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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2010Jimmer FredetteDave RoseJonathan TavernariLAS VEGAS, NEVADA UNLV – 70 THE MODERATOR: We have BYU head Coach Rose and student-athletes. We'll start by taking some opening comments about the game from Coach Rose. COACH ROSE: Well, I'm really proud of our team. I thought we played a really competitive game, played a really good team. You know, I think our players, as far as our coaches are concerned, you know, we executed our game plan and did everything that we wanted them to do tonight. We just came up a couple points short. We wish UNLV good luck. We'll move forward. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up for questions for the student-athletes. Q. Jimmer, can you talk about what the difference was in that final minute there where you took the lead and then they obviously got you in the end. JIMMER FREDETTE: They just made shots at the end, made big plays, we didn't. That's what happened. Q. Jimmer, how did you think they did defensively on you tonight? JIMMER FREDETTE: They did well. Played aggressive. They were letting things go. It's in their favor. You know, they played well. Q. Jonathan, not having Tyler tonight, how did that affect you guys? JONATHAN TAVERNARI: You know, it's tough when your third leading scorer is not there, you know what I mean. We feed off Ty so many different ways: rebounding, scoring. He gives an extra presence, an extra offensive weapon for us. You know, certain guys kind of pick it up. So it's hard not to have those extra points that we usually get. But even without Ty, you know, in the end, they made a few more plays than we usually make. They weren't there for us tonight. But got to give UNLV a lot of credit for the way they played, for making those plays that we didn't. Q. JT, you haven't been able to snag one down here at the Thomas & Mack. Can you talk about your emotions going through the game. This looked like it may have been your best chance. JONATHAN TAVERNARI: You know, it's an interesting thing because we have a lot of chances here in the past. My freshman, sophomore year in the conference championship game, we had the game in our hands and they made a few more plays. You know, it's just something that I don't have an answer for it. You know, would I have liked to beat them tonight? Of course, definitely. I think it goes way beyond not being able to beat them. They're a great team. You know, they just make huge plays. I mean, not only them, but everybody in the conference gets up to play against us. Whenever we go against anybody in the conference any given night, they give us their best shot. Especially UNLV, they feed off their crowd so much. Playing here is as tough as playing any other place in the country. We had them on the ropes a little bit, but when you bring a little bit of life on them, they snagged that as much as anybody else can in the country. They're just a really good team. They showed tonight that. Q. Jimmer, can you talk about, despite the heartache of this close loss, how you feel heading into the NCAA tournament? JIMMER FREDETTE: We feel good. We know that we're a good team. We are excited for the NCAA tournament to come. Can't come soon enough because we want to get this loss off our back obviously. But we feel good. Have a good week of practice and get ready to go. JONATHAN TAVERNARI: We can't cry over spilt milk. Game is over. UNLV, San Diego State tomorrow. We're blessed we're going to head home sometime tomorrow. Then on Sunday we know for a fact we're going to be able play on Thursday. We have three practices and a shoot-around to make sure that we make the season more special than it already is. We lost the game. We're 24-5 now. We're a really good basketball team. We're going to show that on Thursday. Q. JT, can you talk about Brandon Davies tonight. JONATHAN TAVERNARI: Coach felt that was a better matchup for us. In the end he showed that he's going to be a terrific player. He rebounded the ball really well towards the end of the game. He's just a raw talent. I mean, you know, the kid is only 17, 18 years old. He's in good hands with Coach Rose and his staff. The sky is the limit for him. We have to feed off the things he does. He's a really good post player. You know, he has a 10-foot jumper that's becoming really consistent. You know, tweak a few things here and there and, you know, he's going to have a bright, bright future at BYU. Q. Jimmer, under a minute to go, last three seconds, you were down by three. You had two or three guys trying to get off a three-pointer. What were you trying to get right there? Were you looking for the three? JIMMER FREDETTE: We were just looking for whatever good shot we could get, a three or a two. We thought that Jackson and -- pass to Jackson, made a good move. Mike went into the lane. Just missed the floater. Basically that's what happened. They got the rebound, we had to foul them. Q. Jimmer, before that, looked like Charles stripped TréVon Willis. They ended up giving you the foul call. What did you see there? JIMMER FREDETTE: I don't know. He kind of went for the steal and he came up and I tipped it away from Tre'Von, got it to Charles. We threw it up. They already called the whistle. That's just what happens sometimes. They make the call. Unfortunately for us, that was a four-point swing for us. Q. Jimmer, do you consider Tre'Von to be the best one-on-one defender you faced? JIMMER FREDETTE: Tre'Von is a good defender. He's quick, athletic, gets up in you, aggressive. He's definitely one of the best defenders. He does a good job. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes and take questions for Coach Rose. Q. Dave, that's the second straight time you played here they came out just on fire. Is that something you guys are doing or you're doing or just kind something you are getting bit by? COACH ROSE: It's a good team. If you watch them play, we're not the only team that they come out and get really good starts against. It's a good basketball team. We matched 'em. You know, I thought that was what was really important. If they got out to a start like that and it turned into an offensive game, we could score with them, settle it down a little bit, and I thought we did that. Q. What did you want there when Michael Loyd ended up taking the 10-footer when you were down three? COACH ROSE: You know, Jimmer came off the ball screen. They double-teamed it. Basically almost had three guys on him. He skipped it across to Jackson. They closed hard on Jacks. Trying to do like we normally do: give the ball to Jimmer, have him come off that screen, read the defense. He did a great job of reading it. Got the ball to an open guy. Threw it over to another open guy. Mike saw an opening, drove it to the basket, missed the shot. They're really good defensively at taking you out of your stuff. I thought our guys read that possession well. I thought we needed to capitalize on that basket. Q. Was curious about Tyler's status. COACH ROSE: It's really unfortunate for Ty. We got some good news. As soon as the swelling goes down, his eye opens, he's got vision, he's actually cleared to play. There was a time today when we thought there might have to be some type of surgery. So we'll just hope for the best with Ty, hope we can get the swelling to go down and get him back as soon as possible. Q. Can you talk about, despite the heartbreak of tonight, how you feel about your team and the way you've been playing the last six weeks or so as you head into the NCAAs. COACH ROSE: Well, this team, I mean, you saw tonight, it's a really competitive team. You know, we've been beat a few times, but not many. So that's a special group of guys. You know, a team to have 29 wins, you can't help but really feel for those guys in that locker room because they played their hearts out tonight and we played well enough to win, and it didn't happen. But got to put that behind us and now look forward to what's next. The best feeling that I guess you can have is the fact that this team has been really good for four months and they deserve to keep playing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH ROSE: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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