The Utah men’s basketball team earned its first win under head coach Alex Jensen, outlasting San Jose State in an 84-75 final from Jon M. Huntsman Center on Mon …
The Utah men’s basketball team earned its first win under head coach Alex Jensen, outlasting San Jose State in an 84-75 final from Jon M. Huntsman Center on Monday.
Seydou Traore led the way with a career-high 23 points, 18 of which came in the second half, while Don McHenry dropped 16 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes of action against the Spartans.
McHenry’s backcourt mate, Terrence Brown, chipped in 12 points, eight assists and three rebounds in his debut with the Runnin’ Utes, while freshman Kendyl Sanders provided a spark off the bench with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes.
Here’s what Brown and Sanders had to say following their team’s victory.
Brown: “Just really being in the huddle with coach and just telling us to calm down and finish the game, let it come to us, and just being Smart down the stretch.”
Sanders: “Another big thing was rebounding. They had us beat on the rebounds in the first half, and he told us we just need to keep crashing the boards because they shouldn’t be beating us on the boards.”
Brown: “Especially down the stretch, he went out for a little bit — got hit in his mouth — but he had a good stretch where he was knocking down shots again, getting rebounds for us a lot. Especially him and Don, they were knocking down tough shots today, so just good job for them to step up and carry the load tonight.”
Sanders: “He’s a great player. He has a big role on this team. We didn’t have him against Oregon, but he really showed out in this game. He proved we need him on the court.”
Brown: “I would say, just really emphasizing it in practice every single day, and then obviously emphasizing it in the film room and when we’re going over scout every single day. They really emphasize the transition defense, so we emphasized that. We emphasized that this whole week in practice. The turnover part is on us, just taking care of the ball.”
Sanders: “We go through [transition defense] all the time in practice. It’s one of the main things we talked about in film. But yes, it’s real important, so we just keep working on it. We’ll be better at it.”
“Just giving the other team different faces. That’s really what it is, just switching it up. Whether I could bring the ball up the court, him bring the ball up the court; I play off the ball. It just gives defenses different schemes and throws different things at them.”
“Honestly, I wasn’t really expected to come here playing a whole lot. Then obviously we had a bunch of injuries coming down, so one of my coaches told me I got to step up, I got to play harder because I’m gonna get some minutes.”
“And that transition was great. I mean, I was happy. I stepped on the court for my first time against Nevada. It felt great. So I’m happy where I’m at, for sure.”
MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS
Source: Utah News