Following yesterday's 106-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward shared some thoughts on his alma mater's second straight trip to the national championship game.
It's been an up-and-down first-year in the NBA for Hayward. After playing sparingly to start the season, Hayward has recently emerged as a fixture in Utah's rotation. With the Jazz out of the Playoff picture, he made his 13th start of the season and poured in a career-high 19 points against the Kings. However, it wasn't enough to keep Utah from suffering its eighth-straight defeat. Hayward admits losing has been tough to swallow following the success he had at the collegiate level with Butler. Falling 61 to 59, Hayward and his Bulldogs were just one shot away from winning last year's national championship against the Duke Blue Devils. The rookie forward missed what would have been the game-winning basket at the final buzzer. He's hoping things turn out differently for the Bulldogs this year.