Students Love Boylen -- And He Could Probably Use It
When the Utes began the second half of their game against Santa Clara at the Huntsman Center tonight, the students sitting courtside began a loud chant in support of their new coach.
"We love Boylen!" they shouted.
Good thing, because Boylen could probably use some love right about now.
After agonizing for days over his team's loss at Washington last week, he sounded almost as if he was trying to talk himself out of becoming despondent after watching the Utes wilt in the second half of a 72-57 home loss to the Broncos.
"I'm not discouraged," he insisted. "I'm not down. We're going to keep working and get better and better and better."
Yet while there were plenty of reasons to be encouraged about the loss to the Huskies, the loss to the Broncos provided few such opportunities. It came at home, for one thing, and with the Utes scoring a measly 57 points despite having Santa Clara's leading scorer -- 6-foot-10 center John Bryant -- in foul trouble all night and limited to 87 seconds of the first half.
What's more, the Utes allowed the Broncos to shoot 59 percent in the second half, while themselves going nearly 8 1/2 minutes without a basket. Center Luke Nevill failed to assert himself again -- in fairness, he was swarmed almost every time he touched the ball and received little outside shooting support -- the Utes were outrebounded for the second straight game, and allowed the Broncos to score 15 points off 13 turnovers.
But perhaps the promising performance against the Huskies was part of the reason.
"We're going to have to handle adversity," Boylen said. "What I don't think we handled real well -- and we talked about it -- was handling playing well and losing. We played pretty well up north and lost, and then came back and acted like we won. Again, we talked about it, but it's going to be a process with us."
Among other tidbits worth mentioning:
-- Forward Stephen Weigh has been ill, Boylen said, which accounted for him playing just 18 minutes and managing just three points and a rebound with two turnovers. "Gave him that start to try to see if he could get him going," Boylen said, "and Stephen never really got going at either end."
-- Forward Shaun Green went scoreless for the second straight game, after never having done so before in his Utah career. He did attempt two shots, though both came with the shot clock about to expire, while contributing four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
-- For the first time, guard Carlon Brown was the first substitute Boylen brought off the bench, and the freshman provided six points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. "I thought we needed some energy," Boylen said. "I thought we needed some drive-and-pitch. I thought we needed a guy to create something. He can do that. ... I just felt that we needed a guy to get in the lane and make plays, and I thought he did that."
"We love Boylen!" they shouted.
Good thing, because Boylen could probably use some love right about now.
After agonizing for days over his team's loss at Washington last week, he sounded almost as if he was trying to talk himself out of becoming despondent after watching the Utes wilt in the second half of a 72-57 home loss to the Broncos.
"I'm not discouraged," he insisted. "I'm not down. We're going to keep working and get better and better and better."
Yet while there were plenty of reasons to be encouraged about the loss to the Huskies, the loss to the Broncos provided few such opportunities. It came at home, for one thing, and with the Utes scoring a measly 57 points despite having Santa Clara's leading scorer -- 6-foot-10 center John Bryant -- in foul trouble all night and limited to 87 seconds of the first half.
What's more, the Utes allowed the Broncos to shoot 59 percent in the second half, while themselves going nearly 8 1/2 minutes without a basket. Center Luke Nevill failed to assert himself again -- in fairness, he was swarmed almost every time he touched the ball and received little outside shooting support -- the Utes were outrebounded for the second straight game, and allowed the Broncos to score 15 points off 13 turnovers.
But perhaps the promising performance against the Huskies was part of the reason.
"We're going to have to handle adversity," Boylen said. "What I don't think we handled real well -- and we talked about it -- was handling playing well and losing. We played pretty well up north and lost, and then came back and acted like we won. Again, we talked about it, but it's going to be a process with us."
Among other tidbits worth mentioning:
-- Forward Stephen Weigh has been ill, Boylen said, which accounted for him playing just 18 minutes and managing just three points and a rebound with two turnovers. "Gave him that start to try to see if he could get him going," Boylen said, "and Stephen never really got going at either end."
-- Forward Shaun Green went scoreless for the second straight game, after never having done so before in his Utah career. He did attempt two shots, though both came with the shot clock about to expire, while contributing four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
-- For the first time, guard Carlon Brown was the first substitute Boylen brought off the bench, and the freshman provided six points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. "I thought we needed some energy," Boylen said. "I thought we needed some drive-and-pitch. I thought we needed a guy to create something. He can do that. ... I just felt that we needed a guy to get in the lane and make plays, and I thought he did that."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 11:07 PM |
1 Comments:
Coach Boylen by your own admission:
"I thought we needed some energy," Boylen said. "I thought we needed some drive-and-pitch. I thought we needed a guy to create something. He can do that. ... I just felt that we needed a guy to get in the lane and make plays, and I thought he did that." Coach Boylen, this is Utah's best option at the point guard position, take him off the wing and give him the ball, no way Brown and Grim should have been out of the rotation against Washington. This team has no one else with the ability to create for themselves let alone setting someone else up. What are you waiting for?
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