MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2024

Kevin Kruger

Keylan Boone

Dedan Thomas

Thomas & Mack Center

UNLV Rebels

Postgame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have student-athletes Dedan Thomas, Keylan Boone, and Coach Kevin Kruger. Coach, let's start with you, some thoughts on tonight's game?

KEVIN KRUGER: Another great college basketball game. Another great fight. Just two teams I thought playing like -- playing their hearts out and competing and doing whatever they could to help their team win games.

Yeah, I mean, I thought guys did a great job competing for 45 minutes. Just came up a little short.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Either one of the players. It's hard to obviously come into a game understanding that extra possessions are going to be kind of what tells the story. San Diego State almost gets 20 more field goal attempts than you guys, but you still are able to take it to overtime and make it a game. Kind of what is that indicative of in terms of just the spirit and the heart that's in that locker room?

KEYLAN BOONE: They're a hard-playing team, but so are we. Coaches kept saying keep playing hard and keep figuring it out and as players over time we learn to adjust and keep finding ways to battle.

Kudos to them for keeping plays alive, but kudos to us for still playing. That's just kind of our DNA. We just keep playing. We keep figuring it out as the season. We just kept figuring out games. That's the show for us tonight.

DEDAN THOMAS JR: Coaches did a good job of instilling that in us and just making that a part of our identity, so that's a big shout-out to them, yeah.

Q. Keylan, tough play at the end of the first half. Had that inbound play that went for three the other way. Can you take me through what happened on that play?

KEYLAN BOONE: A bone-headed play by me. It wasn't really any real great shot we could have got, especially with our backs turned towards me and away from the rim. I was just trying to force a play that wasn't there. It was just get the ball in, and we finished the half off like that, but yeah.

Q. DJ, I see some tears in your eyes. Can you just tell me about what you're feeling right now and how much this program means to you?

DEDAN THOMAS JR: We have a lot of seniors on this team, so I really just -- we really wanted to win this game for them and just keep going farther in the conference tournament, but some shots didn't fall at the end. It's just my passion for the game.

Q. Keylan, how much of a factor was your brother not in this game as far as rebounding?

KEYLAN BOONE: It was huge. At the end of the day we asked him could he go? That wasn't the case. As we look towards our full team, we just have to pick up for him. At the end of the day we have a lot of good players who can get production, and Coach was going down the line.

Shane gave us great minutes, and he was huge today. Karl was huge today. We asked a lot of Rob. It was next-man mentality. That's all we can do.

Q. Dedan, can you take me through the shot you hit at the end of regulation? Micah Parrish misses those two free-throws, down two. What was your mindset going down the court?

DEDAN THOMAS JR: Coach told me to go get a bucket, so I -- Keylan set a great screen to get that switch on me. I felt like I had a great mismatch on me, and I felt like I had a great chance of getting the basket. Yeah, just get a bucket.

KEYLAN BOONE: Just let him play after that. Get him the ball, get a screen for him, and let him rock. He's going to make the right read. He always does.

Q. DJ, just some overall reflections. You start off the season as a young freshman, go through the season, and it culminates in you having a monster game in the final game of the season and being a big-time part of this program. Just overall feelings of what do you think about that?

DEDAN THOMAS JR: It's a great feeling. I had great coaches, great teammates, great staff, just great people around me just always instilling confidence and just putting their trust in me to always make the right play.

Coach Kruger, he just pull the ball in my hands. He trusted me to make the right play with the ball. As I got more games under my belt, I just kept getting more confident, more comfortable. That's just all my teammates and coaches. They kept trusting me and giving me confidence.

Q. DJ, guys that score 29 points in a big game like that usually don't stick around very long in college. Are you 100% committed to coming back here next year, or are you undecided?

DEDAN THOMAS JR: No, I'm definitely coming back next year, yeah.

Q. For both of you guys, the NIT, do you guys want to keep playing? Are you excited about maybe extending your season?

KEYLAN BOONE: Of course. As a senior, I just want to keep playing with my guys. Over time you build a ten months to a year relationship with these guys, and it goes bigger than basketball. I just want to be able to keep being around the teammates, keep being around the coaches, because it's more than just basketball. But us being able to play more games is a blessing, so I'm not going to turn down it.

DEDAN THOMAS JR: Oh, I mean, more games to just get more wins and just keep having fun playing basketball.

If we're asked to play in the postseason, we're going to prepare for it and walk into it with a winning mindset.

THE MODERATOR: We're going to release the student-athletes at this time. Thank you, men. Questions for Coach.

Q. You have seen them develop all year and seen his best, but can you describe his game today and what he is able to do for you guys? Dedan.

KEVIN KRUGER: Yeah, just another great game for him. Shouldered a lot of the burden this year, which was something in discussions all the way through recruitment about what it was going to be like. A lot of opportunities, a lot of expectations, and a lot of opportunity for growth.

I think we just have seen him get better every single game out. He's -- again, for somebody who should still be in high school, he's far ahead of where most guys his age are, and he's got a lot of exciting and good basketball still ahead of him.

Q. Kalib Boone tried to go. Explain the pregame process and what you saw in his first stint and what happened there and then the impact it had on rebounding and throughout the game?

