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Men's Basketball
vs Nevada [Exh]
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Saturday, November 12
Salt Lake City, Utah
5:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
Northwest Nazarene
Utah MBB vs. Northwest Nazarene Postgame Quotes
11/12/2016 8:41 PM | Men's Basketball
Utah vs. Northwest Nazarene Game Quotes
Utah 81, NNU 37
Nov. 12, 2016
Huntsman Center
UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On team's performance…
I thought a lot of the life in the building and on the bench gets sucked out when you turn the ball over. That is one of those one's that is hard to overcome, so we weren't very functional I thought. We had six turnovers at the first media timeout. We talked about a goal before the game about having 12 for the game. It's like we almost predicted it's the same thing that happened like three or four years in a row in the first game. You come out, turn the ball over too much, don't make your free throws. It is just a starting point for us and I thought we had guys that tried to push the issue a little bit to much and didn't trust our offense. We cleaned it up a little bit and got composure in the second half. Again, it is a starting point and we will break down some film. I know when I watch film tonight and tomorrow I will be watching five Utah guys. It has been a little complicated in the last few weeks. A lot of the film we watch you are looking at 10 guys, five of your own on offense and five of your own on defense. You aren't sure where you need to get started and where you need to fix. It is a beginning so we will go from there.
On the new guys on the team…
Some of it is jitters, I think. We have got to find some consistency and some roles. I was real pleased with Kuz. I thought he was an energy guy. He gave energy in a lot of different ways on the court verbally helping guys and that helps them in the process. We have a long way to go. I don't know how deep the rotation will be but consistency is a big thing for our guys to keep bringing the effort. A lot of learning has taken place in the last six weeks and a lot more is around the corner. As long as these guys stay engaged and dialed into it, I am going to like our team.
On Kyle Kuzma…
I think he is encouraged right now to rebound the ball on the defensive end because we have given him the freedom to take off on the break. That is a hard weapon. I remember when we played Duke in the Sweet 16 awhile back that was probably the hardest thing we had difficulty guarding was Justice Winslow in the open court because when your '4' man can push the ball and make some plays like that. He was tremendous offensively, defensively, from the moment I saw him this morning about 8 o'clock. He was excited, one of the first guys in the building talking about it's game day. He smelled the sweet grass in the locker room and there are some things pushing his buttons. I thinking we are going to be riding his coattail this season. You have got to have leaders on the team and he is a captain.
Junior Forward Kyle Kuzma
On playing against someone besides themselves…
It was good. I feel like we got some jitters out as a team. We had a rough start scoring the ball and turning the ball over. We have been practicing against each other for the past six weeks so it feels great.
On his energy…
I was going to say to myself this past week that I wasn't going to be hyped for this game because I have been around, but this morning I extra turned up. I don't know for what reason but it's game day.
On team's turnover problems…
Just the jitters I feel like. We didn't run the offense and execute like we should have. We fell in love with trying to beat our guys off the bounce and we paid for it with turnovers. Coach even said it, we wanted to only have 12 turnovers in the game and we kind of blew that out of the water in the first half.
Junior Tyler Rawson
On getting feet wet…
Feet wet is right. It felt great to be in front of this atmosphere and be in competition. Looking forward to building and playing against some of the best teams in the country.
On defense…
I think our coaches do a nice job of preparation even though we didn't have a lot on them. We still were prepared and shut down their two main players and did a good job with that.
- - -
NNU QUOTES
Head Coach Scott Flemming
On team's performance…
Obviously, we played a team that was much bigger and more talented to their level. I never would have thought we would shoot the ball so poorly tonight. We have a really good shooting team. We hit eleven three's last night against different competition even the open looks we got, I think that was the biggest problem. Now when you're not making shots, all of the other things kind of are obvious too; their rebounding, their size, all those kind of things. It hurts in transition. It still is a good game for us to have. We will go back and we will get the tape. It is an exhibition game for us. We are disappointed. Not that you are expecting come down and necessarily win, although we talked about winning every possession and all that. You have to always compete to win. We never thought we shot the ball so poorly. That is part of it. If you knock down some of those shots, some of the other things aren't so glaring. It's a good thing to play a team like this, a Pac-12 team. We will learn from it and get back to play next weekend.
