Captain Grant Earns Game Ball for Imitating Carroll
Coach Jim Boylen acknowledged that guards Lawrence Borha and Luka Drca did a remarkable job in holding Utah State's Jaycee Carroll to just seven shots and 11 points in the Utes' 72-48 victory over the Aggies at the Huntsman Center tonight.
But he also gave credit to somebody you might not expect:
Chris Grant.
The seldom-used former walk-on imitated Carroll so well in practice, Boylen said, that the Utes were as prepared as they could have been to shut him down.
"We just gave the game ball to Chris Grant," Boylen said after the game. "Chris Grant was Jaycee Carroll in practice, and he was a great Jaycee Carroll. Those guys took turns guarding him, Chris was high-energy, he played very well in practice. He tried to duplicate Jaycee the best he could; I thought he did a good job.
"That really helped us, to have that guy on our scout team to make that happen," Boylen added. "To me, that falls in line with us becoming a team -- every guy is valuable, every practice is valuable. We have a senior captain who doesn't play a lot who helped us win this game, and to me, that's what it's all about."
The 11 points that Carroll scored, by the way, was barely half his average this season, and the least he has scored in four games against the Utes. He entered the game having averaged 21 points against them in his career -- including the 27-point performance (and game-tying three-pointer) that killed the Utes last season.
Among the other tidbits worth mentioning:
-- Center Luke Nevill had 20 points and 14 rebounds, but Boylen seemed practically disgusted with him after the game. He said Nevill should have had closer to 30 points and 20 boards, for as many chances as he had. "He had opportunities all over the place," Boylen said. "He had rebounds that he missed. I have a high standard for Luke Nevill, and he didn't reach it tonight."
-- Forward Kim Tillie enjoyed the best game of his career, scoring 16 points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting and grabbing six rebounds, all in just 18 minutes. "He has wanted to play more, I wanted to play him more, and tonight he got his opportunity," Boylen said. "He made the most of it." Tillie already has played 96 minutes this season, 15 more than he did before breaking his ankle last season.
-- Forward Stephen Weigh returned to the lineup after missing two games with a rib injury, and did not exactly stand out. He missed all three shots he took (all from three-point range) and contributed only one assist with a turnover in 12 minutes. Boylen said it's unfair to have expected a lot, though, considering Weigh had returned to practice only two days before the game after missing two weeks.
-- Hate to say it, but the fans wearing red were vastly outperformed by the small but stunningly loud group of Aggie fans crowded together in blue shirts in the upper bowl. The Ags easily drowned out the majority of the 10,829 fans, often making it seem as if the game was being playing in Logan and at one point rocking the arena with a chant of, "We are louder! We are louder!" To which a smattering of Utah fans responded by pointing -- silently, for the most part -- to the scoreboard. Lame.
But he also gave credit to somebody you might not expect:
Chris Grant.
The seldom-used former walk-on imitated Carroll so well in practice, Boylen said, that the Utes were as prepared as they could have been to shut him down.
"We just gave the game ball to Chris Grant," Boylen said after the game. "Chris Grant was Jaycee Carroll in practice, and he was a great Jaycee Carroll. Those guys took turns guarding him, Chris was high-energy, he played very well in practice. He tried to duplicate Jaycee the best he could; I thought he did a good job.
"That really helped us, to have that guy on our scout team to make that happen," Boylen added. "To me, that falls in line with us becoming a team -- every guy is valuable, every practice is valuable. We have a senior captain who doesn't play a lot who helped us win this game, and to me, that's what it's all about."
The 11 points that Carroll scored, by the way, was barely half his average this season, and the least he has scored in four games against the Utes. He entered the game having averaged 21 points against them in his career -- including the 27-point performance (and game-tying three-pointer) that killed the Utes last season.
Among the other tidbits worth mentioning:
-- Center Luke Nevill had 20 points and 14 rebounds, but Boylen seemed practically disgusted with him after the game. He said Nevill should have had closer to 30 points and 20 boards, for as many chances as he had. "He had opportunities all over the place," Boylen said. "He had rebounds that he missed. I have a high standard for Luke Nevill, and he didn't reach it tonight."
-- Forward Kim Tillie enjoyed the best game of his career, scoring 16 points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting and grabbing six rebounds, all in just 18 minutes. "He has wanted to play more, I wanted to play him more, and tonight he got his opportunity," Boylen said. "He made the most of it." Tillie already has played 96 minutes this season, 15 more than he did before breaking his ankle last season.
-- Forward Stephen Weigh returned to the lineup after missing two games with a rib injury, and did not exactly stand out. He missed all three shots he took (all from three-point range) and contributed only one assist with a turnover in 12 minutes. Boylen said it's unfair to have expected a lot, though, considering Weigh had returned to practice only two days before the game after missing two weeks.
-- Hate to say it, but the fans wearing red were vastly outperformed by the small but stunningly loud group of Aggie fans crowded together in blue shirts in the upper bowl. The Ags easily drowned out the majority of the 10,829 fans, often making it seem as if the game was being playing in Logan and at one point rocking the arena with a chant of, "We are louder! We are louder!" To which a smattering of Utah fans responded by pointing -- silently, for the most part -- to the scoreboard. Lame.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 11:57 PM |
1 Comments:
I think our Utes have finally found the recipe for success, once again we won the free throw and rebounding contests and come away with a win. I hate to say it but Nevill put together a game worthy of his stature. I wish he would understand that at 7'1" 5-7 boards fall your way, the other 5-7 you have to go get. Also big props to Tillie for finding his stroke, Borha and Brown may have sacrificed points last night, but their efforts definitely showed up in the box score in other areas, nice all around game by the Utes, I hope we bring this to Oregon on Saturday or else the person sitting next to me on the plane back to Dallas is going to be miserable :)
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