KEVIN KRUGER: Kalib tried. He wanted to play. He was excited about every day from Saturday. He was excited about the progress that was being made so there was some optimism there.

At the same time if you are going to go against San Diego State, especially as a big guy, being hobbled and not trusting it, it's just not really a game you can go into like that. He wanted to give it a try. He warmed it up, but he just didn't quite have that trust level in it, so at the end of the day it was a tough decision for him.

He wanted to play, but watching him it was kind of an easy decision as a coach because you certainly don't want him to hurt it worse or struggle or do anything to it that could delay the possibility of getting back.

Q. As I asked Keylan, at the end of the first half you took the time-out and tried to set up a play. It ends with a three-pointer for San Diego State. What were you trying to get there? What do you think Keylan saw? Just how did that unfold?

KEVIN KRUGER: I'm not going to speak for Keylan. I think you asked him, right? Yeah, we had a little -- that's not -- obviously we weren't throwing to Trammell, but Keylan answered it.

Q. If you had to describe this season from start to where you are at right now, how would you describe the ups, the downs, and kind of a wild season?

KEVIN KRUGER: Probably just like that. The ups and downs, but at the same time finishing with momentum, a lot of positivity, a lot of great support. Yeah, these guys dealt with a lot, especially early on. Still trying to figure each other out a little bit, but as I told them in the locker room, a lot to be proud of, a lot to -- they're going to look back and remember a lot of great things, a lot of great games, a lot of great days together.

Unfortunately, just a little too inconsistent there, especially at the beginning the front half of the season because I still feel this is a really good team that if we had another month, we would continue to go and continue playing and keep getting better.

Q. San Diego State has won 17 straight quarterfinal games in the Mountain West Tournament. Can you just speak to how hard that is? Most of them have been close games like this.

KEVIN KRUGER: No, I guess. We haven't won 17 straight, so I would be guessing. Yeah, it's a testament to their program just how consistent they are. I mean, they're the same team it feels like every time you play them. They're incredibly tough, incredibly selfless. They do a lot of really good things for each other to make each other play better and have success.

Tonight was also another great example. We did a lot of really good things, and then, of course, they did a lot of really good things too. A great game, but unfortunately, we just were a little short. Yeah, they're just a really good program, and they've had a lot of success over the past couple of decades.

Q. Two questions real quick. First, in overtime when Shane Nowell got his pocket picked, what exactly happened there? It looked like he was looking over to the bench or the official, and then they dock the ball away from him?

KEVIN KRUGER: Yeah, that all happened really fast. I'm going to have to go back and watch it. I couldn't say anything. I would be guessing right now, and I don't want to be in the wrong or speaking on an assumption of my memory that would end up being wrong.

Yeah, it was a very weird play. I took my eyes off for a second, so I would be piecing things together. Yeah, we just have to -- it's a great situation, it's a great situation, a great example we where we just have to be strong, finish out possessions.

But Shane made a lot of great plays tonight, and he gave some great minutes. He brought a level of physicality that was needed.

At the same time, yeah, we have to finish out those plays.

Q. A little tougher right now to get in the NIT than it has been in the says past with the committee now making those decision, 32 strict teams. What would you say to the committee right now why UNLV should be one of the teams to get into the NIT?

KEVIN KRUGER: Oh, I think we finished fourth in this conference. I think we're trying to send six or however many as a conference. We're pushing for that, and we finished right in the middle of it. We had some great wins. We've gotten better, clearly gotten better since January 1 or even before the Christmas break. I think there's a lot of reason to invite us.

I think it's a team deserving of the postseason, deserving of the NIT for sure.

Q. Two questions if possible. You kind of already talked about it I believe in two separate occasions with that turnover at the end of the first half, but I believe two or three times in the second half as well turnovers happened after time-outs directly. I know you haven't watched the film yet, but just thinking back if you can, kind of what went wrong in terms of execution on a lot of those after time-out plays?

KEVIN KRUGER: I would have to go back and watch specifically, but San Diego State is not a top-10 defense by accident. A lot of this stuff you run against them doesn't work. They're an elite defense.

That being said, guys did a great job I thought of keeping their aggression and staying determined throughout the entirety of the 45 minutes, about making plays for each other, getting downhill.

Yeah, I would need to go back to get more specific on the specific ATOs.

Q. Obviously we've talked about Kalib obviously missing today's game. I guess my question is about the slightly shifted game plan from San Diego State. Not having Kalib on the floor, the decision to double Rob and kind of blitz DJ kind of early in that game, I'm just wondering kind much you believe that shifted their game plan with KB not playing?

KEVIN KRUGER: Of course, KB had a really productive and impactful game against San Diego State last week, but it's the middle of March. There's injuries across the board. There's guys that are beat up.

As Keylan alluded to, we have great minutes really from everybody that went in. Truly it had a good feel in the couple of days of prep. It had a good feel in the locker room, in the huddles of guys really having eye contact, staying locked in because yeah, when you have a guy that started every game but one this season and has played as many minutes as he has, there's going to be a shift. You can't go five on five right now at this point, so it's not like we could have got a lot of live reps out there in the last couple of days.

Guys just did a really good job of trying to fill gaps and, again, going into overtime with San Diego State is nothing to be ashamed of.

It's going to hurt, of course, but there's a lot of reasons these guys should have their chins up and their chests out.