It has to be in their heads now, doesn't it? All the missed free throws -- center Luke Nevill airballed one, for crying out loud -- all of the botched plays, all of the down-to-the-wire losses?

The Utes can't keep absorbing punishment like this and coming back for more.

Can they?

Coach Jim Boylen believes they can, but he'd rather they just go ahead and win a game, instead. The Utes dropped their third straight agonizing game, losing 77-67 in overtime at New Mexico tonight -- they haven't beaten the Lobos at The Pit since 2002 -- and once again left open the debate about whether they should be encouraged that they managed to make it so close (they really were on the verge of getting run over, near the end of an abysmal first half) or disgusted that they let another one get away.

Guess which route Boylen chose.

"We had our chances to win another game, and we didn't do it," he said. "It's on me."

Well, yes. But it's also on the players who made only 9 of 16 free throws -- they're shooting 54.5 percent in their last three games, after being above 81 percent in their previous 10 -- and wilted in overtime. The Utes scored only three points in the final 3:20, while guards Tyler Kepkay and Luka Drca both missed free throws (Drca, again, on the front end of a one-and-one) that could have kept the Utes in it, and Lawrence Borha fouled a three-point shooter that allowed the Lobos to break from the final tie of the game.

Asked what he felt was the difference in the overtime, during which Nevill fouled out and the Lobos shot and made seven free throws in the final 1:25 to clinch it, Boylen shook his head.

"Don't make me go there," he said tersely. "Don't make me go there. I don't want to talk about that, uh ... The difference in the overtime was, they scored 17 points, we scored seven. They made their free throws, we didn't. Gotta give them credit."

It appeared for one brief moment as if the Utes had finally made the play that was going to get them out of their slump, when Kepkay drove for a game-tying lay-up and a foul with 3:52 left. The look in his eyes suggested that he had suddenly realized, "Hey, we can do this!" ... and then he promptly missed his free throw and the spiral resumed.

He's 87 percent shooter, by the way.

So let the debate rage on, knowing that the Utes trailed by 12 points in the first half, yet fought back in a hostile arena to take a nine-point lead in the second. They gave up 11 unanswered points to blow that lead, yet held off the Lobos in the final minute. They employed sound strategy (if not a high-percentage shot, or a well-executed screen-and-roll) at the end of regulation by letting the clock run down in a tie game before Kepkay tried a long three-pointer, but nearly blew it right there when New Mexico's Jamal Smith was able to grab the rebound and sprint downcourt unimpeded for a final shot that, fortunately for the Utes, missed at the horn.

Comme ci, comme ca.

"We feel like we play good enough to win these games and we always have opportunities to win these games, it seems like," forward Shaun Green said. "Hopefully, it ends here and we start making plays down the stretch of games and start winning a few of these."

Among other tidbits worth noting:

-- The Utes endured their worst first half of the season, scoring just 21 points on 40 percent shooting (they were only 4-for-15, at one point) and committing 10 turnovers against three assists. Amazingly, they committed only six turnovers the rest of the way, though Boylen said they did not change anything from the first half to the second. "Our goal was to hang in there, let the game settle down, handle our emotions and hang in there," he said. "And I thought we did that."

-- The Utes looked so much better in the second half when Drca was primarily running the offense, with Kepkay and Johnnie Bryant on the wings and Green in the lineup with Nevill. But for the third straight game, Drca missed the front end of a crucial one-and-one free-throw opportunity during crunch time, this time (and again) in overtime. No wonder Boylen was so definitive about not wanting to insert him into the starting lineup.

-- Offensively, the Utes continue to go in fits and starts. They endured nearly seven minutes without a point early in the game, went on a 10-0 run in barely two minutes of the second half to build an eight-point lead (they shot 58 percent in the second half), then went another 6 1/2 minutes without a basket late in the game. In overtime, they scored only three points in the final 3:20.

-- Mr. Brown? Mr. Carlon Brown? ... Paging, Mr. Carlon Brown. Please pick up a white courtesy phone, so we might know you're in the game. The freshman went scoreless for the fourth time in seven games, and did not start the second half for the second straight game. (He did start the overtime, but played only the first 31 seconds). Brown has scored only 10 points combined in those last seven games, after averaging 5.2 per game before that.

-- Generally, I don't buy the idea of the Utes getting screwed by the officials (note my earlier post on the subject). But they did get jammed with some bad calls that really affected the game. Referees called back-to-back questionable charging fouls on Nevill and Drca late in the game (the one on Nevill was especially bad, from my seat), keeping the Utes from building on a nine-point lead. Nevill later fouled out after New Mexico's Daniel Faris pump-faked him into the air in the opening seconds of overtime.

-- Forward Kim Tillie did not play, because of soreness in the leg in which he suffered a stress fracture earlier this season. After missing five games with the injury, Tillie played 10 minutes against BYU last weekend, but felt he needed more recovery before playing again. That certainly did not help the Utes, who lost the rebounding battle and gave up 12 offensive rebounds while gathering just six.