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Utah vs. Oregon Quotes
1/14/2016 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2016
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
UTAH vs. OREGON Post Game Quotes
Utah 59, Oregon 77
Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
Opening Statement…
I thought that was kind of an example of a team that, I mean Oregon was really ready and played with a lot more energy than we did to start the basketball game whether it was defensively, transition we definitely had some breakdowns, turned the ball over, I think we had 4 or 5 turnovers by the first media timeout. I just don't know we had the level of focus that we needed that was necessary to win this ball game and it got to the point in the second half we made a few adjustments and kind of maybe changed our mindset a little bit coming out of the locker room. We closed it to I believe five or six, somewhere in that range, got the building a little bit excited and then two times transition the other team's on the way and we thought something was going to happen whether it be a foul or a made basket we turned around the other direction and they got offensive rebounds. We didn't finish possessions. Number of mistakes. We didn't handle their zone well and its been a marginal week truth be known practice wise for us. Had a hard time, thought maybe we had a little excitement about the Colorado game and that's on me as a coach to make sure. It was a little bit like pulling teeth this week and I thought there was a correlation into how our practices led into their game and that's kind of the way in my experiences that life works and we've got to get back on our horse and get ready for a Stanford game and have far better practices in the next couple days.
On the week filled with distractions…
That's what I'm passionate about this time of year. It's what you want to do. We have an excuse I guess that we can make in that Jakob sprained his ankle pretty bad Tuesday in practice. I think it kind of sucked a little bit of the life out of us. We didn't practice well Monday. With the ankle, he didn't practice a couple days and it threw us a curve ball. It wasn't a normal week. I think a lot of us were hoping he would get better and we weren't sure he was going to get better, that may have affected our practices. I know it affected me when he went down on Tuesday. I'd be lying if I said it didn't. We've got a couple of excuses maybe something lined up that was a little unusual but we have to get ready to go. Nobody's going to have any sympathy for us coming into our building. There's nothing magical about our building and we have to get back to what we've talked about from day one is really playing hard and hopefully we can get some guys playing with a little bit more confidence. There was a number of things whether it's free throws or missed shots so start putting in a honest days effort and I think karma kind of happens that way. If you work hard and you're focused and you're doing some of those things then I think the basketball game becomes a little easier and that's what we're going to try to get back to.
On if Jakob's play was affected by his ankle…
No. I think he did a tremendous job of getting back in the mix. Our training staff did a great job of getting him healthy and a lot of credit to them and Jakob made some progress. It was just a couple days without him and the unknown had to sort some things out. It took a little air out of our sails. He didn't play well and nobody really played well on our team and a little bit of an eye opener and I think corrections are often good if you respond in the right way.
On team leadership…
This isn't really a time to indict anyone about leadership. I'm certainly not going to say anyone led us tonight. Leadership is a funny thing. It is done in a lot of different ways. I addressed some of that in the locker room and everyone needs to take some ownership and we can all be leaders. Just take care of your own area and that's a form of leadership, playing hard and buying into the plan, those types of things. After a loss like this I think a coach would be crazy to say you have a bunch of great leadership and that's not an indictment. I wanted to be a player led team but to answer your question I think the guys know we need more.
On learning from this experience…
It wasn't a really positive week. I think the guys in that locker room pretty much admitted to that when we just talked about it. Our approach has to be the same. We have to grind. Nothing is going to be easy and this league is difficult. There are a bunch of great teams in this league and you've certainly have to bring at least your B game to have a chance. You may not always have to bring your A game, but if you come in with your D you are going to get your butt kicked. That is what we are going to take with us. There are plenty of lessons and we will get after them again tomorrow.
On fouls in the first half…
Well that is an excuse. Oregon had six guys with two fouls too. It was a little bit physical and sometimes it is hard to get a handle on it. Oregon is a good one-on-one team and they are going to put some heat on you to guard if you don't move your feet. Our goal was to take a charge every quarter. We need four in the game to be in the right spot at the end. Dylan Brooks is a heck of a player. They had some guys blocking some shots. We got to the rim and their big guy did a nice job protecting. At the end of the day players make plays and I thought they certainly made a lot more plays than we did.
On being more disappointed offensively or defensively…
I think that we didn't give ourselves a chance with our offense, with the way the game started. That puts so much heat on you defensively. I thought that led to some transition opportunities. We kind of got punched and never really got up in that first half. We were down, but I thought we needed to be a lot better offensively. When you are so bad that way, especially against a team that is fast and athletic, it can take all of the spirit out of you. Second half was a lot more man and I think we did a much better job guarding. At the end of the day, offense and defense are tied together and we weren't very good at either.
On giving credit to Oregon…
You've got to give Oregon a lot of credit. They were focused, dialed in and had a lot of energy from the first possession of the game. I thought we had a pretty good plan, but they were flying around and started the game off with a blocked shot. We can sit here and talk about all of the things we didn't do, but I do think it is important that Oregon is given credit for being a good team. They are well coached and they wanted it more than we did.
- - - -
Oregon head coach Dana Altman
On the run right after half...
They made the run after half and they got it down to 6. We were a little lackadaisical there. Picked it back up, Dylan got a put back there and played well. They started to get back into it there and we popped it back to ten and kept them from beating us.
On importance of fast start...
It's always important on the road, they've got a great crowd here and the crowd really energizes them. That's the formula for any road trip, you hate to get down early and we have not done a good job with that this year we've been down in all of our road games and haven't been prepared to play but as I said, the guys got themselves ready and the leaders stepped up and got them focused.
On containing Utah's bigs...
Dylan Brooks did a really good job of fronting the post and moving. We had good ball pressure, in the first half we had 19 deflections so we didn't let them throw it where they wanted to in the post. We used our length a little bit and I thought that was important cause when they're able to move the ball and throw it to him, he's such a good player and he's so skilled and our active hands gave us a little bit of an advantage.
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