Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.13.24

Utah Basketball Press Conference | 2.13.24

Where are you at now coaching with the team and everything kind of how how things are at as a UT well you know when you come off a disappointing home weekend and I mean obviously we want to win every game and we’ve been so good at home and I thought we played really

Really well at home against Arizona and sometimes the difference of winning and losing it can be one point one possession and then sometimes if you really focus on out outomes and I know like everybody wants to win we want to win sometimes you can lose where you’re

Going going and so you got to really concentrate on on on what we’re doing well what we’re not doing quite as well and how to get better and then the Saturday game honestly I thought we played better than what I had thought when you rewatched the film we did some

Things a lot better than I thought but certainly there were some breakdowns there I thought more mentally than anything and we looked a you know some of the guys looked a half a step slower than normal right and so is that just mental fatigue or physical fatigue when

You play 51 minutes like Gabe Madson did at this time of year when you play 49 minutes like Devon did I think BC played what 39 minutes or something like that or maybe even a little bit more like those are huge minutes for those guys so

So it’s hard because you have such high expectations you know and and we weren’t able to get it done but at the same time we are right where we need to be and you got to let the uh a friend who’s been in the business for a long time used to

Always say this you got to let the poison out and so you know on Sunday you’re you’re you know of course I watch game you know the night after the game that that Saturday night and of course again on Sunday and and then you’re prepping for UCLA and USC and and you’re

Just not happy right and poed and um but you got to let the poison out you you got to let the poison out I know what we do works you know you’re always trying to find tune and tinker and put guys in a great position to succeed um but now

We move on and you know we have seven regular season games left in a conference tournament game that’s guaranteed so it’s eight games we know we have left in this season and going into the year you know you have 32 games so it’s still 25% of our season it’s

Certainly winding down but there’s a lot of time there’s still plenty of time to gain some momentum and an easy example to this is UCLA right who were coming up and playing here on on Sunday um they started out conference play one and four one and five and you know they didn’t

They didn’t play their best basketball against us and we just had one of those nights that night and since then they’ve rattled off seven out of eight wins and one of the and their one loss was at Arizona where they LED most of the game so sports sports are finicky and nobody

Has a crystal ball to what’s going to happen here down the stretch but hopefully you know I thought we had a good practice yesterday and uh hopefully we can use some of this as a launching point you know to to finish this year out the right way looking at USC obviously they

Struggles a lot Talent you know what what are you kind of what do you think your guys to yeah so we you know I’ve watched three games at this point uh there’ll be plenty more coming in tonight but just talking to Jaden Olson how’s this scout

And you know and then just following a little bit from the uh from a prial standpoint I guess you could say is they they’ve had a lot of different injuries I mean uh Boogie Ellis has had a hamstring going on for a while I think he missed three games not too long ago

Um Isaiah CER who I believe was the number one rated recruit you know in last year’s class uh and at one point was projected to be the number one pick in the draft and certainly still projected to be a lottery pick he missed I believe it was six games uh with a

Hand injury just came back last weekend he was really good last weekend both games I think he got 31 free throw attempts in two games um it might be more than our team um but they are they’re their team very talented they just they’ve had a lot of guys that have

Sustained various injuries throughout the course of the year you can say what you want but it affects your team Rhythm and timing uh get into a flow figuring out who you are and what’s your identity but they’re F they are healthy now and last weekend I didn’t go the way they

Wanted last a really close game in overtime obviously to to cow um uh and then a tough one at Stanford and so uh but they are healthy for the first time in a long time they are very athletic they’re a team full of team full of guys

That are forced star and five star guys very long very athletic they can put pressure on you in so many ways uh the Morgan Kid led the league in Block shots a year ago he’s leading the league right now as well so they’re deep they can

Play a lot of different guys and they have played a lot so we got to figure out you know who they’re playing we got to make sure this is going to be a big Personnel game we got to really understand their personnel what they do

Well and try to take away you know those strengths we got to be better on the on the defensive end you know and then what do we got to do on the road you know St Mary’s is ranked in the top 25 are first

True Road game that was a heck of a win for us right that’s a quad one win haven’t been nearly as good since um for a multitude of reasons but I I I I think at the end of the day we just got to be better on the defensive end like I I

Don’t mean to be a broken record with that but we we do have to get better consistently um with that one weekend it was our transition defense right uh another weekend it was our rebounding we got to be able to make you know our free throws right and get fouled more um when

