays were running and there was a little bit of all that in that first half because I felt like we were distracted and you just cannot allow yourself to do that

And that’s why I said right away I’m so out of our guys how we regrouped and regathered and self-corrected in the second half and um and I think that’s what great players and great programs do is the ability to focus and self-correct

Branden Carlson, Gabe Madsen and Head Coach Craig Smith after the Runnin’ Utes knocked off Washington 95-90 to move to 11-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. Carlson led Utah with a career-high 34 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Madsen had 11 points and 11 assists and Rollie Worster chipped in 14 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Come watch the Utes play! https://www.utahtickets.com

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