Nearly a Disaster, Utes Survive for a Dazzling Tourney Win
Of course, the Utes and New Mexico Lobos were going to play overtime. That's what they do -- four times in the last five meetings, in fact.
But boy, was it worth it for the Utes.
You could argue that the Utes did not deserve to beat the Lobos, considering the way they finished regulation so disastrously. But for a team that has cashed in its chips down the stretch so many times already this season, they deserve credit for fighting through it all to survive for an 82-80 victory in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament late Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
And who deserves the most credit?
Well, wouldn't you know ... everybody's favorite whipping boy, center Luke Nevill.
The 7-foot-1 junior played one of the best games of his career when the Utes needed it most, making 11 of 20 shots to score 26 points and grab eight rebounds (he played the last 6 1/2 minute of regulation and overtime with four fouls) and offset the spectacular contribution of New Mexico's J.R. Giddens. His dunk with 21.2 seconds left in overtime restored an 81-80 Utah lead, and his spectacular rejection of New Mexico's Darren Prentice at the other end essentially sealed the win for the Utes.
"I just knew I had to do it," Nevill said. "I knew I had to risk maybe getting called for goaltending ... I just went up there and blocked his shot, I guess."
Yeah, he guessed right.
But even before the Utes endured that miserable finish to regulation -- 2-for-4 free-throw shooting with no baskets (two missed lay-ups) and two crushing turnovers in the final four minutes -- I was telling my colleagues along press row that the Utes were going to win.
Why?
Any time they have Lawrence Borha and Shaun Green and Kim Tillie making the contributions they made to the Utes on Thursday night, they are in good shape. Heck, they didn't even really need Johnnie Bryant, who scored 11 points but shot just 3-for-10 and faced that same sort of focused defense that so shut him down in one of the previous meetings with the Lobos.
But Borha had his best game in weeks with 13 points, including three three-pointers, Green had a valuable 12 points and six boards before fouling out, and Tillie had six points, seven boards and some huge plays early in the second half. Even demoted point guard Tyler Kepkay gave the Utes a little something, with two big three-pointers in his 14 minutes.
And while we all know I don't take sides, it was fun to see the Utes finally get to celebrate a big, close victory instead of having to trudge off into the locker room after another depressing loss that probably would have been the end of their season.
So they get to take the court at least one more time -- the win over New Mexico might have earned them an NIT berth, at least -- against the UNLV Rebels, who looked completely beatable in their narrow win over TCU earlier on Thursday night.
And who knows?
Crazy things happen in this town.
But boy, was it worth it for the Utes.
You could argue that the Utes did not deserve to beat the Lobos, considering the way they finished regulation so disastrously. But for a team that has cashed in its chips down the stretch so many times already this season, they deserve credit for fighting through it all to survive for an 82-80 victory in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament late Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
And who deserves the most credit?
Well, wouldn't you know ... everybody's favorite whipping boy, center Luke Nevill.
The 7-foot-1 junior played one of the best games of his career when the Utes needed it most, making 11 of 20 shots to score 26 points and grab eight rebounds (he played the last 6 1/2 minute of regulation and overtime with four fouls) and offset the spectacular contribution of New Mexico's J.R. Giddens. His dunk with 21.2 seconds left in overtime restored an 81-80 Utah lead, and his spectacular rejection of New Mexico's Darren Prentice at the other end essentially sealed the win for the Utes.
"I just knew I had to do it," Nevill said. "I knew I had to risk maybe getting called for goaltending ... I just went up there and blocked his shot, I guess."
Yeah, he guessed right.
But even before the Utes endured that miserable finish to regulation -- 2-for-4 free-throw shooting with no baskets (two missed lay-ups) and two crushing turnovers in the final four minutes -- I was telling my colleagues along press row that the Utes were going to win.
Why?
Any time they have Lawrence Borha and Shaun Green and Kim Tillie making the contributions they made to the Utes on Thursday night, they are in good shape. Heck, they didn't even really need Johnnie Bryant, who scored 11 points but shot just 3-for-10 and faced that same sort of focused defense that so shut him down in one of the previous meetings with the Lobos.
But Borha had his best game in weeks with 13 points, including three three-pointers, Green had a valuable 12 points and six boards before fouling out, and Tillie had six points, seven boards and some huge plays early in the second half. Even demoted point guard Tyler Kepkay gave the Utes a little something, with two big three-pointers in his 14 minutes.
