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Utah's Comeback Comes Up Short, Falls 73-66 To Stanford

Despite jumping out to a 14-4 lead early on, the Utah wasn't able to find much offense the rest of the game as its three-game winning streak came to an end against Stanford on Saturday night
Ryan Kostecka|
Utah's Comeback Comes Up Short, Falls 73-66 To Stanford
Utah's Comeback Comes Up Short, Falls 73-66 To Stanford

It's one thing to compete without your starting point guard when you have a nuclear weapon always ready to pull the trigger off the bench.

But it's quite another when your ultimate glue guy becomes unavailable to play as well, thus knocking out two starters fro your typical rotation.

Finding a way to win under that scenario proved extremely difficult as Utah, playing without starters in point guard Rylan Jones and forward Mikael Jantunen, had its three-game winning streak snapped following their 73-66 loss to Stanford on Saturday night.

“The game was kind of a tale of two halves,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “We got off to a great start, had an awful lot of energy. We were defending, made baskets, and then we went through that dry spell at the end of the first half, which was a little bit of a combination of missing some open looks and they put an awful lot of pressure on us. I thought we got sped up.”

The Utes were able to overcome the absence of Jones when they faced off with Cal on Thursday night, and that's because they still had Alfonso Plummer available. But with Jantunen unavailable — expected to miss the next few weeks to play for Finland at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier — the Utes' lack of depth really shown through.

“We gotta control what we can control, and we are focused on the guys who are suiting up for us every night,” forward Timmy Allen said, not allowing the loss of two starters to be used as an excuse for the defeat.

Allen's correct as Utah came out firing to begin the game, jumping out to a 14-4 lead following eight early points from Plummer and a steal and score by Ian Martinez.

Unfortunately that's where things began to fall apart for the Utes as the Cardinal found their own rhythm on offense thanks to some timely deep shooting. That combined with the defense forced Utah to struggle on offense as Stanford rattled off a 30-8 run the rest of the half.

“They took us out of our offense more in this game than they did at home,” Allen said. “Their defensive game plan was pretty similar, besides the fact that they pressured us more to get us out of our offense. And that caused us to be stagnant.”

Utah trailed 56-40 with 9:21 remaining in the game before making one last run to get back into. Following a Martinez dunk and Riley Battin three-pointer, Plummer added an and-one to cap off an 8-0 run and make it an eight-point game with 6:08 to play.

After the hot stretch, the Utes went scoreless for the next two minutes while Stanford rebounded with a 5-0 run.

Trailing by 14 with 3:45 left, Utah gave it one last ditch effort and was able to cut the deficit to six, 70-64, with 32 seconds remaining following a Plummer three-pointer. After Stanford missed the front end of a one-and-one, Martinez's three-pointer was off the mark on the ensuing possession, thus ending the game.

“I was pleased that we finished the game the way that we did, with some energy and making some plays. We certainly made it interesting,” Krystkowiak said.

After a quiet first half, Allen was able to finish with a team-high 18 points, adding in eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, but also committed five turnovers as he took a much larger ball-handling role with Jones and Jantunen out.

“I think Timmy played a good floor game,” Krystkowiak said. “They doubled us down in the block and he made some nice passes. There just weren’t as many opportunities for him as in a normal game.”

With Jantunen gone, Branden Carlson had to step up as the primary rebounder for the Utes and he responded with one of the best games of his career. He finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, adding in one steal and one block as well.

Plummer was the only other Ute in double figures, scoring 14 points on 3-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Riley Battin finished with seven points in place on Jantunen, but only added one rebound.

Stanford finished with four players in double figures, led by Spencer Jones' 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point territory. 

According to Krystkowiak, Jantunen will miss the next few weeks competing and going through COVID-19 protocols but is expected back in time for the Pac-12 tournament, set to begin on March 10. The decision for him to leave was set in stone long before it became an issue as the COVID-19 pandemic forced a different schedule compared to normal.

“This goes back to when we originally recruited Miki,” Krystkowiak said. “It was always going to be a promise made on my part that he could take part in all the (Finnish) national team events. … Any other year, it doesn’t have that impact. There have been a lot of discussions and it kinda came down to the wire with the direction that we went.”

Utah will now enter its toughest stretch of the season when it plays five games over a 10-day span, beginning with Oregon State in Corvallis on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

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