Utes Stand Excellent Chance With TCU's Salter Suspended
So ... anybody get the Utes when they were giving just four points at TCU tonight, before the game was taken off the board?
You'd have to feel pretty good about things, now that TCU has suspended guard Henry Salter indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team."
That means the talented junior won't play against the Utes tonight at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, giving the Utes an excellent chance to win a game they need in order to all but clinch at least the fifth seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament next month in Las Vegas.
In fact, I would almost go so far as to say the Utes cannot lose this game tonight -- given that Salter represented nearly a quarter of the scoring for one of the weakest offensive teams in the league, and a much larger portion of their (cough, cough) outside shooting touch.
Almost.
The Utes still have a tendency to lose games they should win, of course. Still, you'd have to like the chance for Utah's Tyler Kepkay to not have to worry about another last-second shot. The junior point guard told me that he would much prefer the Utes to just win by 20 and avoid the late-game dramatics -- even though he will continue to shoot any potential tying or winning shots with confidence, even though he hasn't caught a break yet.
"Somebody's got to take them, and I'm not going to shy away from it," he said. "If I have to shoot every one for the rest of this season, I will. Whether or not I hit them -- I hope I do -- I'm going to shoot them with confidence that they're going in, and if they don't, then there's nothing you can do about it."
You'd have to feel pretty good about things, now that TCU has suspended guard Henry Salter indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team."
That means the talented junior won't play against the Utes tonight at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, giving the Utes an excellent chance to win a game they need in order to all but clinch at least the fifth seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament next month in Las Vegas.
In fact, I would almost go so far as to say the Utes cannot lose this game tonight -- given that Salter represented nearly a quarter of the scoring for one of the weakest offensive teams in the league, and a much larger portion of their (cough, cough) outside shooting touch.
Almost.
The Utes still have a tendency to lose games they should win, of course. Still, you'd have to like the chance for Utah's Tyler Kepkay to not have to worry about another last-second shot. The junior point guard told me that he would much prefer the Utes to just win by 20 and avoid the late-game dramatics -- even though he will continue to shoot any potential tying or winning shots with confidence, even though he hasn't caught a break yet.
"Somebody's got to take them, and I'm not going to shy away from it," he said. "If I have to shoot every one for the rest of this season, I will. Whether or not I hit them -- I hope I do -- I'm going to shoot them with confidence that they're going in, and if they don't, then there's nothing you can do about it."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 6:59 AM |
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