Utah 99 – Arizona 105 (Triple Overtime) | Postgame Press Conference – 2.8.24

Utah 99 – Arizona 105 (Triple Overtime) | Postgame Press Conference – 2.8.24

Well first of all congrats Arizona they’re a great team uh they do a heck of a job they’re ranked you know number nine in the country for a reason um they have everything they have scoring at all levels they can score it inside they got great pull-up guys they can shoot it

From the three they put a ton of pressure on you uh they have great depth and athleticism and uh and they’re hard to stop they’re a high octane offense I feel like it’s also their best defensive team since I’ve been in the league uh which is obviously just two and a half

Years um I want to thank our crowd for coming out tonight I thought we had a great home court our fans are outstanding and uh we’re just really trying to will our guys and want to thank the mus our you know our student body uh for coming out in full force and

This is the type of environment that we have to have consistently I think it’s just they impact winning in such a great way um super disappointed we didn’t find a way to win there we had some chances um to make some plays and we just didn’t make enough of them and

Credit to them you know they they just made one more you know a couple more than us but we had our moments there we make that big run and I don’t know how many shots we just missed that were point blank shots at The Rim while we

Made that run uh and then we had some chances obviously uh in the overtimes but really proud of how we fought back you know that first half wasn’t thought we had a great start to the game not so good in the middle area uh of that first half uh

Mid to late I just felt like we were disjointed on offense and then I thought that really affected our defense where we really gave up some easy um opportunities to them in transition and on the offensive boards and then at halftime we just really challenged our guys you know going into

Half 41 down 4125 down 16 that’s a hard spot to be in against a team of this caliber um but give credit to our guys man we just kept fighting and fighting and fighting and we scored 74 points in in the second half slash you know all three

Overtime so we did some good things to have ourselves give ourselves a chance thought we played pretty good defense specifically in that second half it made it a little bit tough we kept mixing it up man Zone man Zone um thought that helped keep them off balance a little bit

Um you know and then we did a good job you know when we played them the first time we just got destroyed in the paint you know they scored 50 in the paint to our whatever it was and tonight you know they got us 5248 in the paint but we we

Had a paint presence we were able to attack the rim and get some baskets we shoot 20 free throws but we got to be able to convert those uh we got to be able to finish those plays uh and then the last thing is I was just the way we

Rebounded you know we just got destroyed at their place on the glass I mean I mean destroyed I think where they were plus 18 for I believe it was 42 to to 24 I believe is what it was and for us us to be able to out rebound them

57 53 and get 21 offensive rebounds you know we haven’t been a great offensive rebounding team as a whole this year and so to be able to do that and convert a lot of those I thought that was um really really big so um you know you

Don’t get those moments every day to play a top 10 team in the country and you want to be able to capitalize and we gave ourselves every opportunity but they G they just made a few more plays than us Alex uh Craig how disappointing actually is the free throw performance

Considering the game was so close up until the last couple minutes of the triple overtime well like I told the guys you know in a game like that when you play a tight game like that against a against a really good team you just we got to be able to seize the

Moment and there’s so many things that it can come down to right certainly free throw shooting was a really disappointing thing um you know and it started right at the beginning right where we just had and then and then when we were teetering on that uh position

Where we could have gone ahead right I don’t remember what it was 6160 or whatever we had multiple possessions there where we had a chance to get over the top and really see some momentum uh we missed a couple putbacks I think gab missed a shot BC missed a shot clean

Looks wide open looks they just didn’t go in that happens sometimes and I think it was one for two at the F line one for two at the F line you know it started early on in the game though and sometimes that can be contagious but in

A game like that there’s just so many things that you can look at you know what I mean um Caleb love throws in one I think it was at the end of the first or second overtime I think maybe the second super tough shot but that’s what that guy does he missed some

Clean ones he made a really tough one you know if you missed that that shot now we’re up to with 45 seconds to go so there’s so many things that it comes down to but certainly you know those are things that you feel like shooting free

Throws is a closed skill right you have open skills where it’s like guys are closing out to you it changes all the time right a closed skill it’s the exact same thing every single time and those things you feel like you have control of right there’s no nobody’s guarding you

Nobody’s playing defense nobody’s closing out you don’t have to read a coverage and so um you know it’s been a little bit of an Achilles heal for us uh I do feel like we’re a good free throw shooting team but we gotta we gotta do something about

