Getting to know the other guys
Johnnie Bryant has scored 49 points in his last two games for the Utes. Brandon Heath has scored 60 in his last two for San Diego State.
Do we smell a shootout tonight at the Huntsman Center?
"I'm not going to get into a scoring battle," Bryant said. "It's just playing basketball, you know? If I have open looks, I'm going to shoot them. If they go down, they go down. But I really don't go into the game trying to get into a scoring battle with anybody in the conference. After all, it's not about me. It's about the team, and trying to find a way to win."
Still, Bryant said that Heath had called him the day before the game to talk a little trash, continuing a series of relationships that Bryant has forged with some of the top players in the league since meeting them during the preseason Mountain West Conference media day. Among them? Wyoming's Brandon Ewing, Air Force's Jacob Burtschi and Matt McCraw and UNLV's J.R. Giddens.
Many of the players text-message or call one another - mostly to harass each other about whose teams are winning or losing, or who's playing well or not.
"Pretty much," Bryant said, laughing.
"It's good," he added. "My teammates give me a hard time about it, but you build relationships, and it's bigger than basketball. A couple of years down the line, you never know when you may run into them. ... Once we get between those lines, we're competing really hard, but otherwise, it's just all fun and games."
Do we smell a shootout tonight at the Huntsman Center?
"I'm not going to get into a scoring battle," Bryant said. "It's just playing basketball, you know? If I have open looks, I'm going to shoot them. If they go down, they go down. But I really don't go into the game trying to get into a scoring battle with anybody in the conference. After all, it's not about me. It's about the team, and trying to find a way to win."
Still, Bryant said that Heath had called him the day before the game to talk a little trash, continuing a series of relationships that Bryant has forged with some of the top players in the league since meeting them during the preseason Mountain West Conference media day. Among them? Wyoming's Brandon Ewing, Air Force's Jacob Burtschi and Matt McCraw and UNLV's J.R. Giddens.
Many of the players text-message or call one another - mostly to harass each other about whose teams are winning or losing, or who's playing well or not.
"Pretty much," Bryant said, laughing.
"It's good," he added. "My teammates give me a hard time about it, but you build relationships, and it's bigger than basketball. A couple of years down the line, you never know when you may run into them. ... Once we get between those lines, we're competing really hard, but otherwise, it's just all fun and games."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 11:55 AM |
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