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Utah 66, No. 16 Gonzaga 65
12/31/2008 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2008
Utah 66, No. 16 Gonzaga 65 Postgame Quotes
Utah Head Coach Jim Boylen:
"I am proud of the way my team battled tonight. We have been through a ton of adversity this year, we've been through a ton of tough games and big games. Gonzaga is a team I really respect, [I respect] the way they play and I am just proud of the way my team competed. We put goals on our board before the game and our goal was to hold them to 37% from the three and 35% field goal and win the rebound game. I told my team that I thought if we could hold them under 65 points we could win."
"[Gonzaga] just kept coming back, coming back, coming back and I thought that we handled the runs pretty well. But against good teams, quality opponents like them, the games do shrink up. Sometimes it is out of your control and sometimes it is mistakes you made [that are the difference]."
"The atmosphere tonight was great, the fans stood up in the second half and I loved that. I am thankful for people coming out on New Year's Eve and thankful for people being a part of this win. As I have said before this program is for them, it is their program and I love having them around."
"When you beat a quality opponent and it is a top 25 team, it's a national game. For Utah to win a national game is what we've been striving for. I want this program to be a national program."
"I talk to my team about getting better, I do not talk to them about winning games. I talk about getting better and the wins will come. I think tonight was an example of that."
Senior center Luke Nevill:
"I think we started off the game strong, we went to our strengths. We were hitting our shots, getting open threes, and just running our offense and we got a lead on them. They were fighting back at the end, but our mentality was that were going to be aggressive all the way up to the end."
Sophomore guard Carlon Brown:
On the final seconds of the game:
"It was real crazy, I think it started with me on the free throw line. I know I was nervous and all my teammates were nervous, but I hit them. Then for Gonzaga to get that tip on the out of bounds play and get the shot off, it was extremely nerve wracking, but Luke came up with the rebound in the end and we got the win."
Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few:
On the last play of the game:
"I thought we made a great play in our press. I thought we did a good job down the stretch in this game, which we really haven't done in the last couple, of making the right plays and getting the right shots and doing the right things. And then we got a shot and got a direct tip but we are just not catching any breaks right now. Our shots aren't going in."
On the team's shooting:
"Tonight we were not making the tough, hard-earned ones. We're kind of moving the ball around and we're not banging them through some guys. We need to toughen up in there and step up and make some shots, especially Josh (Heytvelt) and Austin (Daye). They are taking a lot of them, they're just not making them."
On their points off of turnovers as a key to their game:
"Our defense got us going and at least got our offense going. We were able to generate some stuff and get our break going a little better than when we started playing fast like that. That was a big key."
Players Mentioned
Guard
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