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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2007Ray GiacolettiRicky JohnsLuke NevilleLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by University of Utah head coach Ray Giacoletti, student-athletes Ricky Johns and Luke Nevill. Coach, if you want to just begin with some general comments on the game. COACH GIACOLETTI: I think Vegas' pressure just absolutely wore us down throughout the game. We got off to a good start. That was something we needed to be able to do. But the pressure is something that for 40 minutes we did not handle very well. It's hard to simulate anything like that in a practice 'cause it's almost impossible to do. That's a great credit to them. Coach Kruger's got these guys bought in at the defensive end. From that, that's their first line of offense, create easy baskets. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Can you talk about what you thought the difference was? You were leading with five minutes to go in the first half, and then all of a sudden you didn't score for a while. LUKE NEVILL: I'm not sure. I mean, we were playing defense, pretty good defense, the whole first half I thought. We just couldn't knock some shots down in the stretch. They went on a run. You expect teams to go on a run. We just weren't able to match their run. We missed a couple of shots from the outside. We just kind of got in a deficit that we just couldn't catch up from. RICKY JOHNS: I mean, that's kind of been -- like for the past few games, especially going back to the BYU game, that's a part where going into halftime we haven't been able to score. We've been on scoring droughts all year, and that just affected us tonight also. Q. Ricky, you seemed to have a tough night out there. Do you credit to the defense of UNLV or an off night? RICKY JOHNS: Yeah, they pressured us on the perimeter, you know, got us out of our sets. We couldn't run it fluidly. That's a credit to their defense. But it's not about me having a good night or a bad night. The team struggled tonight. That's why the outcome of the game was bad. Q. It seemed like you obviously knew coming in here they have really strong guard play. What were they able to do to create open shots? RICKY JOHNS: They just penetrated, and we helped. They used their ball screens. We know they set multiple ball screens. They did that tonight. They just hit a lot of tough shots on us. They hit a lot of contested threes. I mean, that just goes credit to them. It's on their home floor. Anything can happen for them, so... LUKE NEVILL: Just kind of the same, along the same lines, they have some good shooters. Kruger hit a lot of tough shots, like deep threes. We just didn't get out and put a hand up at the start. He just knocked a couple down back to back. That just extended their lead, pushed the momentum their way. We just weren't able to catch up. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we'll let you two go. Thank you. Questions for Coach Giacoletti. Q. You didn't have any fast break points. UNLV had 15. What do you think made it so difficult for you guys to get free and anybody get some easy points? COACH GIACOLETTI: Well, their defense creates easy points for them. We were not able to pressure people like they are able to pressure us. So their defense creates easy baskets for them. Pressure makes you do things you don't want to do. It's a credit to them because defense is something you can be solid night in and night out. You're not always going to shoot the ball each and every night well. But defense is something they've hung their hat on and it's paid off: 26 wins this year. Q. You talked about 40 minutes of pressure earlier. How would you compare UNLV's pressure to all the other teams you played this year? COACH GIACOLETTI: I don't think we've played a team this year that pressures you for 40 minutes as well as they do. I can't even think of somebody else that even compares, to be honest with you. Q. Did you feel any added emotion, pressure, knowing if you lost, this was going to be your last game as head coach at Utah? COACH GIACOLETTI: It's not about me. The team's the most important thing. There was no more added pressure one way or the other. We talked all week about it's new life, conference tournaments all over the country, anything's possible in three games in three days. You got to take one at a time. It's kind of the gladiator approach: you lose, you're done. Q. In your opinion, how many teams do you think deserve to get to post-season this year in the NCAA tournament? COACH GIACOLETTI: I think there's four teams that are very deserving. We're just going to have to see how it plays out. Q. Did you ever have the thought during the game, it was kind of typical of some games this year where you stayed with the team for a half, but then certain things happened that went wrong? COACH GIACOLETTI: Again, I mean, we needed to establish being able to handle their pressure and try to keep them in a halfcourt game. We did that early. They hit some tough shots. I mean, I'm not sure anybody would have beat them in our league tonight. I mean, there's times when you guard things the wrong way, and then there's times when you do it the right way. They just hit some tough ones. I think tonight, especially the first half, I thought we did a pretty good job trying to keep them in a halfcourt, and them having to hit tough shots, and they did it. Q. Can you talk about the finality of it all for you now? What did you tell the kids in the locker room after the game? COACH GIACOLETTI: Again, just thanked them for their effort. You find out about yourself during the tough times. Everybody's good during the good times. Let's find out. We had an opportunity this year to find out through a number of tough times. I think it shows their character for keep working hard. They're going to be better for it down the road. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. End of FastScripts |
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