Utah MBB Ready To Rebound — Literally — From First Loss Of Season

After a shockingly disappointing loss to hated-rival BYU on Saturday night, Utah must do a better job on the glass if the Utes want to bounce back and pick up the victory over Utah Valley

Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak is far too experienced to hit the panic button this early in the season.

After falling to hated-rival BYU 82-64 on Saturday night at the Marriot Center in Provo, Krystkowiak was so impressed with his team that he elected to give them the rest of the weekend off.

“We played so well Saturday night we figured we ought to take Sunday off,” Krystkowiak said with little enthusiasm during a Zoom call with reporters on Monday. “We might have had the best film session in the time I have been here looking at the game film on Sunday. A lot of the things we had breakdowns on, we can fix. … I think our defense is ahead of our offense.”

Utah's primary issues against BYU came down in the paint and on the bench were the Utes exposed. The Utes were thoroughly dominated the Cougars under the basket, being out-rebounded by 16. Their bench was also outscored 41-16, showcasing the Utes' need to for secondary playmakers coming off the bench.

"At the end of the day what really hurt us was being out-rebounded by 16. ... We got a number of stops. Our defense wasn’t that poor," Krystkowiak said postgame. “We gotta make more points than they do. I really liked the fact that we came in, we looked like a well-oiled machine, we were dialed in, rebounding. Then we just had some breakdowns.”

On offense, the Utes simply didn't knock down shots. They got plenty of open looks but shot just 36.4% (24-for-66) from the field and 32.1% (9-for-28). If not for Alfonso Plummer (19 points) and Riley Battin (14 points), it would've even been more of a dismal performance shooting the ball.

“I watched BYU play (seven) games on tape, and the teams that beat them (USC and Boise State) made a bunch of open shots,” Krystkowiak said.

Timmy Allen and Rylan Jones, who combined to score 52 points in last season's 102-95 OT victory over BYU, were largely held in check. It was clear that that the Cougars wanted to take the ball out of their hands or force them into tough shots, which worked.

Allen finished with nine points (3-of-11) and five assists while Jones was held to five points (2-for-10) in one of his worst outings of his career. 

“They struggled because it is called college basketball. ... They struggled because it was a pretty good game plan from the other team,” Krystkowiak said.

Allen, Jones and the Utes will look to rebound from their first loss of the season when they host Utah Valley on Tuesday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

The Wolverines, led by second-year head coach and NBA veteran Mark Madsen, are 2-3 on the season. They have no problem scoring, averaging 79.6 points per game — Utah hasn't scored that many points in a game this season.

Utah Valley is led by 6-foot-11 center Fardaws Aimaq, who's averaging 17.2 points and 15.6 rebounds per game. One of the top rebounders in college basketball, Aimaq shows great instincts and physicality on the glass. 

“We are just going to focus on making contact with (Aimaq) and trying to limit him on the boards, especially the offensive boards,” Utah sophomore center Branden Carlson said. “We have not been rebounding too well the last few games; We are really focusing on being more physical and rebounding as a team instead of just relying on other people to do it.”

With Aimaq gobbling up rebounds, it allows the Wolverines to get out into transition where JJ Overton and Trey Woodbury are lethal. Overton leads the team in scoring with 19.7 ppg on 63.9% shooting from the floor while Woodbury is putting up 19 ppg on 54.5% shooting from beyond the arc. Jordan Brinson is the fourth Wolverine to be averaging double figures, scoring 13.0 ppg.

Apart from rebounding, the Utes will need to get more production out of its bench. Battin scored 14 of Utah's 16 bench points against the Cougars, while Jaxon Brenchley added two points. Freshman Pelle Larsson went into this past weekend averaging 11 points and five assist off the bench, but was held largely in check.

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