Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Eastern Kentucky on March 19, 2026 , Loss , 58, to, 72
Final Score
Women's Basketball
58
at Eastern Kentucky
72
The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Basketball Media Day Quotes
10/20/2009 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 20, 2009
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SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah men's and women's basketball teams held a combined Media Day at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, Tuesday afternoon. Below are select quotes from both men's head coach Jim Boylen and women's head coach Elaine Elliott.
Men's head coach Jim Boylen
Opening Statement:
"I am thankful to be here today and I am just really excited to be coaching my team, to be in our third year together. We have a new group this year with seven new bodies. I have some returning guys that I trust. We are going to try to continue to build this program from the foundation we have which is defense, toughness, playing for each other, caring for each other, and play for the name on the front of our jerseys. We are a work in progress, I like the group of guys I have, I am not satisfied with where we are yet, and I probably shouldn't be this early. We are working hard, we have physical toughness, but we are not mentally tough yet, and we don't understand yet how hard we have to play to play at this level."
On developing such a young team:
"As a coach we try to accelerate the development of a team but some things only happen with the passage of time. (You gain) wisdom and humility and we are not very humble right now. We think we have it figured out, some guys think that they can play at this level the way they are. But we tend to break the guys down and then bring them back up, and we still need to break the guys down."
On the team's two seniors, Luka Drca and Kim Tillie:
"I want us to become a player-coached team this year. Tillie and Drca need to give us defense and toughness and an understanding of the system that they can verbalize to the other guys, so they can hold them accountable to the system. Drca has made great strides in his verbal communication and Kim has been dominating in his example. I think a great leader is when the guys fear you because they don't want to let you down."
On the style of play with so many new players:
"I don't think there is a difference in our style of play. I believe in sticking to our philosophy of defending, rebounding, and running. We have Tillie, Watkins, and Read who can all play off the box and we need to figure out how we can incorporate them. My biggest challenge is to get all of the pieces to fit. Our philosophy has not changed, but we need to figure out how to use our new pieces within our system."
On this year's schedule:
"Our schedule in a lot of ways is more difficult than it was last year and the reason for that is because we have a different team playing the same difficult schedule. I am just pumped up for our schedule and our team.
Women's head coach Elaine Elliott
Opening Statement:
"The word for us is that we have a couple of extremely experienced kids, Kalee Whipple and Halie Sawyer, and beyond that we will be playing kids with no experience. Our story is how whether or not and how quickly we mix this up and make it into something in the end that will be useful for us. It is going to be a challenge but I really like the young talent that we have to work with. We are really looking forward to the year. We are really proud of what we have been able to do in the last ten years in the conference, seven out of ten championships is something that we are extremely proud of."
On this year's schedule:
"Our schedule is not good for me, but it is really good for the team and for the program. We schedule with the players in mind. It is very difficult. It is too difficult for the mixture of players we are trying to put together. But at the same time as long as we survive that mentally, physically, and emotionally, as I expect us to do, we will be better off in the end. It's a challenge but it is easy to get excited about a schedule like the one we have put together."
On expectations for Kalee Whipple and Halie Sawyer:
"From Kalee and Halie I expect everything they have and more. They are our only returning kids and they both have great experience and great talent. Beyond that, they have the responsibility to carry everybody else. Teaching the new players what the program is about is really the most important part of the process."
On the team's progress so far:
"The first few practices have been really good. The enthusiasm and the enjoyment in what they are doing has been contagious. They have the performance. They are highly skilled, and highly capable. We have time to grow and we have to be patient for that to happen."
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
F
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