MONSTER ENERGY BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 20, 2026

Alex Jensen

Alec Anigbata

Jackson Holcombe

Utah Utes

Media Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Utah men.

Coach, obviously you knew getting into this job it was going to be a build. You mentioned that you look forward to that challenge. It's not easy to do in the Big 12. Simply put, what did you learn in year one of Big 12 play that will help you moving forward?

ALEX JENSEN: I knew and I heard, but I found out how good the Big 12 is. I think it's gotten better. The one thing being here today, what stuck out to me, you look at the coaches in the Big 12, very, very accomplished coaching. I mean, coaching careers.

Learned a lot playing against them and going through it for a year and what it takes. It's a beast.

THE MODERATOR: Jackson, you had plenty of options. Why did you feel like Utah was where you wanted to be?

JACKSON HOLCOMBE: I just felt like when I was choosing what school to go to, Coach Jensen did a great job of taking ownership for the season they had, and also saying that wasn't going to be the case, that we were going to continue to grow and build. I just liked the belief and the goal that he had for me as a player and the program for Utah.

THE MODERATOR: Alec, you come from Munich, Germany. How would you define the program and the culture that you encountered at Utah?

ALEC ANIGBATA: I love it so far, a lot of the approach that Coach Alex and his staff has taken. Also the experience in international basketball really helps me develop as a player. I feel comfortable.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, you've had extensive experience coaching at several levels, NBA, different franchises. What has been the biggest difference between your professional ventures, the NBA, to what you do in the day-to-day at the collegiate level?

ALEX JENSEN: It's interesting now 'cause I think since I've been back, the collegiate level, it's ever-changing, like it's hard to predict where it will end up.

I talk about with Alec and Jackson, a lot of other guys, but the game's a lot different than, say, Europe or the NBA. It's taught me to go back to the basic principles of no matter where you're at, what you have to build upon.

But it is a very different brand of basketball, a different cadence. Having gone through it for a year, I think we're much more prepared to be successful, win more games.

THE MODERATOR: It's a tricky beast to manage expectations. There are pre-season polls. Most coaches don't care about them. How do you manage expectations when you see your name at the bottom of the list?

ALEX JENSEN: Obviously we've actually talked about it a little bit. I don't get into the rankings or the probability of this or that.

We talked about it. It's easy motivation 'cause it's not fake, it's real. This is where we're picked. It should be motivation for you guys. It is for me. We actually talked about that this week, didn't we?

THE MODERATOR: Jackson, as you assess that, embrace the challenge of Big 12 basketball, what are you anticipating this league will be like as a newcomer of sorts?

JACKSON HOLCOMBE: This league is amazing. Everyone knows it's one of the best in the country. I know there's no off nights. You have to bring your A game every single night. If you don't, you'll pay the price.

THE MODERATOR: Alec, what are you anticipating about Big 12 basketball?

ALEC ANIGBATA: I've heard it's pretty physical. In general, I'm excited to play against people my age.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, what is your day-to-day right now with NIL in play, 5-in-5?

ALEX JENSEN: It's still evolving, just like everything else in college basketball right now.

I think last year finishing off in Dallas, I knew that would be not beneficial to getting it started at Utah, but I felt it was the right thing to do.

This year we've made a concerted effort with the schedule to give time just for basketball. Like, in the morning before practice and right after, it's just basketball. It's one of those things you can come in and all of a sudden there's a new rumor on what might change. You can get easily sidetracked.

We've made a concerted effort just to concentrate on the basketball part of it for a specific amount of time.

THE MODERATOR: How would you explain the young man next to you and his game? Where have you seen Jackson progress?

ALEX JENSEN: The thing about Jackson, we joked when we were recruiting him, nobody watched UVU games outside of the program than us (smiling).

The interesting thing about Jackson is his journey. You weren't ranked, highly recruited, but he's worked to get to where he is now, which is a tribute to him.

I look back on my teams, Utah in general, whether it's the Jazz, BYU, Utah, the fan base there loves the overachiever, right? Very few top whatever this and that that have come, the fans love to watch 'em grow and get to that point.

I think he fits the program I think now, what it's been in the past. That's the interesting story with me with Jackson, is where he's started, where he's worked, where he's gotten himself.

THE MODERATOR: One of my favorite things was to hear your late great coach Rick Majerus talk about everything you did for Utah basketball. As I hear about Alec, there are some similarities there, verbiage used about him that was used with you. How do you see his game translating to the Big 12 and does he have a little Alex Jensen in him?

ALEX JENSEN: I never try to compare those guys to me. I mention every now and then when I played, but I tried try to avoid it.

I was telling these guys, that's the great things about these exhibition games, we're going to need more from both of them. The Big 12 is different. It's different. It's not Europe. It's hard. It's not what you think. It's going to be different than how you played.

Both these guys have to get better. If we're going to win, we're going to have to rely on both these guys to do more than they're doing now.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Coach, obviously you spent a lot of time with Coach Majerus as a player, as a coach. What have you learned from him that you're taking to this rebuilding effort?

ALEX JENSEN: Well, my whole coaching career, I think there's very few days that go by where a phrase or something I learned from him doesn't cross my mind.

I think not a better teacher in the game, but he kept it simple. I tell these guys, where I excelled with Coach Majerus, it was easy for me because I knew what to do in every situation. That's one thing I'm trying to replicate with these guys, to know in every situation what's expected of them.

Q. Coach, what was it like playing with Michael Doleac and Andre Miller in those days in the late '90s, making that national championship run?

ALEX JENSEN: I remember being a much better player than I actually was because I played with those guys. It's the truth (smiling).

I tell this story all the time. I think Andre Miller, I'm biased probably, but I think he's one of the most underrated players in the history of basketball. If you look, he's 12th all time on the NBA assist leaderboard. There's guys below him in the Hall of Fame.

Doleac, going back to the typical Utah player, not necessarily the University of Utah. He was a 17-year-old freshman that wanted to go to medical school. He didn't come having dreams of playing in the NBA. That was a good example of a team coming together and everybody benefiting from it.

I was fortunate to be with the teammates I had.

THE MODERATOR: Jackson, when you assess the legacy of Utah basketball, it is a rich history, how does that motivate you in the push to get the Utes back to that level?

JACKSON HOLCOMBE: I mean, it's a big motivating factor. We know we have a lot of fans who are used to winning, who have seen a lot of Utes wins. Our goal is to earn their trust back and get back to the same standard eventually.

THE MODERATOR: Alec, I know you're brushing up on your history of Utah basketball. You've heard about your coach. What is it going to take? What is priority number one on that agenda list to take care of business so you can take the next step and be more competitive?

ALEC ANIGBATA: I feel like we got to go game by game, bring the energy every night, earn the respect. I think that's the only way.

THE MODERATOR: We thank the University of Utah.