Motivation + Bad Opponent = Big Win
No surprise, coach Jim Boylen used a video of Wyoming's last-second alley-oop dunk from last season to motivate his Utes for today's rematch in the Mountain West Conference opener at the Huntsman Center.
But he could have showed them the Three Stooges.
That's just about what the Utes encountered on the floor, where the Cowboys looked about as interested in putting up a fight as in doing their calculus homework on the weekend. They missed nine of their first 10 shots, played ole' defense all day long and basically let the Utes do whatever they wanted in a 91-67 blowout -- hardly an endorsement of that schedule against which they had compiled their 11-3 record.
"This was on coach's mind the whole year," center Luke Nevill said. "We try to take one game at a time, but we were thinking about this beforehand. We were waiting to get the opportunity to play them again. It was kind of like a revenge game, so to speak. We went out there firing, and I think we did the job."
Nevill was tremendous against one-on-one defense, scoring a career-high 29 points with 13 rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots -- part of 11 total blocks for the team. Nobody could stop him, and nobody looked prepared to try. Meanwhile, forward Carlon Brown had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, guard Tyler Kepkay scored 16 points and the Utes shot 72 percent after halftime to snap a three-game losing streak in the series.
Boylen was even more impressed with the defense.
The Cowboys had been averaging nearly 83 points per game, and the Utes held them to 67, on 35 percent shooting. The new players on the Wyoming roster who had looked so impressive through much of the non-conference season -- guard Sean Ogirri and forward Afam Muojeke -- were embarrassingly absent, combining to make just 5-of-20 shots, and none while they still mattered.
The Utes also dominating the rebounding battle, 39-25, and recorded assists on 20 of their 32 baskets.
"That's what I'm hoping and praying that we become," Boylen said, "is a team that defends and rebounds and shares it, and I thought we did that today."
Indeed, they did, winning their third straight game with ease and bolstering the possibility -- particularly after the victory over No. 16 Gonzaga a few days ago -- that they will have a real say in the league championship race this season, however much Wyoming's lethargy might have played a role in their looking so good.
But he could have showed them the Three Stooges.
That's just about what the Utes encountered on the floor, where the Cowboys looked about as interested in putting up a fight as in doing their calculus homework on the weekend. They missed nine of their first 10 shots, played ole' defense all day long and basically let the Utes do whatever they wanted in a 91-67 blowout -- hardly an endorsement of that schedule against which they had compiled their 11-3 record.
"This was on coach's mind the whole year," center Luke Nevill said. "We try to take one game at a time, but we were thinking about this beforehand. We were waiting to get the opportunity to play them again. It was kind of like a revenge game, so to speak. We went out there firing, and I think we did the job."
Nevill was tremendous against one-on-one defense, scoring a career-high 29 points with 13 rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots -- part of 11 total blocks for the team. Nobody could stop him, and nobody looked prepared to try. Meanwhile, forward Carlon Brown had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, guard Tyler Kepkay scored 16 points and the Utes shot 72 percent after halftime to snap a three-game losing streak in the series.
Boylen was even more impressed with the defense.
The Cowboys had been averaging nearly 83 points per game, and the Utes held them to 67, on 35 percent shooting. The new players on the Wyoming roster who had looked so impressive through much of the non-conference season -- guard Sean Ogirri and forward Afam Muojeke -- were embarrassingly absent, combining to make just 5-of-20 shots, and none while they still mattered.
The Utes also dominating the rebounding battle, 39-25, and recorded assists on 20 of their 32 baskets.
"That's what I'm hoping and praying that we become," Boylen said, "is a team that defends and rebounds and shares it, and I thought we did that today."
Indeed, they did, winning their third straight game with ease and bolstering the possibility -- particularly after the victory over No. 16 Gonzaga a few days ago -- that they will have a real say in the league championship race this season, however much Wyoming's lethargy might have played a role in their looking so good.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 6:29 PM |
1 Comments:
Two really good wins back to back for us, I hope from here on out we play with the same intensity and we'll be sitting pretty come March, good numbers from Luke and definitely happy Coach Boylen is letting Brown push the ball. Would like to see Brown dribble the ball once or twice before shooting his jumper, seems to me he gets in a rhythym off the bounce as opposed to spotting up.
This team is going to supprise the MWC
Go Utes!!
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