Utah Basketball Falls Apart Late In The Second Half Against Washington
When the going got tough Sunday afternoon against lowly Washington, the Utah men's basketball team just couldn't keep up.
With 2:02 remaining in the game and the Utes leading 77-74 with the ball, Utah committed three turnovers, four fouls, missed its last two shots and was outscored 9-2 over the remainder of the game before eventually falling 83-79.
In no shortage of words, it was an ugly performance by the Utes and one thats needs an explanation for the late-game collapse to a Washington squad that was just 2-11 and 1-7 in the Pac-12 entering the contest.
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak, when speaking with reporters postgame, had a two-word reasoning for the collapse.
"Bad coaching,” he said.
Dec 18, 2020; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes head coach Larry Krystkowiak reacts in the second half against the Idaho Vandals at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
The loss overshadowed another impressive performance by forward Timmy Allen, who's starting to emerge as a legit problem in the Pac-12.
He finished the game shooting just 5-of-15, but didn't let that affect him overall. He posted a near triple-double with 15 points, a career-high 10 assists and seven rebounds, adding one block and one steal for good measure.
“I just know I am glad he is on our team,” Krystkowiak said last week about Allen. “He is a tremendous two-way player. He has really grown, putting time in with his shooting. But he is also a very willing playmaker. … He is bringing leadership to our team, as one of our captains. He is competing. He just hasn’t given up.”
Branden Carlson also turned in one of his best offensive performances of his career when he scored a team-high 18 points, to go along with five rebounds and two blocks. He finished a very efficient 8-of-13 from the field (1-of-1 from beyond the arc), but was disheartened with the loss.
“Every loss is a tough one, no matter if it is a close game or we get blown out by 20 or more,” Carlson, who has scored in double-figures in three of his past four games, said. “Yeah, this one is tough. A lot of players on our team today had great games, and a lot of people stepped up. It sucks that we couldn’t close out the game, but we just gotta continue to improve and not dwell on these losses.”
Jan 9, 2021; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes center Branden Carlson (35) dunks the ball in the second half against the Oregon Ducks at Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
A large reason as to why Utah found the game close in the end was due in part to the play of its bench.
Riley Battin, Ian Martinez and Alfonso Plummer combined for 36 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the floor and 4-of-10 from three-point territory. Martinez was particularly impressive, finishing with eight points, five rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes of action.
Those three more than made up for the ineffective performances by starters Rylan Jones, Pelle Larsson and Mikael Jantunen, combining for just 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Larrson and Jones in particular struggled, combining for three assists and three rebounds, while Larsson had four turnovers and Jones finished with four fouls.
"We would like to have any of the passes back that we threw,” Krystkowiak said. “I don’t think we were in a big hurry when we threw the one out of bounds to Riley (Battin) in transition. We had a lead. We got into the paint, Timmy got stripped. Rylan threw a ball away and Ian threw a ball away. So, that’s what needed to change
Whether it be bad coaching, bad execution or the Utes just not being a good basketball team, the late-game collapse is something that's becoming all too familiar with the program.
Utah will now have a week off to try and regroup before facing Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 30. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network from the CU Events Center in Boulder.
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