Utes Keep Showing Late-Game Poise
While coach Jim Boylen remains concerned that his Utes aren't always getting up enough to handle opponents' best shots early in games, they did win their seventh straight game with yet another strong finishing surge.
"We've spent so much time on end-of-game situations," he said. "And the five-minute drill ... I thought it was similar to the BYU game. When we got into overtime, there was a calmness and an understanding of what we were going to do."
Dominate, is all.
The Utes owned the Rams in the extra period, with center Luke Nevill putting the finishing touches on a 23-point, 14-rebound, seven-block performance and earning praise from his coach as a "force in the middle. ... [and] has been dominant in the paint for us all year, protecting the basket, reacting. He has been huge at the end of close games, getting the big rebound."
It was the fourth straight close game -- within three points, or in overtime -- that the Utes have won, after losing their first three in that situation, and the fifth straight game in which they have rebounded from a lackluster first half. That marks a big turnaround from last season, when they were 1-6 in games decided by three points or less or in overtime, and never seemed capable of making a game-winning play.
"Every good team, every team I know that has won anything or been at the top for most part of the year, has a bunch of games like this," point guard Tyler Kepkay said. "“Close games, on the road, to maybe a team that people think we should just beat. And I think we need to have games like this to get to where we're going."
"We've spent so much time on end-of-game situations," he said. "And the five-minute drill ... I thought it was similar to the BYU game. When we got into overtime, there was a calmness and an understanding of what we were going to do."
Dominate, is all.
The Utes owned the Rams in the extra period, with center Luke Nevill putting the finishing touches on a 23-point, 14-rebound, seven-block performance and earning praise from his coach as a "force in the middle. ... [and] has been dominant in the paint for us all year, protecting the basket, reacting. He has been huge at the end of close games, getting the big rebound."
It was the fourth straight close game -- within three points, or in overtime -- that the Utes have won, after losing their first three in that situation, and the fifth straight game in which they have rebounded from a lackluster first half. That marks a big turnaround from last season, when they were 1-6 in games decided by three points or less or in overtime, and never seemed capable of making a game-winning play.
"Every good team, every team I know that has won anything or been at the top for most part of the year, has a bunch of games like this," point guard Tyler Kepkay said. "“Close games, on the road, to maybe a team that people think we should just beat. And I think we need to have games like this to get to where we're going."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 1:12 PM |
2 Comments:
Hey Mike...any idea what Carlon Brown did at about the 13 min. mark in the 2nd half to cause Boylen to go nuts. Boylen pulled Brown from the game and then proceeded to light him up on the bench! Just curious if you saw that exchange.
Brown gave up an offensive rebound off a CSU free throw. The Ram player then drilled a three right over C.B.
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