It CRA I’m not asking you to comment on the refs but tangentially when you have close plays like that especially like the dayon call or some of those in overtime how how does that change how you can keep that momentum going well those are huge I mean listen those guys got tough jobs

Um those guys have tough jobs it’s frustrating some of those some of those are they’re hard you know and I got to see him on you know I just want to be able to watch it on film and you know go from there but those are I mean listen

Getting to the foul line and F when you’re shooting one to ones and two free throws that’s how you seize momentum right and our team when I’ve been a head coach like our teams have always been really good at getting fouled right we have a different kind of team this year than

Maybe I’m I’m kind of used to uh and we need to get followed more often it’s been a bit of a you know on the road we don’t shoot many free throws tonight you know they shoot shoot what 32 free throws to our 21 like that’s a I mean

33% more I’m not saying it always needs to be even but those are those are big momentum plays and there were some big ones at at Big moments in your view what was Arizona doing so well defensively in that first half to kind of he late shot situations

Yeah we um we just got to be more assertive and more aggressive but listen they they are they’re very athletic I mean at most spots more athletic than us not at every spot but at some of those spots and and they do a good job uh the

Way they play us um uh I thought we made some good adjustments at halftime with some of the scheme that we were running to help our guys but sometimes you doesn’t matter what you call if you aren’t the aggressor we always say the aggressor always wins and so I felt

Like we were a little bit tentative on the offensive end not necessarily right away we had some really good looks that didn’t go in early um and we stayed in attack mode but then I thought we were a bit disjointed like the last 10 minutes of that you know roughly the last 10

Minutes eight to 10 minutes of that first half but I just felt like we wanted it easy and we weren’t just pass pass attack moving moving it we weren’t being players without the ball consistently right you got to be able to move without the ball against these guys

If you’re just standing still just going to load up on you and now it’s hard right the second half I just thought we had way more ball movement way more player movement way more um just making simple plays that was the last thing we put on the board uh you know in pregame

Like in these types of games you just got to make the simple play and not to oversimplify it but it’s a truth right and so the aggressor always wins that’s what we challenge him at halftime like we got to be assertive we got to have a great mentality we got to play with

Force because I thought we were really on our heels um specifically that last eight to 10 minutes of the first half seemed like the first half you were subbing quite a bit trying to kind mix it up so you get guys going you slowed down obviously in the second half was

Was there a reason to that or is it just guys are starting to make shots well we’re just going to play the guys that are performing uh at the end of the day you know early on in that game you could see they were subbing early uh we subbed

Right out the out of the First Media timeout right we subn in Ben subn in Lawson subon Hunter kept Gabe and daon out there those guys got really gassed the next two and a half three minutes it’s not often that those two guys ask to come out of the game but they both

Asked they were they were they were really tired um and so we you know we what’ we go eight deep basically um um and so you know we got to be mindful of that then Gabe got got really going adrenaline kicks in the fans get going

And that can kind of give you a little extra juice and and give you a spark but we had some really good performances I thought you know I thought Jake welli gave us some really good minutes you can see how just his size he’s 69 69 and a

Half uh you know coming off at two years without playing basketball he’s got his legs under him now and he’s really starting to figure some things out um I thought Hunter Hunter I thought played really well against Colorado get a huge three obviously again tonight he’s making some great decisions he

Tough-minded um defensively uh BC really took over their first stretch he had a great look especially the start of that second half um and I thought her fives both kba and Lawson played with a lot of force but just felt like we had to trim

It down those guys had a great look to them you know obviously when you go three overtimes I mean you get tired I mean both teams were really tired you know by the end of that game and like I said they just made a couple more plays uh Craig you guys obviously were

Undefeated here before tonight um and you know it it wasn’t that long ago maybe within the last 18 months that like the crowds weren’t coming out as much and the curtains on the top were there was like a big thing you guys had 11,000 fans almost here tonight how do

You attribute sort of like the crowd support at home this season and how much you little to it earlier but how much do you really think it’s helping you guys especially this season oh H you cannot understate what what great crowds mean for the home team I mean you just you

Just can’t I don’t know that you can quantify it you know uh um I mean just look around all of college basketball right now uh and how things are going it’s very very it’s it’s I don’t know that it’s ever been harder um to to win

On the road as it has been this year look at what the top 10 is doing the top 10 winning percentage on the road right now is what 39% or 42% teams outside yeah yeah so like it’s just has a and so listen we have to do our part like we

