MBB: Utah blasted by the Beavers
Another game. ... Another cold shooting night. ... Another loss.
For Utah on Thursday night in Corvallis, it was a "wash, rinse, repeat" sort of game as the Utes struggled massively on offense in their 70-51 loss to Oregon State.
Utah was held to just 19 points in the first half — its lowest output of the season — and putting them in a 16-point hole at the halfway point that they could never recover from.
“You can’t score 19 points in a half, and we were in a little bit of a funk offensively and as is the case, there is a different storyline every game,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “This one was a little new to us. I thought we played plenty hard on defense, but we forgot to really play with an edge to us on offense.
Branden Carlson continued his hot streak as the only Ute to play well offensively. He finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, going 5-of-9 from the floor. Timmy Allen struggled on offense, but still finished with eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“We didn’t play hard enough on offense, certainly in the first half. ... I thought we got complacent," Krystkowiak said. "Some multiple defenses, we did a lot of standing, a lot of standing on the perimeter. Second half, I thought we moved, we cut without the ball, played together."
Utah looked like a completely different team than the one that defeated Oregon State 81-69 to kick off Pac-12 play in early January.
In the first half, Utah struggled by shooting just 29.6% from the field. ... But couldn't even get the easy points as the Utes went 1-for-6 from the charity stripe. The second half was a bit better as the Utes were only outscored 35-32, as the deficit reached 20 with just under four to go.
For the game, Utah finished 19-of-51 (37.3%) from the floor, 5-of-19 (26.3%) and 8-of-16 (50%) from the free throw line.
The Utes will now look to rid themselves of their road woes when they face No. 17 Oregon, who is coming off a victory over No. 16 Colorado, on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. MST from Matthew Knight Arena.