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Utah MBB vs. Butler Postgame Quotes
Utah vs. #18 Butler Postgame Quotes
Utah 59, Butler 68
Nov. 28, 2016
Huntsman Center
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Utah Quotes
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Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
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Opening statement…
First off, it was kind of a popular question throughout the day with media was like ‘What do we need to do to win the game?’ or finish this sentence was a common question like ‘The Utes will win if’. I felt like this was a quality team coming in here. We knew that Butler wasn’t going to beat themselves. We needed a number of things to line up for us to be competitive. We knew they were good defensively. I just thought we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I don’t think I have been involved with a college basketball team where the other team scored 23 points off of our turnovers. It is damn near impossible to do and 17 in the first half. It’s tie score, we have a lead, we are battling, and then all the sudden to have 10 turnovers against a team like that and then you combine that when you aren’t making open shots, it just puts so much strain on you. I thought defensively we were pretty darn good. It’s a good team that we played with a lot of different weapons and they hit some shots but you can’t defend turnovers. We basically turned it over to the point where they scored right away. That was my point - 23 points off of our turnovers. We were really sloppy. I give them some credit with some getting hands on balls. This was the first test for us really if you look at our schedule. The timing was abut right after a handful of games and we didn’t do a great job with the test, but we cant learn unless we are put in a position where there’s a little adversity and some guys realize when we talk about being stronger with the ball. In contrary to public opinion, I think you have to play hard on offense too and we had plenty of possessions where we kind of got taken out of what we were trying to do and it turned into a turnover. That isn’t the way we are going to be able to win games.
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On difficulty with offense…
I would have to say it was difficult because again, it is a little bit like a self inflicted gun shot wound. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance to execute our offense because we turned the ball over. The first two possessions Lorenzo [Bonam] got stripped at the point of attack. Again, I don’t think we played hard enough on offense. You could say we had to try to manufacture offense, and again credit goes to Butler, they are god defensively, but they are not quite that good. I told our team I don’t have any problem with getting beat. That’s not what this is about, but I don’t like to be a team that beats itself and I kind of had that taste in my mouth after the game like we didn’t give ourselves a fair chance to see what it was. I am going to take a great look at what we are doing. I told our team after the game it is a new group and there is a lot of teaching and if there is an area to simplify it’s so that we are clear, it is probably some offense. For a couple years, I let the people run a little bit because they had been around and they understood the system and wanted players to make plays, but it’s probably going to be something where I put our guys on railroad tracks a little bit and take a page back to our early days where this is what we are running. This is option ‘A’, this is option ‘B’, and this is option ‘C’. If that doesn’t work then maybe we will make something up and try to figure out a way to score, but right now it seems like there is a little bit of uncertainty with what we are trying to do and that starts with me. The clarity will start tomorrow in practice.
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Junior Forward Kyle Kuzma
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On Utah’s first test…
I mean we lost. There are a lot of lessons learned. We can’t turn the ball over and expect to win. They scored 23 points off of our turnovers and that bit us. We don’t have that, and clean up our defense a little bit, I think we will be all right. It was our first test and first time in front of that many people with a young squad.
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- - -
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Butler Quotes
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Butler head coach Chris Holtmann
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On the road trip…
It’s been a long week but a good week as well, we learned a lot about our team. As soon as we left Indianapolis I knew we were going to learn a lot about this group, positives have come out of it. There would have been a different look on my face if we would have went 0-3 on this trip, but either way we still would have learned a lot about this team. We have to take a lot of lessons from this game, we need to play better in stretches for sure, but I’m proud of my team.
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On the way the team has been playing this season so far…
It better be what we are like the whole season, I think if we are going to have a successful year we are going to have to defend with purpose. But I think we also turned the ball over too much tonight and didn't get enough defensive rebounds. Utah made our guys really dig in, and have to work really hard tonight.
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On this being the last game of the road trip…
I think the experience of playing on the road and in a road environment is something that’s good to learn moving on in the season, playing with poise and all of that as well. I think we were able to keep them at bay enough to make the place not go too crazy.
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On what he is most happy about tonight…
Besides the win, probably our half court defense. It was pretty good at times, amazing the whole time but I feel like we did a good job executing that.