Have to it helps to win and we’ve been winning and we beat some really good teams in non-conference play and in conference play and and you have to have I I think it helps to have an uh an exciting brand of basketball I think we have that I think we have really good

Guys in our program nobody’s perfect and our guys aren’t Angels but we have a group that you can support and back with their character on the floor you can see how hard our kids compete they’re not kids or young men you can see how hard they compete but they’re also great

Great people off the floor and they make they they’re just it’s an it’s a really enjoyable group to be around whether it’s your myself my my daughter my sons my wife and I think um uh just the the donors and the boosters and the people that meet them they make such a great

Impression I think it matters and fans impact winning let’s not kid ourselves like you look at some of these leagues I was in the Big 10 for two years and they had the number one home winning percentage within league play for like 24 straight years but guess what they

Also had the best attendants for 24 straight years or it was like 30 straight years so there’s a common denominator there so that’s why I open up in the opening statement can’t thank our fans enough for showing up to support these guys that matter matters to them two years ago this place was

Well I can’t speak Beyond when I was here but two years ago we weren’t great we still competed really hard but we know what this is about like I get it uh and we it was better last year and then certainly this year we’re gaining a lot of momentum and hopefully the word’s

Getting out but this is a group that our fan base can be proud of and they can support um and we know we got to find ways to win but it matters fans impact winning in a major way go Joe obviously emotional and physically drained game tonight how do you kind of

Turn the Page yeah it’s going to be tough that’s I said to our guys who kept it short and sweet in there I’m incredibly proud of how we competed I didn’t like how we competed necessarily in the first half I thought we were on our heels it’s what

Good teams sometimes can do to you but the way we we were throwing Haymakers in that second half I mean Haymakers uh against one of the best teams in the country and takes a lot out you there’s no doubt about it I mean you look at some of the

Minutes that some of these guys played but we’re going for it all like bring on the competition it’s what we believe in but These Guys these guys aren’t machines but they have to do their rehap they got to be due diligence with their body we have guys that really care about

It we have a great Sports Performance team so that’s the physical part right and like we told our guys um um going to the Colorado week we got to do the physical piece which I thought we did tonight and then you got to have the mental side right the mental toughness

The mental discipline the mentality that it takes to go out there and everybody talks about mental toughness and everybody talks about physical toughness part they don’t always talk about is emotional and this is a really emotional game and so now oh boy you got to take

On the challenge in a big time way against a team that quite frankly we’ve struggled with here the last couple we’ve always had tight games with Arizona State almost every every game except the last time I mean my first two years we played them three times and

Every time has come down to the last possession they’re so long and so athletic and so our legs are going to be tested but it’s going to be emotionally we got to be so invested and we have to be so mentally tough we know we’re not

Going to be perfect but we have to find a way and it’s going to be everybody and some of these guys that didn’t play as much just have to play better we have to play better right and they will last one with Josh as you get closer to March

Obviously you want to be peeking and doing all that stuff but how how does a game like this actually help you as you prepare for that knowing that these games are only going to get tougher they’re going to be more like that Environ well again and I don’t want to

Overstate this Arizona’s really good obviously they’re not undefeated they’ve had some a couple tough losses in there too like but um they’re really good like tell me what they don’t have and so um you know it’s so disappointing to lose um at the same time the process does

Matter and um to be able to find a way to come back and put yourself in a position to win that game when at halftime I’m sure there was a lot of a lot of doubters right and so this team competes um we obviously want to play

Our best basketball I thought we really responded well after a very difficult road trip to take care of business against a Colorado team that was playing their best basketball coming into that weekend and these guys had a very difficult loss right and they beat Oregon swept last weekend at home and I

Think they were are starting to round into to Great form um as well so you know we just got to keep going and understand we’re not going to Flinch and we just know what we do works when we execute and have the right mindset how emotionally taxing

Physically taxing is that game just be able to go three over times the way that it can ended um I think it show we had a lot of heart showed U we could play all the way down to the stretch um some stuff didn’t go our way but but just the energy in

The locker room after the game and during those three overtimes it shows how much heart we have so um I think we could learn from it how we do each and every loss or win and move on to the next Alex uh Brandon you guys were going

Punch for punch basically all the second half and then the two overtimes what do you think was the difference in that third overtime um I don’t know it just we just got to keep you know you you got to keep fighting you know both teams are definitely fatigued um and you just got

