PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2023

Craig Smith

Branden Carlson

Gabe Madsen

Utah Utes

Postgame Press Conference

Stanford - 73, Utah - 62

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Utah to the interview room. Coach, if you would like to make an opening statement and then we'll take some questions.

CRAIG SMITH: First of all, congrats to Stanford. I thought they played outstanding. They were playing great basketball coming in. I think they started out in the league 0-6, and they looked dramatically different. They're a veteran group. They're a very talented group. There's a reason they were picked pre-season fifth in the PAC-12. They were playing their best basketball. So congrats to them. They have done a great job.

It was a tough night for us. Obviously these two guys, I think had, what did they have, 22 of our 27 points in the first half. We were really struggling to find that third scorer, struggling to find another guy to get some easy baskets. I thought we had some easy looks. I thought we had some really clean looks and some wide open looks and we just couldn't finish those plays.

Then on the defensive end, it was a little bit of a potpourri of different things. I thought in that first half they scored 10 points in transition where our conversion we broke down and we were sending two guys back. So we made some mistakes there. Then we got that kind of rectified and then we struggled guarding the ball off the bounce, where they made some plays.

We did a good job. Coming into tonight's game they were No. 1 in the country in three-point field goal percentage since February 1st. We did a really good job taking those shots away, holding them 5-16 from the three. But at the end of the day, credit to them. They have 17 assists to four turnovers. We have 12 turnovers and then we just gave up way too many points in the paint, giving up 38 points in the paint.

But that's what good teams do. When you make mistakes, good teams make you pay, and credit to them for making them pay. Really proud of our team. I don't know if this is the time to say it, but this is a great team to coach. I love every one of these guys. Like, it's one of those teams where every time you get up, when you get up in the morning, you can't wait to go to the gym to be around 'em. These two guys here, I was just telling someone the other day, like, I wake up in the morning I can't wait to see BC and his smile and his headband and just everything that goes with it.

I can say the same thing about Gabe. Obviously, he's missed five weeks, but he's still on the floor and you see him every day. It's a little bit of the perfect storm here with some of our injuries late in the season and the toughest part of our schedule, and it kind of all came together here. I feel bad for 'em. We'll see what happens here in the next three or four days.

But love coaching this group. It's a group that got so much better from a year ago, the returners. Obviously we have a lot of room to grow, though, to get to where we want to go next year. So congrats to Stanford, and with that we'll open it up.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take some questions.

Q. Gabe, we talked to Craig earlier this week about the length that Stanford presents. For you guys, obviously being in the mix of it, you two were able to get your points, but how difficult is it to be able to go up against Stanford with their length and how much did they disrupt you?

GABE MADSEN: They're one of the tallest teams in the country, but you can't really, it's just an excuse. At the end of the day, I feel like it obviously disrupts your offense, but just got to keep playing.

Q. Branden, Craig alluded to the tough stretch of games you guys had against the best teams in the league. How much did that kind of take out of you guys and just disrupt your mojo that you had going?

BRANDEN CARLSON: I mean, going on losing a couple games in a row kind of it gets to you, but in the end, there was games that we just should have had. We should have had 'em. We were right there the whole time. Just made a couple different plays, better decisions, and it changes the whole outcome of those games and the momentum coming into this week.

Q. Gabe, you two did the bulk of the scoring. When a couple of the starters don't score, how did does that, how much does that tax you guys and how much does it cause you maybe to press a little bit?

GABE MADSEN: Yeah, I'm not going to talk down on anybody. I think some days shots fall, some days they don't. That's just basketball. Today it was one of those days for some people, me included. I feel like I didn't shoot that well. I got a couple to go early, but yeah, just got to be better.

Q. Craig, you talked about consistency earlier this week and just trying to be able to get that. I know this might not be the appropriate time to do it, but from this season, how do you build a roster going into knowing these types of things that you need to maybe improve upon?

CRAIG SMITH: Yeah, it's hard. Like, yeah, you just feel for these guys. Injuries are a part of the game, and it's our job, right, it's my job, to have, we have a lot of good players. We just we need more of 'em. It's our job to have a roster so when these types of things happen we can plug and play.

The hard part with the injuries this year with us, were obviously Gabe and where we're at, right? And this isn't an excuse. It's just when Gabe's happened and then when Rollie's happened, it just compounds everything. And we've had, I mean, Bostyn and Luka, those guys have been in and out all year.

So it's been, it's hard. In February and March, you're sharpening, you're sustaining, you're staying in a rhythm, you're sharpening, you're trying to peak right down the home stretch, and we've been doing kind of the opposite where we're trying to juggle this, juggle that, who is going to be available, who is not.

Marco didn't miss any games, but I mean, honestly, like going into tonight he's in way worse shape than Gabe and Rollie. So, like, he's had one practice in 10 days. Those are not excuses, but it's reality with basketball. It's a game of rhythm and timing. So now when you're changing all the different parts, you become a bit of a different team. So that's what makes it difficult.

Defensively we were elite, elite until about the last six games or so, and then we took a hit. And we always hung our hat on that. That was always been a consistent thing for this team. So we've been able to withstand some of the unevenness of our offense at times, right? Then other times we were very good and then it was hard to beat us.

So it just, it's definitely solidified some of the things that we felt like we need to recruit as we go into the year, and we'll see what happens. I mean, I know it's probably a long shot, but we'll see what happens here in the next few days. Hopefully I would love to be able to keep coaching these guys and be around 'em on a day-to-day basis.

But we got to keep getting better. We were in a position, I think we were 8-3 at one point in league play, and we were right there and you got to get it done. I think BC said it right. I love like the accountability. He takes it upon himself, as does Gabe, as does our locker room. But we just, we were right there in a lot of games here late and we just couldn't find a way to win and that's the thing, you got to find a way to win and make plays as a team, and that can be contagious.

Q. Going back to Stanford, you guys beat them the first time at Maples, they came and beat you guys in Salt Lake, and then they beat you again tonight. Just curious what the biggest difference was, you saw them from the first time you played them until this last week, what's the biggest adjustment or difference about them that they made, do you think?

CRAIG SMITH: Well, when we played, we played 'em on New Years Eve and at that time they were probably playing 11 different guys. They really settled in. They really tightened their rotation. They changed up their scheme defensively. Where they pretty much switch 1 through 5 on all ball screens. They were not doing that in December. And then they started shooting. In December they couldn't, they really struggled making shots until about the last seven minutes of our game when we were up 16 and I think they rained in like six or seven in a row.

So, like I said, I think the three-point shooting is a big thing. And they got veteran guys. That's why you got to give them credit. I'm not in that locker room, but they decided to come together and galvanize and they just kept getting better and better. So those were the changes from game one to two and they have stayed with that same philosophy and they just have gotten better as the season went on.

Q. How much does this, the last stretch of the season maybe weigh on you versus what you want to do with your future, whether you come back or test the waters for your future?

BRANDEN CARLSON: What do you mean.

Q. Just kind of how, knowing that obviously, you know, losing six straight games, does that weigh on you in terms of maybe like what your decision is or do you kind of feel like that's kind of ancillary to what you're planning to do?

BRANDEN CARLSON: Yeah, I don't think it really affects my decision either way. Whatever I decide is going to be what is just best for me in the end.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you very much guys.