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'Scared' Utah Disappoints On The Court Against Oregon State

Not the effort Utah was looking for, the Utes completely dropped the ball in the second half against Oregon State. Despite 40 points from Timmy Allen and Branden Carlson, Utah fell 74-56 to the Beavers on Thursday night
Ryan Kostecka|
'Scared' Utah Disappoints On The Court Against Oregon State
'Scared' Utah Disappoints On The Court Against Oregon State

It's crazy what a difference one week makes.

Last week against Cal, Utah narrowly avoided the upset to secure the one-point victory, marking its third consecutive victory. The Utes looked poised to make a serious run at a top-four spot in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament and like a team nobody in the conference wanted to play.

Now in the present and two games removed from that victory over the Golden Bears, the Utes looks like a team 'scared' to be on the court and reach their full potential.

A 23-2 second-half run by Oregon State ultimately proved to be Utah's undoing as they fell 74-56 to the Beavers on Thursday night in Corvallis. 

“You are at the point of the season right now where we are all trying to get to the finish line, and I thought we had a scared look on our face,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "At times looked scared."

Timmy Allen continues to shine despite the limitations of his teammates after finishing with 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor. With point guard Rylan Jones out injured, Allen has taken over the playmaking duties as he continuously found his teammates in good sports that they just couldn't convert.

Branden Carlson was the other Ute who played well, finishing with 16 points and three rebounds. He was able to overcome foul trouble in the first half to play to play second fiddle to Allen and keep Utah in the game.

Utah was undone by 20 turnovers, many which were self-inflicted and none bigger than the ones that occurred in the second half.

“When we actually executed, which we did very little, we did coming out of the second half, you know, we screened (and flourished),” Krystkowiak said. “You are only going to be as strong as your weakest link as an offensive and defensive unit.”

“Our margin for error isn’t big enough to be able to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Allen said. “I gotta take that one on the chin and just get better. We aren’t going to win every one, but we can’t beat ourselves. So that is the main message coming out of this game.”

The first half was a complete slog by both teams. 

Utah shot just 36% from the floor, but was able to stay afloat and trail by just six as the defense got after the Beavers by holding them to 38% shooting from the floor.

The Utes then came out hot in the second half, going on a 10-0 run to take a 37-32 lead. Riley Battin knocked down a three-pointer before Carlson scored seven straight to give the Utah the lead, and more importantly the momentum.

But the momentum was fleeting as Oregon State rattled off a 23-2 run over the next 10 minutes, as the Utes missed eight consecutive shots and turned the ball over six times. 

“We just kinda stopped playing like we were. We were playing good and playing together. After that, we just let them get into us a bit, let them go on runs, didn’t make our shots, and didn’t pass the ball, just a lot of things,” Carlson said.

"Offensively, it was a struggle," Krystkowiak said. "And that was the key. When we call audibles and we try to do things and we look sloppy and turn the ball over, we struggled.”

Utah had just five players score in the game as Lahat Thioune came off the bench to finish with six points on on 3-of-4 shooting in 16 minutes. 

Alfonso Plummer and Riley Battin, inserted into the starting lineup in place of Jones and Mikael Jantunen, finished with a combined 10 points on 3-of-19 shooting, 2-of-14 from beyond the arc in a combined 63 minutes.

Ethan Thompson was sensational for the Beavers, finishing with 25 points, eight assists, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks. The absence of Jones, Utah's premier defensive guard, allowed Thompson to pretty much do whatever he wanted on the offense end. 

Warith Alatishe added 19 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals while Jarod Lucas chipped in 10 points.

“Life is going to be hard. Winning a basketball game is going to be hard, and I thought we thought it was going to be easier, and we weren’t committed to working together offensively to get better shots,” Krystkowiak said. “We had a couple guys step up, but beyond that it was definitely ineffective. You are only going to be as strong as your weakest link as an offensive and defensive unit.”

The Utes return to action on Saturday when they face Oregon, the hottest team in the Pac-12 who's coming off a victory over Colorado on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

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