While the last two games have suggested the Utes are just one or two plays down the stretch away from being unbeaten in Mountain West Conference play, point guard Tyler Kepkay and coach Jim Boylen agreed that the offense -- as a whole -- is not good enough.

"We're not there yet," Boylen said at his weekly press conference today. "We're not there yet."

In other words, the Utes are not thrilled with the way they have played offensively in league games, even though they did enough to create chances to win late against San Diego State and Brigham Young. Kepkay noted that the Utes are scoring only 55 points per game in league play.

"If you had asked us that at the beginning of the year, we'd think we'd be up around 75," he said. "I think once we get our offense going, we're going to be very good."

Both men acknowledged that the Utes have spent so much time for most of the season focusing on defense during practices -- once-abysmal defenders, the Utes are leading the league by allowing just 35.5 percent shooting and 51.7 points in conference games -- that the offense has yet to come around.

And both said the fact that the Utes haven't yet mastered Boylen's complex system probably played a role in their losses to the Aztecs and Cougars.

"Absolutely," Boylen said.

Not that Boylen is apologizing for it, though, considering he believes (rightly) that the Utes were so bad on defense last season that they needed to rebuild that part of the team first.

"I just want it understood that my team is getting better, and we are growing as a group," he said. "Has it translated to wins we could have had? No. I'm disappointed in that. But we are getting better."