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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2009

Luke Neville

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Utah Â– 68
Wyoming - 55

THE MODERATOR: Student-athletes for Utah are Luke Nevill, Carlon Brown and Luka Drca. Coach Jim Boylen, we'll start with you with some general comments about the game.
COACH BOYLEN: I was in the NBA for a long time. I consider this like a playoff situation. And at that level, and at this level, you have to defend and rebound this time of the year because your offense will come and go.
And I really talked to my team about defense and rebounding for yesterday's game and today's game. You know, I think that's been the difference. I'm just proud of 'em.
We have a hard time guarding Wyoming with their speed, quickness and athleticism. I thought our guys really scrapped and defended the ball very well. I'm just proud of our effort defensively. To me, that's what it has to be to be a championship team.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up for questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Luke, after one field goal, it looked like you were making an established effort to get going defensively. Could you talk about that, why you were able to get going as early as you did.
LUKE NEVILL: You know, that's our goal, is to throw the ball inside. That was our first option from the get-go. I was open, so I was making plays, making shots.
You know, when the ball gets thrown in to me and it's a one-on-one situation, I'm going to try and score every time. You know, shut that down in the first, you know, after I scored, like you said, 11 points or so, they shut that down, and other guys stepped up and kept it rolling.
I have to give credit, you know, it's a really great team win.

Q. How much did you feel like your fast start helped maybe kind of take some of the air out of the Cowboys after they had the big win last night?
CARLON BROWN: I think it helped a lot. I think our early 10, our fast break game helped a lot. Luke was running, getting fouls. We were advancing the ball very well, hitting open shots. We were just playing our game.
We knew Wyoming came off a real good game last night, came off a high. We came off not one of our better games. We knew we had to play better, have a better start, a faster start. And I think it worked pretty good.

Q. There were some different guys in foul trouble again. How has that maybe changed the way you've had to defend teams and has it been good practice for tournament situations moving forward?
LUKE NEVILL: You know, we try to just play straight up every time. You know, Kim came in, and he gave us a great effort. He really shut down their post play when he was playing, when he was in there. So, you know, we have a lot of bodies that we can throw at 'em. We just have to stay vertical and make them make tough shots. I think Kim did a great job at that tonight.
Morgan came in as well and really helped us out. So even though, you know, we get fouls, it's still -- you know, he contributes. All our guys contribute in their own way.

Q. At one point in the second half they cut it to five. What did you do best and most to repel that comeback try?
LUKA DRCA: We have MVP of the league on our team. So we concentrate on punching the ball inside, and Luke executed every play.
CARLON BROWN: Coach talked about, you know, if we have a couple turnovers, a couple of missed plays, missed cues, we have to get something solid. I mean, Luke is pretty solid, so...
THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time. Open it up to questions for Coach Boylen.

Q. You've talked all season about winning the little games inside the game. Do you think you were successful with that tonight?
COACH BOYLEN: Well, we won the rebound game, lost the free throw game. But, you know, the things when you're playing Wyoming are obviously field goal percentage and then three-point percentage. They made 10 last night. They've made 17 against us in two games - 17 for 37 in our last two games with them.
Our focus was to not give them threes. We call them non-alert threes, non-ready threes. I thought we did a good job of that. Those are two huge games inside the game. Then the rebounding game.
We had seven turnovers at halftime and it looks like we had 11 for the game. That was also a factor.

Q. With the tournament format now, the way you've kind of gotten to know your guys, what's the difference compared to last year not even on the court but off the court? Are they handling themselves any differently?
COACH BOYLEN: Well, I get a lot of nods now. I don't have to talk as much this year. I listen more. And I've got a team that has become a player/coach team. And that's when this job is fun. That's when this job is pretty cool. And that's what we have, so...

Q. Could you talk about Luke's solid two-way performance tonight. He also had three assists to go with his four blocks. It's not just him scoring. He's doing a lot of other things.
COACH BOYLEN: Yeah. Well, there was an article in one of the Vegas papers about the bird points, bird numbers, okay? Luke impacts the game way out of the stat sheet. And, uhm, you know, I've been really blessed to have coached some other big guys that were very similar in that regard. And, you know, the 23 and 15 is awesome, but there's so many things that go on that aren't on the stat sheet that he does.
He's a very good passer. See, he doesn't get -- we don't have hockey assists in basketball. But he starts the chain reaction, swing, swing, and somebody else gets the assist, but he created the situation. He made the defense shift. That's one part of his game.
At the defensive end, he's such a deterrent, the way he slides his feet, for a 7'2", 270-pound guy, you know, I've seen it before, and the guy played 15 years in the league. You know, he just is a dominant player, and he's tougher. I think that's been the most rewarding thing for me, is he's so much tougher. It's cool. It's cool to see.

