	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2009

THE MODERATOR: Student-athletes for Utah are Lawrence Borha and Shaun Green. Coach Jim Boylen. We'll open it up with you, Coach, just with some remarks about the game.
COACH BOYLEN: I thought TCU played a heck of a game. I thought at times they were tougher than us and they competed. I want to give them credit. It's very difficult to play a team three times. I thought they really battled. We just made one more play.
I talked to my team about winning the games inside the game. We tied the free throw make game. We won the rebound game. We held them to 37% and 18% from the three.
I think us, in the three games with them, kind of handling their three-point shooting with Ruzgas and Buljan was the difference in all three games. I thought tonight that kind of hung true. They make three, we make six. That's kind of the difference in the game.
We're thankful for the win. Lawrence made a huge shot. He's made big plays all year. Made the runner to beat New Mexico and made a three tonight to win the game.
He has made some clutch, clutch plays.
Shaun Green has been as steady a senior as you could have. I've told the story how he kind of grabs me by the shoulder on the bus, We're gonna get this one. Pats me on the back, tells me to shut up, we're gonna win. I thought he was awesome, too.
When Luke struggles a little bit, is in foul trouble, these guys have stepped up. Total team effort. Kind of Kepkay in the first half, Shaun in the second half, and Lawrence with the big play.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up for the student-athletes.

Q. Lawrence, could you tell us what's going through your head when that shot goes up and then goes in?
LAWRENCE BORHA: I hope this goes in when it goes up, and when it goes in, I'm just like relieved and excited that it went in.

Q. Did you feel when it left your hand, it was good?
LAWRENCE BORHA: It felt good. But a lot of my shots felt good, so I wasn't sure.

Q. Lawrence, were you aware of the exact time? Did you know how close you were cutting it there at the end of the game?
LAWRENCE BORHA: I wasn't aware of the time. But, you know, Luke is a great player, and he finds open players on the court. You know, I was just ready in the corner, ready to shoot the ball if it was coming to me. It came to me and I was ready to shoot it. I shot it and made it.

Q. Shaun, talk about the adjustments you made in the first half when Luke and Kim Tillie were on the bench for most of the half.
SHAUN GREEN: When Luke gets in foul trouble, we all feel we need to step up our game. When he's in there, it makes everybody else's game a lot easier. All the focus to him.
But we are a very confident team, like other than Luke. We feel like we're just a complete team. It's not just Luke Nevill and the rest of us. It's like a complete team. We made plays, like Coach said. Tyler made a bunch of shots in the first half to keep us in it. I made a couple shots. LB made the biggest one at the end.

Q. Shaun, how big was that for Kepkay to finish the half with a seven-point run?
SHAUN GREEN: I think it was huge for us. TCU hung tough with us all through the first half. Luke was on the bench. They made a bunch of runs. Tyler, like he's done all year, has made shot after shot. When he gets it going, he can rattle a bunch of points off in a row. But we expect that out of Tyler. He's been doing that all year, so we wouldn't expect anything less.

Q. Shaun, can you talk about those threes you made in the second half. Seemed like a couple were five feet beyond the three-point line. I guess you were feeling it tonight in the second half.
SHAUN GREEN: Just the past couple weeks, my shot has felt really good. But Tyler gave me one of the shots that I remember. Tyler came -- pitched it back at me. He yelled at me as soon as it left his hands, told me to shoot it. I shot it. It went in for me. I didn't realize how far back I was until like after the game when some of the players told me.
But sometimes your shot just feels good, and it went in for me.

Q. Did you feel any anxiety as that game wore on, knowing this was the quarterfinal game?
SHAUN GREEN: No, I don't think we felt any anxiety. We've been confident all year in our abilities to win close games. We've won a bunch of close games this year.
We just felt like we just needed to keep grinding it out, keep making plays, keep trying to keep 'em off the boards. We made one more play than they did. That's all it came down to. LB made it for us. I mean, that's all I can really say about that.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes. Thank you, men. Open it up to questions for Coach Boylen.