We’re on the road but sometimes you can overstate it too like I think you asked that question a few weeks ago like is it a mental thing and I don’t think it’s that but at the same time you do got to tighten up because there’s so many other

Influences out there you’re not sleeping in your own bed you know you got to deal with the crowd um just that whole thing and we’ve looked at our protocol which is something we’ve done everywhere we’ve been so I don’t know maybe we need to change that up slightly with this group

Every team is a little bit different but um but they are healthy they’re going to throw a lot of things at you play some man play some two three Zone multiple presses they’ll come at you with a lot of screen a roll on the offensive end they have good size they

Can play big they can play small and they’ve done both so we got to be really be ready for everything with USC Brandon on Saturday said you guys now have to do with the hard way you didn’t get the wins at home is there any I don’t want

To say special messages because I know each game’s the same but is there anything that you kind of go into with that kind of mentality saying that you know I think sometimes you can overstate all this stuff that is what we said to the team afterwards and we kept it

Pretty short after the Arizona Game and you know sometimes you talk too much after a game it just kind of right and so um but we do that’s exactly what I told him we got to do it the hard way and that’s okay it’s really a

Prestigious thing to do what we want to do it’s hard to do it’s not easy it’s not for the meek but I I think you can over complicate this stuff I know as a coach sometimes reporters and fans can look at me like oh you don’t think about

All that well yeah I know where the end game is but all I can control is what we can control and that’s really the message doesn’t matter what Arizona does it doesn’t matter what Washington state does it doesn’t matter what Cal does it doesn’t matter what um Colorado does

Because we have no bearing or control over that so why would you even Cloud your mind right with that we can’t control what other teams around the country are doing all we can control is our process and our protocol there’s no magic pill like there’s no you know

Magic sauce so to speak I I just think the secret uh I know one of my friends in coaching always says the Secret’s in the dirt right and you just you got to go to work and you just got to keep getting better and uh in every facet

Right and so your with your mentality with your discipline with your preparation with your recovery at this time of year especially taking care of your body is very big and we have a few guys that it it it really has shown even the last couple days off of this weekend

So we got to be really in intelligent with that and then as coaches um just really understanding what’s tangible here CU sometimes when you lose a couple games even though we’re literally what five possessions away from being two and 0 that’s the margins that you’re dealing

With uh you got to be realistic to how we can improve right and it can be simple things that are tangible um to help get us back on track I feel like we kind of have been focusing a lot on what you guys to fix what have you guys been doing well what

Have you beening right that maybe have you to this yeah I mean first of all we have a great locker room we do have a really good group of guys that are connected um uh I think it’s helped getting lawon back we protect the paint really really well it’s hard for teams

To score I think we’re number one in the Pack 12 and protecting the paint um we’ve gotten a lot better in our what in our transition defense has gotten much much better right um you know we have we do a good job at scoring at The Rim um

Uh you know Devon’s really helped us in that respect and our bigs do a good job of finishing plays right so uh and and um I just think at the end of the day we have a great locker room and that makes a big difference so we’ve done a really

Good job like three quarters of the way through the year we’re in a great posi we’re still in a good position right to to to accomplish everything we want we’ve been very good at home uh as well and so um now we got to work hard on playing our best basketball here down

The stretch and and I think just keeping the game simple on both ends of the floor will really really help us here uh in the back half of the Season you’re probably tired any upates on where no I’m not tired of it nobody’s asked for

Like two weeks uh um so I I I I meant to talk to Trevor about this yesterday Trevor and I our trainer had a long talk about Raleigh at the end of last week week and he’s going to be going in this week I don’t know what day and that’s

Going to tell us a lot lot more I know I said that a couple weeks ago but he did not go in so he is going in this week and we should have a lot more of a I’m hoping to have more of a just kind of

Exactly where he’s at because it’s been I mean the last game he played was UCLA so it’s been you know over a month is it more just a rest thing for him I mean is there anything structural that has to do I mean I know you don’t want to get yeah

I can’t get into specifics I mean definitely has a lower leg injury um that’s you know obviously I didn’t we didn’t know that it would be even this long up to this point quite frankly so that’s concerning um but I I just I don’t want

To say too much until I know what the doctor says so otherwise we’re just dealing in hypotheticals but obviously it’s it’s been pretty substantial for him

Hear from Utah Basketball Head Coach Craig Smith as he discusses their recent 2-game home slump and as they look to right the ship against USC on the road.

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