To be able to fight through it and you know keep making winning plays and um yeah Joe what was the struggle offensively in that first half and then how did you guys kind of flip that in the second half um I don’t really think it was a struggle I just think we didn’t

Hit a couple shots I mean we’re not going to always make every shot um but I think we took our match ups personal on defense and um just flipped the switch in the second half um 10 of 21 from the free throw line as the team when you look at that

Stat and kind of look at some of the struggles you guys have had from the line what do you feel like needs to be the emphasis to try and boost those numbers um honestly I think we’re a good free throw shooting team I was two for seven tonight hard on myself about my

Misses um we just got to step up there and make free throws honestly how does this I guess how can this game kind of give you confidence as you go into March I know that you’re trying to play to get into deep into March but these games you obviously want to be

Able to have and be in those types of environments I mean it just shows that you can compete with you know the best of them you know the top 10 team um you know our fans are amazing tonight and I just want to thank all of them for

Coming out um for mentioned that earlier but you know it’s just shows that you know this this program has what it has what it has I mean has what it takes yeah sorry very tired has what it takes uh you know to really do what we need to

Do to you know have success in going into March uh Brandon you mentioned uh the fans um you’ve obviously been here long enough to kind of see basically since Craig has been here like the the rise in attendance here unfortunately tonight was your first home loss of this season

Um you know Craig was talking about like it helps to win obviously and um and the fans are really important and they impact winning from your perspective as a player uh not just on the court but maybe some of the things off the court to what do you attribute kind of

Like the rise in in um fan support that you’ve kind of seen the last couple years like why is it getting better is I would say it’s just you know I think I think our our staff first of all is does a great job of going out and engaging

With everyone outside and off the court to get people to come to games and then I think our media team does a good job but I think other than that it’s just it’s been you know success with the program and you know have been you know

Going up we’ve been playing good I think that just really helps to um get fans out and you know we had an amazing crowd and sorry to let someone those guys down couldn’t close out tonight but you know those like he really coach Smith really like says when we they help impact

Winning they really do you know I think they really helped to bring us back in in that second half when we were down 16 um and they just you know they helped to bring a whole different energy Devon for once and for all how how do

You say your name the right way you said it right thank you I apologize for for streaming that you you’ve been around a bunch of different teams and that second half when you guys came out and started just playing ball and moving it around and started vibing off each other it it was

Really remarkable to watch that comeback how good is this group when you guys are playing at that level all the places you’ve been uh I think I said this a few weeks ago I said it’s honestly one of the best teams I’ve been on uh on the

Court and off the court we just have trust in each other we watch each other put in the work so when I pass the ball to BC I pass it to Gabe whoever it is I I already count the bucket like I think it’s going in um I think we’re just in a

Great environment though um win or lose I think uh we were hard on each other in the locker room at half time to to uh come back and play hard that second half but I just think the environment we put oursel in um helps us a

Lot I’m not asking you guys to to comment on the refs but in those moments like especially like yours the I’ll call it the Phantom foul that you had when you tried to pick off the pass those moments especially late in the game how does that change the momentum of a game

Does it make you fight harder or is it just kind of is it hard to kind of keep fighting back when you have those moments I it changes the momentum a lot um honestly but just got to go to the next play they’re in control of the game

That’s why they’re refereeing we don’t agree with all the calls but they’re doing their job to the best of their ability so it’s all good um this is for for both of you guys a question on on Gabe last time you guys played Arizona completely different

Result but he played really well then he played well tonight obviously he’s one of you guys’ most impactful players but what do you guys see from him from a competitiveness standpoint that like allows him to rise the occasions against these big opponents yeah I think Gabe really craves you know these big games

Big moments you know he wants he wants that uh that tough shot at the end of the game to you know tie it up you know he did it tonight did against when we played BYU uh to you know kind of seal the deal and Gabe you know he craves

Those moment he loves it and he really steps up to it and I just think Gabe has such a competitive Spirit um and you know hates losing and so that’s what you know kind of breeds to his success one more question how do you guys kind of Turn

The Page after such a physically and emotionally draining game uh to get ready for Arizona State um honestly it just shows uh where we’re at as a team the fight we had um take out the first half and you just we put together that second half how we

Did we take that into the next game I think sky the limit for us we can compete with the best clearly um I just think it’s motivation for the rest of the season and all the games down the line

Hear from Head Coach Craig Smith, Branden Carlson and Deivon Smith after a triple OT battle against #8 Arizona.