Utah 81, NNU 37
Nov. 12, 2016
Huntsman Center
UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On team's performance…
I thought a lot of the life in the building and on the bench gets sucked out when you turn the ball over. That is one of those one's that is hard to overcome, so we weren't very functional I thought. We had six turnovers at the first media timeout. We talked about a goal before the game about having 12 for the game. It's like we almost predicted it's the same thing that happened like three or four years in a row in the first game. You come out, turn the ball over too much, don't make your free throws. It is just a starting point for us and I thought we had guys that tried to push the issue a little bit to much and didn't trust our offense. We cleaned it up a little bit and got composure in the second half. Again, it is a starting point and we will break down some film. I know when I watch film tonight and tomorrow I will be watching five Utah guys. It has been a little complicated in the last few weeks. A lot of the film we watch you are looking at 10 guys, five of your own on offense and five of your own on defense. You aren't sure where you need to get started and where you need to fix. It is a beginning so we will go from there.
On the new guys on the team…
Some of it is jitters, I think. We have got to find some consistency and some roles. I was real pleased with Kuz. I thought he was an energy guy. He gave energy in a lot of different ways on the court verbally helping guys and that helps them in the process. We have a long way to go. I don't know how deep the rotation will be but consistency is a big thing for our guys to keep bringing the effort. A lot of learning has taken place in the last six weeks and a lot more is around the corner. As long as these guys stay engaged and dialed into it, I am going to like our team.
On Kyle Kuzma…
I think he is encouraged right now to rebound the ball on the defensive end because we have given him the freedom to take off on the break. That is a hard weapon. I remember when we played Duke in the Sweet 16 awhile back that was probably the hardest thing we had difficulty guarding was Justice Winslow in the open court because when your '4' man can push the ball and make some plays like that. He was tremendous offensively, defensively, from the moment I saw him this morning about 8 o'clock. He was excited, one of the first guys in the building talking about it's game day. He smelled the sweet grass in the locker room and there are some things pushing his buttons. I thinking we are going to be riding his coattail this season. You have got to have leaders on the team and he is a captain.
Junior Forward Kyle Kuzma
On playing against someone besides themselves…
It was good. I feel like we got some jitters out as a team. We had a rough start scoring the ball and turning the ball over. We have been practicing against each other for the past six weeks so it feels great.
On his energy…
I was going to say to myself this past week that I wasn't going to be hyped for this game because I have been around, but this morning I extra turned up. I don't know for what reason but it's game day.
On team's turnover problems…
Just the jitters I feel like. We didn't run the offense and execute like we should have. We fell in love with trying to beat our guys off the bounce and we paid for it with turnovers. Coach even said it, we wanted to only have 12 turnovers in the game and we kind of blew that out of the water in the first half.
Junior Tyler Rawson
On getting feet wet…
Feet wet is right. It felt great to be in front of this atmosphere and be in competition. Looking forward to building and playing against some of the best teams in the country.
On defense…
I think our coaches do a nice job of preparation even though we didn't have a lot on them. We still were prepared and shut down their two main players and did a good job with that.
- - -
NNU QUOTES
Head Coach Scott Flemming
On team's performance…
Obviously, we played a team that was much bigger and more talented to their level. I never would have thought we would shoot the ball so poorly tonight. We have a really good shooting team. We hit eleven three's last night against different competition even the open looks we got, I think that was the biggest problem. Now when you're not making shots, all of the other things kind of are obvious too; their rebounding, their size, all those kind of things. It hurts in transition. It still is a good game for us to have. We will go back and we will get the tape. It is an exhibition game for us. We are disappointed. Not that you are expecting come down and necessarily win, although we talked about winning every possession and all that. You have to always compete to win. We never thought we shot the ball so poorly. That is part of it. If you knock down some of those shots, some of the other things aren't so glaring. It's a good thing to play a team like this, a Pac-12 team. We will learn from it and get back to play next weekend.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
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