Title Race Shifts With Loss at BYU
Coach Jim Boylen said "nothing has changed" for him and his Utes, heading into the final week of the regular-season, just because they suffered an ugly 63-50 loss to Brigham Young at the Marriott Center today that snapped their eight-game winning streak and cost them their first chance to clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference title and the top seed in the league tournament.
But things certainly have become more interesting.
While the Utes could have put themselves in position for a stress-free final week with a victory, their loss means that the pressure suddenly gets turned way up in their final games at New Mexico and at home against TCU. Winning at New Mexico is never easy, to begin with, and now the Utes will have to play a Lobo team motivated to claim its own piece of the championship -- or maybe even win the whole thing.
And while everybody generally assumes the Utes will beat TCU in the final at home, the environment could wind up much more difficult if the Utes enter that game still needing a victory, and the Horned Frogs decide that spoiling Utah's title hopes is reason enough to play harder than a team just finishing out the string normally would.
"We've got to strap it on," Boylen said. "Nobody's going to give us nothing."
Certainly, nobody did at BYU.
The Utes had decent control of the game early, forcing BYU's Lee Cummard and Jonathan Tavernari into atrocious first halves. But even then, the offense wasn't doing enough to give the Utes the kind of lead they probably earned by holding the two stars to 1-for-13 shooting. The Utes led by only two at halftime.
And then, everything went wrong.
The Utes fell asleep right away to start the second half, allowing the Cougars to score three straight easy lay-ups -- two off inbounds passes and another in transition -- to gain some momentum. Within moments, the Cougs were rolling. They outscored the Utes 29-14 over the final 15 1/2 minutes.
"We just weren't paying attention," center Luke Nevill said. "We were moving around, we weren't set up when they ran the plays, so they kind of caught us by surprise."
From then on, it was all Cougars.
The Utes shot only 25.8 percent and scored just 22 points in the second half, including only two in the final 4:21, and suffered one of the worst offensive performances in recent history. For the game, the Utes endured their worst shooting performance of the season -- they hit a meager 29.5 percent -- and scored their fewest points since a 69-43 loss at Air Force two years ago. Nevill grabbed 16 rebounds, but scored only nine points and did not make a basket in the second half.
At one point during a 16-2 Cougar run that decided the game, the Utes committed four of their 15 turnovers on consecutive possessions, with point guard Luka Drca responsible for a couple of them to add to his utterly forgettable night. The junior scored just four points with six turnovers while missing all six three-pointers he attempted, after nearly recording a triple-double in the 94-88 overtime win against the Cougars last month at the Huntsman Center.
"I just think they came out in the second half and dominated us, really," guard Lawrence Borha said. "We didn't play with enough force and passion. I don't think it was anything they did, but it was just us."
And that part, at least, had better change by next week, or the Utes might not be able to fulfill their dream of winning a league championship.
But things certainly have become more interesting.
While the Utes could have put themselves in position for a stress-free final week with a victory, their loss means that the pressure suddenly gets turned way up in their final games at New Mexico and at home against TCU. Winning at New Mexico is never easy, to begin with, and now the Utes will have to play a Lobo team motivated to claim its own piece of the championship -- or maybe even win the whole thing.
And while everybody generally assumes the Utes will beat TCU in the final at home, the environment could wind up much more difficult if the Utes enter that game still needing a victory, and the Horned Frogs decide that spoiling Utah's title hopes is reason enough to play harder than a team just finishing out the string normally would.
"We've got to strap it on," Boylen said. "Nobody's going to give us nothing."
Certainly, nobody did at BYU.
The Utes had decent control of the game early, forcing BYU's Lee Cummard and Jonathan Tavernari into atrocious first halves. But even then, the offense wasn't doing enough to give the Utes the kind of lead they probably earned by holding the two stars to 1-for-13 shooting. The Utes led by only two at halftime.
And then, everything went wrong.
The Utes fell asleep right away to start the second half, allowing the Cougars to score three straight easy lay-ups -- two off inbounds passes and another in transition -- to gain some momentum. Within moments, the Cougs were rolling. They outscored the Utes 29-14 over the final 15 1/2 minutes.
"We just weren't paying attention," center Luke Nevill said. "We were moving around, we weren't set up when they ran the plays, so they kind of caught us by surprise."
From then on, it was all Cougars.
The Utes shot only 25.8 percent and scored just 22 points in the second half, including only two in the final 4:21, and suffered one of the worst offensive performances in recent history. For the game, the Utes endured their worst shooting performance of the season -- they hit a meager 29.5 percent -- and scored their fewest points since a 69-43 loss at Air Force two years ago. Nevill grabbed 16 rebounds, but scored only nine points and did not make a basket in the second half.
At one point during a 16-2 Cougar run that decided the game, the Utes committed four of their 15 turnovers on consecutive possessions, with point guard Luka Drca responsible for a couple of them to add to his utterly forgettable night. The junior scored just four points with six turnovers while missing all six three-pointers he attempted, after nearly recording a triple-double in the 94-88 overtime win against the Cougars last month at the Huntsman Center.
"I just think they came out in the second half and dominated us, really," guard Lawrence Borha said. "We didn't play with enough force and passion. I don't think it was anything they did, but it was just us."
And that part, at least, had better change by next week, or the Utes might not be able to fulfill their dream of winning a league championship.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 7:08 PM |
2 Comments:
Where are all the Curtis Brown hating Ute fans who would never accept comments like Borah's giving no credit to the opponent for the outcome of the game? HYPOCRITES
I'm not sure that comment makes sense. Maybe it needs some punctuation.
At Provo on Saturday, in the Pit on Tuesday? Who made this schedule, Tom Holmoe?
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