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NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT

March 29, 2016

New York, New York

Valparaiso - 72, BYU - 70

Q. Chase, can you take us through that last -- you guys got the rebound the last seven seconds or so, and just what happened.
CHASE FISHER: I think it was like four seconds. Kyle Davis got the rebound, threw it to me a little before halfcourt. I thought that he touched it and kind of bobbled it and let a little time run off.

I wasn't completely aware of the time or I probably would have looked back and I saw Nick Emery after the play was over, it was on my left open or taking another dribble and try to get to the basket or get a better look. It happened pretty fast. I just tried to get a shot up there. The dude that was guarding me was pretty long and I just kind of lost track of time.

Q. How difficult is it when you're playing catch-up like that, trailing as many as 15 points in the first half?
KYLE COLLINSWORTH: It's difficult when you catch up and let it slip away. So we've done that a lot. We've got behind and we've been a very good second-half team. Just disappointing that we actually got the lead at one point, and then we gave it back to them. But you don't want to have to lose, but we fought. That's all I can ask to go out is us fighting as a team and coaching staff.

Q. Talk to me about the guys you guys were playing against, pretty tough opponent, long, athletic. How did they compare to teams that you've played this season?
CHASE FISHER: Yeah, they are very long, athletic like you said, really tough time. In the first half they got us in foul trouble and we turned the ball over and we were missing shots, so I think it kind of all culminated into them getting a big lead and kind of taking our momentum.

I think in the second half it opened up for us a little bit. We got out in transition and started attacking the basket and getting a lot more of our shots, but we just fell short. They are a really good team. Their guards and wings are really long. Probably the longest team we've played this year. So it caused us little problems.

Q. For both of you guys. Knowing this is your final game with BYU, is it even more difficult to swallow or are you reminiscing or has it not hit you yet?
KYLE COLLINSWORTH: It's difficult. The locker room's tough. It's a lot of emotions knowing that was your final college game. But Coach Rose said something to me and Chase. This isn't our last game, and Chase and I will rest up for a little bit and we'll get back to work.

That's one thing Chase and I have done is we've worked. And Coach has been given us the opportunity, and I'll be forever grateful just for the opportunity to play and just have those minutes and the freedom that Coach gives us. That's why when I was 18 years old, or a senior in high school, I committed to play here. It's been one of the best decisions I've made.

CHASE FISHER: For me, it's the same. I think me and Kyle will play again one day, whatever level that is or wherever place. I mean, that's always exciting to look forward to.

But it's tough just because you love these guys, you love your coaches. You go to work every day and see the good and bad. Sometimes you hate your teammates; sometimes you hate your coaches, but it's your family.

And for me, I kind of had a different path here and I transferred and came all the way out to Utah. I'm forever grateful for that, because Coach Rose gave me my career back and let me play and he's always had confidence in me through the ups and downs. He's been great for me and he's been great to me and my family. I'm just kind of thankful that I got to be around great people every day.

Obviously it sucks that we went out on a loss and didn't play our best game but it doesn't take away from the fact that it's a great group and great university. So I'm so glad I came here and played for coach Rose.

Q. Kyle, you guys really struggled on offense in that first half. What was your own personal energy level after the illness last week?
KYLE COLLINSWORTH: My legs were a little heavy to be honest. I wasn't very springy, but I started -- I think the team started playing more and thinking less and just being aggressive. We got out there kind of in a daze and we were waiting for them to make a move, and finally we picked it up and we started dictating plays and what happened out there.

Q. Start off the game, lots of turnovers, what was happening as you guys kind of reflect back, why were you guys forcing those turnovers?
KYLE COLLINSWORTH: Just hesitant, like I said. Just waiting for them to make a play instead of being aggressive. You know, sometimes that happens: It's a tournament, it's a new arena, it's Madison Square Garden, it's a new opponent we're not familiar with. So that happens sometimes. But we bounced back and we found ways to take the lead.

