Nevill Works to Soothe Growing Pains
We were just about finished interviewing guard Lawrence Borha about his 18-point performance in the win at UC Irvine last night when center Luke Nevill called his teammate back into the locker room, along with everybody else.
He wanted to apologize.
Nevill had lost his cool a bit late in the 60-52 victory at the Bren Events Center, yelling at forward Shaun Green for not getting him the ball, then angrily flipping a folding stool into the air when he reached a timeout huddle. Green was barking right back, and teammate Luka Drca stepped between the players just to make sure the spat did not escalate.
"I got kind of frustrated," Nevill said later. "I wasn't getting the ball, and I was just afraid the team was kind of like separating from me" after his outburst. "I just wanted them to realize that I care about them, and I want us to be successful and sometimes I get frustrated when I don't get the ball when I think I'm wide open. We're working on that, and I just wanted to kind of bring the guys together."
And that's growth, as far as coach Jim Boylen is concerned.
Ever since he took the job, he has been urging all of his players to play with more fire and passion -- something Nevill was definitely doing, even if he misdirected his fury somewhat at a teammate. That Nevill was demanding the ball was a promising sign, too, illustrating how much he believes he can do the job for the Utes at crucial moments.
But it's a two-way street, too.
While the Utes occasionally have difficulty getting the ball inside to Nevill, the 7-foot-2 center doesn't always do great things with it when they do, turning it over or forcing bad shots just often enough to sometimes give his teammates pause. He's not always as open as he believes, either, and probably doesn't post up often enough as deep as coaches would like.
Nevill acknowledged all of that, though, and impressed his coach by responding after the game the way he did, after scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and having short one-on-one meeting with the coach.
"It was growth," Boylen said. "It's leadership. It's supporting guys. It's pulling people together."
He wanted to apologize.
Nevill had lost his cool a bit late in the 60-52 victory at the Bren Events Center, yelling at forward Shaun Green for not getting him the ball, then angrily flipping a folding stool into the air when he reached a timeout huddle. Green was barking right back, and teammate Luka Drca stepped between the players just to make sure the spat did not escalate.
"I got kind of frustrated," Nevill said later. "I wasn't getting the ball, and I was just afraid the team was kind of like separating from me" after his outburst. "I just wanted them to realize that I care about them, and I want us to be successful and sometimes I get frustrated when I don't get the ball when I think I'm wide open. We're working on that, and I just wanted to kind of bring the guys together."
And that's growth, as far as coach Jim Boylen is concerned.
Ever since he took the job, he has been urging all of his players to play with more fire and passion -- something Nevill was definitely doing, even if he misdirected his fury somewhat at a teammate. That Nevill was demanding the ball was a promising sign, too, illustrating how much he believes he can do the job for the Utes at crucial moments.
But it's a two-way street, too.
While the Utes occasionally have difficulty getting the ball inside to Nevill, the 7-foot-2 center doesn't always do great things with it when they do, turning it over or forcing bad shots just often enough to sometimes give his teammates pause. He's not always as open as he believes, either, and probably doesn't post up often enough as deep as coaches would like.
Nevill acknowledged all of that, though, and impressed his coach by responding after the game the way he did, after scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and having short one-on-one meeting with the coach.
"It was growth," Boylen said. "It's leadership. It's supporting guys. It's pulling people together."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 1:53 PM |
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