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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2007

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Brigham Young University head Coach Dave Rose and student-athletes Keena Young and Trent Plaisted.
Coach, if you want to begin with some opening remarks.
COACH ROSE: Well, I thought it was a very hard-fought contest. I thought both teams played really well. I'm very proud of our team. I thought we battled, gave a great effort. They played like champions, like the champions that they are.
It was a game that came down right to the end. I couldn't be prouder of a group of players because they battled to the very end.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Compared to the first time you played down here, can you compare those games? Were there certain things you needed to work on specifically from that first game, or was it a matter of the natural progression of the season that led to a better start tonight?
TRENT PLAISTED: You know, whenever you lose there's always things you recognize and you got to work on. I mean, I'm sure that our coaches, they're great coaches, they'll go analyze the film and we'll get prepared to practice some of our weaknesses that we need to work on for the NCAA tournament.

Q. Trent, seemed like every time you touched the ball, it was a struggle out there for you. Seemed like they were on you defensively. Can you talk about the defense of UNLV.
TRENT PLAISTED: Yeah, they did a great job. They're big; they're physical; they really did a good job on me tonight.
Keena was great tonight. He really picked our team up and gave us a lift.

Q. Keena, did you feel like UNLV really had no answer for you defensively?
KEENA YOUNG: No, my team and my coaches just kept coming to me, and I had to score. They gave me the ball and position where I could score. That's all my teammates' doing.

Q. Talk about the emotions of the game. It was going seesaw, back and forth. A couple times you would score, then scream and go crazy. How emotional was it today?
KEENA YOUNG: It was very emotional (smiling). It's March. Everybody's emotion's high; everybody want to win games. It was just a hard-fought battle and both teams play well.

Q. Do you feel like maybe you guys let this slip away and it really should have been your ballgame?
TRENT PLAISTED: You know, obviously you want to win every game you play. But I think our team, we gave a great effort tonight. We fought as hard as we could.
Whenever you lose a game, you're going to reflect on all the little tic-tac things. I thought we gave a great effort. The result wasn't in our favor, but we fought hard. What else can you ask for?

Q. How big a role did you feel like the missed free-throws had in the game tonight?
KEENA YOUNG: Free-throws was big. You know, we didn't make 'em when we should have. But, you know, we have to keep playing hard.

Q. How does this affect your preparation, your momentum, in your opinion, going into the NCAA tournament?
KEENA YOUNG: It's going to hurt. But, you know, we got another game left, and we'll get ready for that one. We got to put this one behind us and be prepared to play the next opponent.
TRENT PLAISTED: The great thing about our team is ever since I've been here and since Coach Rose has been our coach, we've really responded well to the losses. I mean, if you're trying to pull a positive out of a negative, maybe that's what you look for.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we'll let you guys go. Thank you.
Questions for Coach Rose.

Q. At one point I think White, Kruger and Wink were 1-14, but Umeh hit shots that kept them in it. Can you plan for a guy like that?
COACH ROSE: We thought one of the keys to the game was to be able to defend the three-point line, knew that obviously Kruger and Wink had great seasons and were really good from the perimeter.
Umeh is a guy who has a lot of experience, has made big shots. After he hit the first two, we kind of tried to change our defense on him a little bit. That makes it tougher to guard the post because you got three perimeter guys who are really good shooting the ball.
Give UNLV credit, they played well, they battled. They did what it took to win.

Q. It seems like all season on the missed free-throws it's been like something that doesn't want to be discussed. Is there a particular reason, other than you just didn't make them, why you miss seven in the second half?
COACH ROSE: I think the concentration level was good. Maybe fatigue a little bit, playing three nights in a row. But you battle through it. You battle through nights when you're not shooting the ball very well from the perimeter.
You try to get inside, vice versa. We had plenty of chances. UNLV just made more plays than we did.

Q. Did you think the crowd, home court, moving this thing back here, was there any particular reason? Again, was it your ballgame to win and you didn't get it done?
COACH ROSE: I think both teams played really well. It was a matter of tonight UNLV played better.

Q. I noticed even last night the first half you guys had a lot of touch passing, not much dribbling in the first half, but in the second half you went more to a dribble offense. Was there a purpose in that?
COACH ROSE: A lot of it has to do with how teams are guarding you. I think the pressure that UNLV put on us tonight, and Wyoming in the second half last night, caused it to be a lot more difficult to reverse the ball.
That's what we like to do: Reverse the ball in the perimeter, enter in the post. They made it a lot more difficult to do that.
We just kind of created a few other things off the dribble that we like to run. I thought our guys executed it well. We shot 50% from the field and got good shots. KT was doing what he normally does for us. Came down to a couple plays late.

Q. What are your feelings about having to play on a top 25-ranked team's home court for the conference championship?
COACH ROSE: Well, you face the challenges that are put in front of you. I think that's what we talk about all the time with our team. That was the challenge. I thought we were up to it.
We played, you know, really well. We just didn't play well enough to win.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.
COACH ROSE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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