Q. You might have a little love/hate relationship with the zone defense, it got you back in, but there were some holes in it they were able to exploit. Did you have any problems deciding when to come out of it or how long to stick in it?
COACH ROSE: Well, that's always -- the zone actually gave us a chance to get back in the game. We got some long shots with some long rebounds that allowed us to get some type of pace in transition. You know, made some big baskets before they could get their defense.

And we were having a really difficult time with their halfcourt defense, as far as executing our offense. We turned the ball over quite a few times. They blocked quite a few shots at the rim, and then they had eight or nine steals.

Our advantage was to score early in transition before they got it set. That's what the zone allowed us to do, because they were trying to kill some clock and then shoot late in the clock, and we did a good job of contesting them. We went back to man-to-man when they hit a couple threes, and that was good to us. We switched 1 through 5 and were able to still kind of get the shot that we wanted, instead of maybe the shot that they wanted and were able to get the lead.

Then we went back to the zone again and they hit a couple big shots. But it came down to the last three minutes of the game where just one team was going to make one more play than the other team did, and we had two or three chances to make our plays and they made theirs. It was -- I think the last three or four minutes of that game was anybody's to win.

When we got the missed free throw when it was tied and we were coming down, I really thought that we'd be good enough; we'd be able to execute and finish that thing off. But it just didn't happen for us.

Q. How proud are you of the guys for making a comeback like that? They could easily have given up.
COACH ROSE: I think Kyle said it. We've been in this situation more times than a coach would like: The game at Gonzaga that we came back and won, we were down and really out of sorts in the first half and able to win the one-point game up there. We were down in double figures against LMU at LMU, and we were able to come back and win that game.

So these guys had confidence in our ability, but we just needed to play better, and I think that we got a group of guys in that second half that were determined that they were going to at least play a half that looked similar to us and how we played all year, and we got ourselves in a good position to finish that game. So from that point of view, I'm really pleased with how they responded to a tough start in the first half.

Q. I think Skara had a career game and obviously made that big three. Was he a big part of the scouting report? Did he surprise you with what he did?
COACH ROSE: He had a great game. Usually in big games late in the season, there's an X-factor in a game, and somebody comes and delivers a game that maybe is not on the scouting report or not really common. That's what he gave them tonight.

I think he was a 30 percent shooter maybe, made a few during the season but three-point shots was not his specialty and he made quite a few tonight.

Q. I'm sure it's never easy to say good-bye to your players. What have Kyle and Chase meant to this program in their time at BYU?
COACH ROSE: Well, you know, all three of those seniors, Kyle, Chase and Nate, it's a tough locker room like Kyle said. Because that's the last kind of experience -- we'll have a banquet in the next couple weeks and get back together, but that's the last competitive environment that you deal with your team and that team. Whatever we do next will be a different group.

But I told them in there how grateful that I am personally for their commitment, their commitment to BYU and to our basketball program and the work that they have put in over the years, it will be interesting coaching a team without Nate around. He's been around for five years.

And Kyle, he said, he committed in his senior year, played that year, then played a year for us, went on a two-year mission and then played three years. He's been around our program for an awful long time, too. We'll miss him, but I just really am thankful for the time and the dedication and commitment they make to our teams and to our program.

Q. What were the components of that comeback, being down 14 and a half and 16 to start the second?
COACH ROSE: We were really aggressive defensively. I really thought their pace where they were trying to milk some clock and make a play late in the shot clock kind of helped us in the fact that we could kind of shrink that thing down to where it was about a seven or eight-second possession as far as trying to make a play. We got our hands on a lot of balls. We got good contests on some shots.

And then the rebounds, those long rebounds allow us to get out in transition, and then we became pretty successful in transition and then they really started to guard that three-point line in transition, and that allowed us to get to the rim. And if we beat the big fella down, we had a good chance of getting to the rim.

But 14, who is their best shot-blocker, I think he had three or four, but the other kid, 11, had five or six. So we had to beat those guys down the floor to get to the rim, and those baskets at the rim really helped us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT

March 29, 2016

Dave Rose

Chase Fisher

Kyle Collinsworth