Utes Take Care of Business at Home
Sure, we can quibble about another unspectacular start. We can question a defense that allows 50 percent shooting on its home floor to the worst team in the league. We can even wonder what the hell happened to point guard Luka Drca's free-throw shooting (he has missed his last six straight).
But all of that would be missing the point.
The Utes easily avoided what would have been a crushing loss today, locking down on Air Force after halftime for 74-59 victory that stretched their homecourt winning streak to nine games. And that was the most important thing, because the victory also kept the Utes on top of the Mountain West Conference with just five games to play, and helped stir increasing talk about reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years.
"We've talked about it," forward Shaun Green said. "Coach has said that he has started talking about winning a little bit more. But to get to the NCAA Tournament, we know that we have to take it one game at a time and we have to win ... the games that we're supposed to win. We can't have any more slip-ups, and I think this team is confident and ready to make that next step, to get to the NCAA Tournament."
For a little while, it looked sketchy.
The Utes once again came out with a not-so-great first half, allowing the worst shooting team in the league, riding an 11-game losing streak, to come onto their floor and make four of their first five three-pointers and shoot 56 percent before halftime. "I knew this team was going to come in and be ready to play," coach Jim Boylen said. "I didn't think we did a good job defending the three in the first half."
But as has become practically a tradition lately, the Utes turned everything around after hearing from Boylen at halftime.
"He was kind of intense," Green said. "But we deserved it."
Responded to it, too.
After falling behind by three in the opening moments of the second half, the Utes forced turnovers on six straight Air Force possessions, and guard Lawrence Borha erupted for nine straight points to ignite an 18-1 run that all but sealed the game. Borha finished with a season-high 22 points (including a career-high five three-pointers), while center Luke Nevill added 18 and seven rebounds.
"When you're feeling good, you're feeling good," Borha said.
Coach Boylen did not go so far as to say his Utes had overlooked the Falcons or were not ready to play at the start, but acknowledged that they forgot "to strap it on and play. I thought we were just kind of … tentative. Kind of respectful. Kind of, 'OK, we'll just play, and everything will work out.' We can't be that way."
The Utes made sure it all worked out, however.
They shot an astonishing 71 percent in the second half, and held Air Force to just 12 points in the first 14½ minutes of the second half, by which point they led by 18 and had control.
"Tonight Utah would have beaten a lot of teams shooting 70 percent," Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. "You can pick your poison when you have Nevill, then Borha, then Green. ... I thought early on we controlled the tempo, I think later on they just wore us down."
But all of that would be missing the point.
The Utes easily avoided what would have been a crushing loss today, locking down on Air Force after halftime for 74-59 victory that stretched their homecourt winning streak to nine games. And that was the most important thing, because the victory also kept the Utes on top of the Mountain West Conference with just five games to play, and helped stir increasing talk about reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years.
"We've talked about it," forward Shaun Green said. "Coach has said that he has started talking about winning a little bit more. But to get to the NCAA Tournament, we know that we have to take it one game at a time and we have to win ... the games that we're supposed to win. We can't have any more slip-ups, and I think this team is confident and ready to make that next step, to get to the NCAA Tournament."
For a little while, it looked sketchy.
The Utes once again came out with a not-so-great first half, allowing the worst shooting team in the league, riding an 11-game losing streak, to come onto their floor and make four of their first five three-pointers and shoot 56 percent before halftime. "I knew this team was going to come in and be ready to play," coach Jim Boylen said. "I didn't think we did a good job defending the three in the first half."
But as has become practically a tradition lately, the Utes turned everything around after hearing from Boylen at halftime.
"He was kind of intense," Green said. "But we deserved it."
Responded to it, too.
After falling behind by three in the opening moments of the second half, the Utes forced turnovers on six straight Air Force possessions, and guard Lawrence Borha erupted for nine straight points to ignite an 18-1 run that all but sealed the game. Borha finished with a season-high 22 points (including a career-high five three-pointers), while center Luke Nevill added 18 and seven rebounds.
"When you're feeling good, you're feeling good," Borha said.
Coach Boylen did not go so far as to say his Utes had overlooked the Falcons or were not ready to play at the start, but acknowledged that they forgot "to strap it on and play. I thought we were just kind of … tentative. Kind of respectful. Kind of, 'OK, we'll just play, and everything will work out.' We can't be that way."
The Utes made sure it all worked out, however.
They shot an astonishing 71 percent in the second half, and held Air Force to just 12 points in the first 14½ minutes of the second half, by which point they led by 18 and had control.
"Tonight Utah would have beaten a lot of teams shooting 70 percent," Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. "You can pick your poison when you have Nevill, then Borha, then Green. ... I thought early on we controlled the tempo, I think later on they just wore us down."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 6:06 PM |
1 Comments:
Well.....I am glad Boylen is proving me wrong! Must win at CSU, must!!!!
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