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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2007

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Brigham Young university head Coach Dave Rose and student-athletes Trent Plaisted and Mike Rose.
Coach, if you want to begin with some general comments on the game.
COACH ROSE: Well, I thought that TCU played really, really well. They played hard. They battled. Our guys needed to respond to that. I thought that we had a difficult time guarding them off the dribble. We probably fouled more than we should have.
In the second half I thought they did a good job of playing together. We hit some shots, were able to get a little bit of a lead, then kind of ride that lead in.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Trent, did they play you guys any differently than they had the previous two games, especially inside the post?
TRENT PLAISTED: You know, not really. I mean, they got a lot of big guys that are really strong. I mean, they're good defensively. Ibikunle, he's a wide, wide body. To get around him is pretty rough.
No, they were real physical with us inside, but for the most part it's just what they did the last couple games.

Q. Keena was a little off. Did you feel pressure to assert yourself more in the offense?
TRENT PLAISTED: You know, not at all. Everyone has off nights. There's nights where some people are feeling it. We're a good team that plays as a team.
You know, some nights it's my night, some nights it's Keena's night. Mike Rose stepped up. Everyone stepped up. I didn't feel pressure whatsoever.

Q. Mike, your role is to come in and all of a sudden turn it on. Can you describe how that challenge is?
MIKE ROSE: I don't think it's a challenge. I enjoy it. Some nights you get lots of shots. Some nights you don't get many looks. You just can't force it on those nights you don't get many looks.
Tonight there was a lot of open shots.

Q. Trent, can you describe the offensive rebounding you had tonight, what created those situations.
TRENT PLAISTED: We maybe didn't shoot the ball as well as we could have. A lot of long rebounds it seemed like. We were able to attack the boards and be aggressive. That's one of the areas where we did really well to make up for our lack of defense in transition baskets and stuff like that.
You know, sometimes it's just good bounces and rebounding is all effort. We really wanted this first game. It was a big game for us. We wanted to get to the glass hard.

Q. Trent, when Mike is making those outside shots, is it noticeable to you that it gets easier inside at all?
TRENT PLAISTED: Absolutely. I mean, Mike is such a good shooter, when he's on, which is most of the time. When he's feeling it, they really have to honor him. That opens it up for the inside game.
I like to think when we're doing well inside, it opens it up for him as well. Everyone's got to honor Mike because he's one of the best shooters in the nation. It really helped me tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we'll let you two go. Thank you. Questions for Coach Rose.

Q. Seemed like TCU's entire game plan was shutting down Keena, in particular, and Trent getting the inside game under control. How important was your bench, those other weapons to your team?
COACH ROSE: I think that TCU did a really good job of controlling the pace of the game. We really like to kind of initiate offense and push the ball. Defensively Keena had guys all around him when he would make a catch.
I think it took a little bit of time, but we finally figured out that some of those perimeter guys were going to be open when they were sagging in a little bit and we were able to hit a few jump shots, especially there in the second half.

Q. Offensively do you feel like you have many, many options? Who are the guys you look to particularly? Is it just Mike?
COACH ROSE: I think we've had balanced scoring all year along. Keena has been extremely consistent for us. Trent has been consistent for us. Those are our two leading scorers. Our perimeter guys are all capable of having big nights. When we shoot the ball well from the perimeter, it really, really helps the inside game.

Q. Brent Hackett was held scoreless from the field. Can you talk about what it was you did specifically defensively today to shut him down?
COACH ROSE: Lee Cummard does a great job on perimeter scoring guards. He's done it from the very first game of the season. He works hard at it. He gets tired. We wear him out a lot. It might affect personally his offensive game, but defensively he's long. He's just figured out a way to get through screens.
I think between Lee and Mike and Jimmy, they just did a really good job on him.

Q. Obviously that hampers TCU because they really have two leading scorers. Take one away and...
COACH ROSE: We think that's a big part of our game plan when we play TCU this year, is that -- to really focus in on a couple guys.
Langford has been really, really hard for us to contain and guard. We had to actually start doubling him in the second half because he was such a match-up problem for us.
Again, your guys have to be focused defensively and just play together. I'm proud of them. I think they did a good job tonight.

Q. In the first half you had 10 turnovers. Seemed like the press might have thrown you off a little bit. What did you do to remedy that? Did that throw you off?
COACH ROSE: That was interesting because at halftime we go in, we have 10 turnovers. One player with three, then seven players with one turnover. I think it has to do with a little bit of maybe first-round jitters or trying to get that first game underneath your belt.
You're bringing guys in there, obviously we had a huge emotional weekend last weekend. Guys needed to settle into this game. That's why I thought in the second half we did a better job.

Q. How big is it having Keena on the floor? Seemed like they really wanted to key on him, especially in the beginning, opened it up for Trent?
COACH ROSE: I think between the two of them, they really have been able to play off each other all year long. I've said that many times. Having both of them in there causes some real problems.
When the two of them kind of figure out how they're being played, the game plan that's against them, they get more and more confidence about what they can do themselves.
We really like it when we get that thing in there, they collapse, we get it out, get a good shot.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach.
COACH ROSE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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