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Utah 59, Butler 68
Nov. 28, 2016
Huntsman Center
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Utah Quotes
Â
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
Â
Opening statement…
First off, it was kind of a popular question throughout the day with media was like ‘What do we need to do to win the game?’ or finish this sentence was a common question like ‘The Utes will win if’. I felt like this was a quality team coming in here. We knew that Butler wasn’t going to beat themselves. We needed a number of things to line up for us to be competitive. We knew they were good defensively. I just thought we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I don’t think I have been involved with a college basketball team where the other team scored 23 points off of our turnovers. It is damn near impossible to do and 17 in the first half. It’s tie score, we have a lead, we are battling, and then all the sudden to have 10 turnovers against a team like that and then you combine that when you aren’t making open shots, it just puts so much strain on you. I thought defensively we were pretty darn good. It’s a good team that we played with a lot of different weapons and they hit some shots but you can’t defend turnovers. We basically turned it over to the point where they scored right away. That was my point - 23 points off of our turnovers. We were really sloppy. I give them some credit with some getting hands on balls. This was the first test for us really if you look at our schedule. The timing was abut right after a handful of games and we didn’t do a great job with the test, but we cant learn unless we are put in a position where there’s a little adversity and some guys realize when we talk about being stronger with the ball. In contrary to public opinion, I think you have to play hard on offense too and we had plenty of possessions where we kind of got taken out of what we were trying to do and it turned into a turnover. That isn’t the way we are going to be able to win games.
Â
On difficulty with offense…
I would have to say it was difficult because again, it is a little bit like a self inflicted gun shot wound. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance to execute our offense because we turned the ball over. The first two possessions Lorenzo [Bonam] got stripped at the point of attack. Again, I don’t think we played hard enough on offense. You could say we had to try to manufacture offense, and again credit goes to Butler, they are god defensively, but they are not quite that good. I told our team I don’t have any problem with getting beat. That’s not what this is about, but I don’t like to be a team that beats itself and I kind of had that taste in my mouth after the game like we didn’t give ourselves a fair chance to see what it was. I am going to take a great look at what we are doing. I told our team after the game it is a new group and there is a lot of teaching and if there is an area to simplify it’s so that we are clear, it is probably some offense. For a couple years, I let the people run a little bit because they had been around and they understood the system and wanted players to make plays, but it’s probably going to be something where I put our guys on railroad tracks a little bit and take a page back to our early days where this is what we are running. This is option ‘A’, this is option ‘B’, and this is option ‘C’. If that doesn’t work then maybe we will make something up and try to figure out a way to score, but right now it seems like there is a little bit of uncertainty with what we are trying to do and that starts with me. The clarity will start tomorrow in practice.
Â
Junior Forward Kyle Kuzma
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On Utah’s first test…
I mean we lost. There are a lot of lessons learned. We can’t turn the ball over and expect to win. They scored 23 points off of our turnovers and that bit us. We don’t have that, and clean up our defense a little bit, I think we will be all right. It was our first test and first time in front of that many people with a young squad.
Â
- - -
Â
Butler Quotes
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Butler head coach Chris Holtmann
Â
On the road trip…
It’s been a long week but a good week as well, we learned a lot about our team. As soon as we left Indianapolis I knew we were going to learn a lot about this group, positives have come out of it. There would have been a different look on my face if we would have went 0-3 on this trip, but either way we still would have learned a lot about this team. We have to take a lot of lessons from this game, we need to play better in stretches for sure, but I’m proud of my team.
Â
On the way the team has been playing this season so far…
It better be what we are like the whole season, I think if we are going to have a successful year we are going to have to defend with purpose. But I think we also turned the ball over too much tonight and didn't get enough defensive rebounds. Utah made our guys really dig in, and have to work really hard tonight.
Â
On this being the last game of the road trip…
I think the experience of playing on the road and in a road environment is something that’s good to learn moving on in the season, playing with poise and all of that as well. I think we were able to keep them at bay enough to make the place not go too crazy.
Â
On what he is most happy about tonight…
Besides the win, probably our half court defense. It was pretty good at times, amazing the whole time but I feel like we did a good job executing that.
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