First-year head coach Kevin Young, who replaced Mark Pope after the latter's departure to Kentucky, expounded on the game and reflected on the Cougars' season along with two of his players. Transcripts are courtesy of ASAP Sports.

Alabama came into the BYU game with 6-of-21 and 7-of-17 shooting from distance in a pair of NCAA tourney wins. As the No. 1 2-point shooting team, Young’s staff emphasized stopping that aspect of Alabama’s attack and analytically believed a struggling Mark Sears and Company would cool off. They never did, and Sears made 10 treys.

You wrap them in your arms, like a puppy that had been hit by a truck, hold them and heal them, and tell them exactly what BYU coach Kevin Young told his Cougars on Thursday night in Newark, NJ. ”I’m extremely proud of my guys,