Q. Without giving away too many secrets, what were the options on the last play and how did it unfold?
COACH BOYLEN: Well, I had a lot of confidence in Drca in the middle of the floor. When the score is tied, a two can win for you as well as a three. When Luke forcibly rolls to the rim, he pulls people with him. And I think that's really the gist of it, without going into a whole bunch of detail.
That's the value of Luke Nevill. Whether he's a diver or a roller or he's at the rim, he draws attention. That's where his value comes in when he's not scoring the ball or has the ball in his hands. His forceful role creates those situations on the second side. That's what we call it, the first side, second side.
So all year long we've stressed second side threes, create, drive, pitch and use Luke. To me, that's a great example of why he's, you know, the MVP of the league, because of that. He can beat you in so many ways. He creates those situations, then Drca and everybody plays out of it. We've gotten better at that.

Q. Given all that, does that make it less of a surprise for you to think you could win a tournament game with Luke only getting one basket?
COACH BOYLEN: Yeah. I'm surprised at this time of the year to do that. But our team has improved. You know, you can say it, I guess, when you win the game. But it's probably a great situation to have gone through at this time of the year for this team with what, you know, is ahead of us. It's probably a real good learning lesson, learning point for this group of guys. We've been through it a little bit.
But I don't remember one time this year Luke sitting over with me with 17 minutes to go. I don't remember that. I know last year it happened, but this year I don't remember that.
I have to give Luke credit. We've talked about him playing with fouls, and he's asked me if he could play with fouls. And I didn't think tonight was the night to have him do that. There might be a time when he has two where I put him back in. I didn't feel tonight with the way the game felt that we could do that. I felt if we could have him for the second half, have three fouls left, we'd have a chance to win.
Again, I go back to the other question, that even when he's in and maybe he didn't score, he creates a lot of problems for the defense, even when he's not scoring the ball.

Q. How difficult was the first half without Luke in there most of the time to create that?
COACH BOYLEN: I thought it took us five, seven minutes to adjust. I thought we were in shock a little bit, 'cause he makes the game easy for everybody. And we kind of snapped out of it. We started driving the ball. Kepkay took over, which he's done before when we've needed him. We hung in there. You know, we hung in there.
Our defense kind of picked up. The 12-minute mark of the second half, our defense really picked up. We were pretty solid there the last eight minutes of the half.

Q. With the 1 and 2 seeds now advancing to the semifinals, do you feel like you're in the NCAA?
COACH BOYLEN: Yes. Again, I've said this before, but with an RPI of 12 and a schedule strength of 17, 22 wins, you know, I don't see a problem with getting in.

Q. Can you elaborate, Borha being clutch, even this season he missed a couple late shots in games, but now he's making them in the same season. What's maybe been the difference in him doing that?
COACH BOYLEN: Fear. That was a joke, by the way.
Maturity, development. You know, we coach our guys, my assistant coaches, to learn how to win. We've put Kepkay, Borha, Green, Neville, Drca, Cyphers, all those guys in end-of-game situations in practice all year long where they're the guy that has to make a play. And we've done it more than any team I've ever been with in 22 years of coaching, end-of-game situations, end-of-game rehearsals, whatever you want to call 'em.
I'm not gonna say a practice is the same as a game, but we've done it a lot. And I think it's paid dividends. And you have to give them credit for that because in practice, when they don't make those plays, they hear about it. They've improved.
I think that's what I'm most proud of this team, is they've improved and they've developed and they've learned how to win. It's fun to see them have success.

Q. An emotional win like this, how much is that going to carry over for tomorrow?
COACH BOYLEN: Well, I think we have some things to improve on. Again, I want to give TCU credit for playing hard and tough. You know, I got a lot of respect for their head coach. I've known him a long time. Played against him actually. He and I used to beat on each other in the old days.
I think it helps. Anytime you win a close game this time of the year, it helps you. I think anytime you can handle adversity this time of the year, it helps you. You know, we have to keep getting better. Every coach's goal right now, no matter what your record is, where you're at, what you're playing for, is to play your best basketball this time of the year. And that's what we're trying to do, is play our best basketball.
You know, we're going to keep working at that.

Q. What do you think of Buljan and Moss's performance?
COACH BOYLEN: I like both those guys. Buljan is a tough nut. I love guys like that. Moss is just a gamer. He's as good off the bounce as anybody I've seen at this level anywhere. The future's bright, I think, for TCU because of their coach, but also the guys they have coming back.
It's very difficult to change the culture of a program. It takes time, takes a lot of effort. It takes days like today where, you know, you lose a game you maybe should win or a game that is right there. We had eight two-possession games last year that we lost. So I understand it. They're gonna be good and they're gonna be built right. You know, TCU's really fortunate to have the guy they have there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297