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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2009

Heath Schroyer

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Utah Â– 68
Wyoming - 55

THE MODERATOR: Our student-athletes for Wyoming, Sean Ogirri, Brandon Ewing, and we have Coach Heath Schroyer. Coach, start off with some general remarks about the game.
COACH SCHROYER: My hat is off to Utah. I think they're really, really good. When you beat the SEC champion by 30 early in the year, it just tells you how good they are. My hat's off to them. They're very, very good.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student-athletes at this time.

Q. Brandon, felt like maybe a similar game to last night. You were there at halftime. What are you thinking coming out of the break and what did they do?
BRANDON EWING: They're a good team. They got like a 9-foot wall, 9-foot building sitting there in the paint. It's tough to get an inside presence going. Basketball, you got to go inside out. But we couldn't really do that today because they real big and real long down there, especially with Luke Nevill on the defensive end, kind of tough to get things going.

Q. They really clamped down on you defensively. Only one three-pointer tonight. What were they doing? Anything specifically they were doing against you tonight?
BRANDON EWING: You know you have Luke Nevill, anybody that size sitting in the paint, you can really pressure on the perimeter because you know you always got help behind you that can block up to 10 shots, you know what I mean? They did a great job with that. We missed a lot of easy ones that we definitely could have made, Sean missed some ones he's definitely capable of making. Same with me. But it just didn't go tonight.
SEAN OGIRRI: They were just physical with us like B said. They got Nevill down, it's tough to get shots in the paint. They're just physical. Bothered me a little bit. Didn't make as many threes as we have.

Q. Brandon, you were talking yesterday about how excited you were to try to make a run here. How disappointing is it now that you're out?
BRANDON EWING: It's real disappointing, especially for us seniors. The young guys definitely wanted to win. They wanted to come in and get a ring as freshmen and us seniors wanted to go out with a ring as seniors.
We had the most confidence in the world. We knew we could have beat this team, but I take my hat off to them. They was well prepared. When we cut it to five, Luke Nevill made two big-time jump hooks, it kind of broke our backs a little bit. Like I say, I just take my hat off to them. They was well prepared. We were well prepared. It was two great teams going at it and they just came out on top.

Q. I'm sure there's probably some post-season play for you guys, NIT, another tournament. Will that be welcomed? If so, what are your thoughts of playing in the post-season?
BRANDON EWING: I think we capable of playing in the NIT, a tournament like that, because I believe we're a tournament team. Like I said yesterday on one of my interviews, we could have easily been a 24- or 25-win team. We lost a couple ones real close, a lot we should have won, like one tonight or Utah back at our place. We had a lot of games like, that six or seven that we definitely recall. But it just didn't go our way. Hopefully the Committee comes calling us and we'll take it from there.
SEAN OGIRRI: Yeah, I think we can play in NIT. We're a great team. I think we have a lot ahead for us.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes. Thank you, men. Open it up for questions for Coach Schroyer.

Q. What did they do defensively to kind of change things up from last night?
COACH SCHROYER: They're really hard to score against because of their length. They're just very, very big and long. They really do a good job of shortening gaps on the ball. Just really hard to get where you want to go on the floor.
You know, I think that we space the floor pretty well. But they got a 7'2" guy down there that, you know, is really a defensive presence. Tillie is a 6'11" guy with a defensive presence. You're forced to make jump shots against them. When you look at our post guys' numbers, we had eight points from Ty and Adam. It's not as much that we didn't get good looks and they weren't really working hard; it's just hard to establish a post presence against them. When you're always playing from the perimeter, it's really tough.

Q. You've used Mikhail to defend him before. What was the reason for the change to not go with him against Luke a little bit more tonight?
COACH SCHROYER: Because we were zoning more. I thought that, you know, the zone was good for us and I wanted to put more guys out on the perimeter that could put it down on the floor, make a play, like Tyson and Djibril. That was the reason.

Q. Probably some post-season ahead of you. Is that going to be welcomed for you, for this program? Will these guys embrace that, whoever comes calling?
COACH SCHROYER: I think it's a huge, huge step for this program. I don't know the exact number, but it's harder to go to a post-season tournament than it is a Bowl game. I mean, it's really hard because there's so many teams in men's basketball.
So I think we've done enough. I would be obviously -- everyone wants to play in the NCAA tournament. For this program in year two to have an opportunity to play in the post-season would be an absolute huge step. Obviously, we'd welcome it. We'd fight our butt off and play as hard as we can.

Q. Utah had 17 assists. Wyoming had three. Do you feel Brandon maybe wanted this so bad for his senior year that he tried to take on too much?
COACH SCHROYER: You know, I thought that, again, I give Utah a lot of credit. There's just not a lot of places to go. They're just so big. A lot of times we got the ball and we made good plays, and we miss a layup or we missed a forced shot. I give credit to Utah. I thought Brandon and those guys played with unbelievable heart. They're good. And right now they're as good as there is in this league, I believe. I believe they're not only an NCAA tournament team, I think they can make a run. I think Jim has done a great job.
The thing about Utah that I will take away from is that years ago they brought in young players, Nevill, Green, all those guys were so young. They got their butts kicked for a while. But now as juniors and seniors, they're really good. They've got four, five guys that's played together for so long. They're mature. They don't get rattled. They've got as good of a post presence as there is in the country offensive right now and they put four guys around them that can shoot them. Pick their poison. You have to do a nice job defensively of closing gaps. They're good, very good. I think they can make a serious run in the NCAA tournament.

Q. Having said that about Utah, three years from now do you see that is where Wyoming will be?
COACH SCHROYER: That's where I hope. You know, I believe that when you get a group of guys that play together for two, three, four, five years, that the end result is this.
I give Jim a lot of credit. I also give Ray Giacoletti, the former coach at Utah, a lot of credit for bringing on so many of these guys and having the foresight to put that team together. They have everything. I think they have Brown, who is a great athlete, put on the floor, slash it. Green is a step-out four man. Really good size, shoot it. Nevill is a post player that commands a double-team. Their guards can all dribble it.
Yeah, I think we're all on the same blueprint. I truly believe that. I think that Wyoming basketball is on the way back. Wyoming basketball has made a huge step. We're not satisfied obviously. But from where we were two years ago, to where we are today, I couldn't be prouder for everyone involved in the program. Hopefully we got a lot more basketball left. All I want to do is keep playing. I love these guys.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

End of FastScripts

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