Q. You get a very hot team in San Diego State, athletic. How do you prepare in a short amount of time for a team that's on a roll like that?
COACH BOYLEN: We struggle with their athleticism, their size. It's gonna come down to grit and toughness and who wins the loose balls and who makes their open looks. They got us at their place. We got them at our place.
You know, I felt San Diego State was one of the best teams in our league. I think it's proven to be that. What they've done is they've handled adversity all year long. They've had the flu bug hit their team. They've had injuries. They've had issues on their team where their lineups haven't been consistent, Billy White getting hurt, Lorrenzo Wade getting hurt, Amoroso having the flu, Wade having the flu. They've missed player games because of a lot of different things going on. In my mind, they're starting to catch their groove because they're healthy and feeling better.
Nobody in this league, I think I can speak for the league, doubted whether they're one of the top teams or not. They are. And they're proving it this week.

Q. How happy are you with how well your team distributed the ball with the 17 assists?
COACH BOYLEN: I just love that. At halftime I was a little upset because I just thought we weren't tough enough in stretches. But we had the lead. When I look at that stat sheet and I see 10 assists, you know, I get excited.
You know, it all starts with Drca. Drca had six of the 10. And he creates -- I thought Carlon Brown's full-court probe and acceleration in the open floor was a great part of that. We had a great push out of the back court. The big guy can run and catch and makes a big difference.
I really felt good about our transition kind of push in that first half. I thought that opened up a lot of things.

Q. Wyoming cut the lead to five and Luke Nevill kind of took over like you would expect the conference Player of the Year to do.
COACH BOYLEN: Absolutely.

Q. Can you talk about his stepping up and that performance in that situation.
COACH BOYLEN: Well, I mean, he's our first option, our number one option. Every guy on my team gets better when he's on the floor. So we try to go to him as much as we can. We chart his touches by the half to make sure he's getting touches - not necessarily scores, but touches. And he delivered.
When he can drop step over both shoulders he's dominant. But when he can throw his hook, you saw what that does. It's an unblockable shot, and it's a shot that's very hard for the defense to come back.
I also think when he makes his hook, in my opinion, it's like some of the teams in our league when they make a three. When BYU makes a three, they kind of raise up a level. New Mexico makes a three, their team kind of... When Luke makes a hook, our guys get jacked up. I thought you saw some of that tonight.

Q. You're a lock for the tournament. They might be on the bubble still. What kind of things do you do with this team to make sure they match that intensity, with that motivation they have?
COACH BOYLEN: We're very thankful for our regular-season championship. But we'd like to get one by ourselves. If that's not enough motivation, then we're in trouble. So that's what I talk about. We'd like to put ourselves in the position to get one by ourselves and also improve our seed. As you know, that's very important. I haven't talked much about seeding with my team. But, you know, those conversations will happen.
But really it's an opportunity to represent Utah and to have Utah across our chests and try to win a championship. We're excited about it.

Q. You're a guy who obviously loves the University of Utah. How big would it be to double in both football and basketball and win both championships in the same season?
COACH BOYLEN: We already did, didn't we? Didn't we already double up?

Q. The tournament championship.
COACH BOYLEN: Because football won the league and we won the league. I see what you're saying.
It would be great. It would be huge for us. We have a terrific place. We have a lot of very good coaches at our school. Gymnastics is terrific. Volleyball is terrific. Our women's team is awesome. So we've got a lot to be thankful for at Utah. We've got a great place. I'm proud to be the coach there.

Q. You said Luke reminded you of someone 15 years in the pros. Who?
COACH BOYLEN: You guys know who I'm talking about. I don't want to say it because it puts a lot of pressure on the kid.
The reason I compare him to him is because he was defensive Player of the Year and MVP, and he was dominant at both ends, obviously at a different level.
The one thing about Luke I'll say is our team became a team when he became a teammate. Our team became a team when he committed to the defensive end of the floor about halfway through last year. And that's the difference in our team, is that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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