Two games into the season, and already, coach Ray Giacoletti seems to be at the end of his rope.

Why won't his Utes play defense?

It's not as if they don't play hard in practice. They do. But somehow, once they get into the games, they forget they have to guard the guys with the ball. Both Southern Utah and Santa Clara - teams the Utes should be beating - managed to shoot better than 60 percent in startling victories against them, and Giacoletti isn't waiting for the same ugly formula to repeat itself.

He's sending a message by shaking up his lineup.

Guard Chris Grant, forward Ricky Johns and power forward Shaun Green all are headed to the bench, to be replaced by guard Lawrence Borha, and freshman forwards Stephen Weigh and Daniel Deane - both of whom will make their first starts against Colorado at the Huntsman Center on Tuesday night.

Weigh has been an offensive spark off the bench so far, so neither Deane nor Borha should have to worry much about scoring - especially with point guard Johnnie Bryant and center Luke Nevill still in the lineup and averaging 30.5 points between them. So both should be able to concentrate on defense and rebounding, and perhaps help the Utes avoid a third straight season-opening loss for the first time since 1970.

One other development of note: Center David Foster will dress for the Colorado game, suggesting he might not be headed for a redshirt season before leaving on an LDS Church mission. The Utes apparently are not exactly satisfied with the post play that junior forward Misha Radojevic has provided in his backup role so far, so the 7-foot-2 Foster could get a chance for some playing time.

Coach Bill Evans seemed to sense right away what kind of trouble his Southern Utah Thunderbirds might have just caused for colleague Ray Giacoletti with their 76-73 victory over the Utes on opening night.

So, mere minutes into his postgame remarks to reporters, he began offering what sounded like a defense of the coach he had just beaten.

“Coach Giacoletti is a tremendous guy, and does a tremendous job with his team,” Evans said. “He’s got a bunch of young guys. Stephen Weigh is going to be an outstanding kid. Trust me on this one. Johnnie Bryant is only a junior and Luke is young. He’s got a young team, I think he’s done a good job of recruiting, and I think his kids played hard.”

Of course, the Utes aren’t seeing things quite so rosy at the moment. They have a lot of work to do before their next game at Santa Clara next weekend, primarily on defense. The Thunderbirds shot 65 percent against them, and not because they managed a bunch of layups. Many of their shots were at least mid-range jumpers, often without a defender even close to the shooter.

“Once we got over the hump a couple of times, we couldn’t get stops," Giacoletti said. "Couldn’t be disciplined in doing things a certain way” to stop the Thunderbirds. Center Luke Nevill said the Utes lacked intensity. "We need to work on that, and get more pressure," he said.