And while we all know I don't take sides, it was fun to see the Utes finally get to celebrate a big, close victory instead of having to trudge off into the locker room after another depressing loss that probably would have been the end of their season.
So they get to take the court at least one more time -- the win over New Mexico might have earned them an NIT berth, at least -- against the UNLV Rebels, who looked completely beatable in their narrow win over TCU earlier on Thursday night.
And who knows?
Crazy things happen in this town.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 12:48 AM |
8 Comments:
Great win tonight....The Utes needed this. I think this team has progressed and I am proud of the way they fought through this to win......Lemme guess..."Zoobthunder"...
"ranwithazoob"...and "bigzoobfan" will not even bother to show up. They only whine and moan after losses and lob barbs at Jim Boylen, but a big win? Nah, their not Ute fans they wont show.
Well "till I die" I was at the game, did you bother to go to Vegas and cheer the Utes on? I was excited as anyone to see us pull out a victory, but....c'mon..after all the last second losses, they still flubbed up the ending of regulation AGAIN. Once again, it did not appear that a play was called. Beyond my imagination how this coach has not come up with a play at the end of the game that has been practiced and executed correctly is mind boggling.
Once again, all you do is make bullying comments about the people that post to this site. I believe Michael Lewis has asked bloggers like you to quit harrassing bloggers for expressing their opinions whether you like them or not. GO UTES! Beat the Rebels!
There was a play called on the last play of regulation. It actually worked to perfection twice in overtime. It calls for Luka to shot fake off a ball screen from Nevill, who rolls to the basket for a flying hammer-dunk. Nevill just got turned around and Drca didn't throw the best pass. But they tried to get the ball to Luke. At the time I thought they had lost the game, that they had no chance in overtime. But give them credit for continuing to fight and to actually win, not just play hard. Luke Nevill played tough D, and he was the difference in overtime. Who knew? That guy has come so far. Give some credit to our coaching staff for that, particularly Boylen.
bigutefan-no one is trying to bully you, I just think a lot of people take offense at your constant criticism of coach Boylen. It's great you go to the games and support the team, but it's almost like you're cheering for our coach to fail. Give the guy a break, he's come a long way too. I really think you'll be pleased with the eventual results. Just look at last season to this season. Analyze the results and statistics. There's a big difference.
The main thing I want to say though is I love Utah basketball, and it was great to see an epic college basketball game like that. I didn't fall asleep until 2 a.m. I was so worked up. I think our guys have come a long way, and they seem to have all stuck together through a difficult, transitional season.
Dear Majerussweater,
Thanks for the nice post. Okay, I will take a step back and give Boylen a break. As long as you are willing to take off the blinders and analyze the not so great things that has come along with the Boylen era. Your wrong with the assumption that I want the coach to fail. GO UTES! GO AZTECS!
Alright, that's what I like to hear. You're right, Go Utes and Go Aztecs!
So glad you are all getting along. Winning does that. Isn't everything wonderful?
till i die,
I'm changing your name to "You're Killing Me" I know for a fact I have flown more miles attending games than minutes you have listened to the games on your mom's computer this year. Every other adult on here gives their opinions and let others do the same, not resort to name calling.
I am sorry I am not one of Coach Boylen's starry-eyed table warmers at the local barbeque restaurant.
Last night was a great game to watch, but as has been the case, it looks like we get scared and try to hold on to win in the closing minutes, if we are in front we need to continue to attack, not play it safe.
Other than that, the Utes played pretty good team defense. Hats off to all the teams yesterday, they all put it on the line.
Utes come out strong tonight and give it everything you have and we will win, I hope Coach Boylen takes the reins off and stop trying to coach the kids every minute of the game. Lastly even though some of us don't agree your methods Coach Boylen, we still root for you.
GOOOOO UTES!!!
"till I die", I have an extra ticket for tonight if your mom will let you come to Vegas?
The game was awesome! I love that the Utes finally executed at the end of a game, even though they waited until OT to do so. It's nice to see that Boylen has made the switch at PG. Luka looks much more comfortable handling the ball than Kepkay has all year. Hopefully the switch hasn't been made too late to make it into a post-season tournament. Go Utes!
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