In the Round of 32 on Saturday, March 19, the Runnin’ Utes will take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Pepsi Center.
The Utes are coming off an 80-69 win against Fresno State, and Gonzaga took down Seton Hall 68-52 in the following game. Utah is aware of all the changes it needs to make ahead of the game, one being turnovers.
In recent practices, the guards have been working on keeping it simple. They don’t need to do anything fancy — they just need to do a better job taking care of the ball, and things should fall into place from there. Point guard Brandon Taylor thinks that as long as the play of the backcourt improves from the last two outings and they aren’t so careless with the ball, the entire court will open for every Ute player.
“At the end of the day, if we want to continue to move on in this tournament, we have to control our pace, and we have to take care of the ball,” Taylor said. “That means being fundamentally sound and getting back to the basics of basketball. It starts with the guards taking care of the ball. If we can dial that in, we’ll be in good shape.”
Although the Utes are always focused on playing the game as a team, Taylor is aware of a few things he can do to help Utah get a win. He needs to be ready to shoot and, again, he needs to have a better handle on the ball.
“I think that’s one of the main things in this tournament for me, to be aggressive and be tight with the basketball,” Taylor said.
Utah has now had back-to-back games with 20 turnovers and knows this won’t cut it against a team like Gonzaga, even with the Bulldogs being an 11-seed. One of the main focuses this season for the Utes has been how they prepare for opposing teams and what they can do to limit them instead of just focusing on how they can score.
This defensive mindset has typically worked to Utah’s favor, and it’s because the players have bought into it that it’s working. Head coach Larry Krystkowiak can’t predict what is going to happen on Saturday night, but it is on him to give his players the best opportunity to win.
“The thing that we focus on is getting our guys prepared,” Krystowiak said. “That’s where I’ve gained a great fondness for our team, is we prepare them. You try to have a game plan. They’ve done a tremendous job executing that game plan.”
Part of the game plan entails figuring out ways to stop Domantas Sabonis, who stands at 6-foot-11, and fellow big man Kyle Wiltjer. Against Seton Hall, these two players combined for 34 points and 23 rebounds.
While Gonzaga matches up pretty well with Utah’s players, this does not faze Jakob Poeltl. He is expecting a tough game, but he also has complete faith in the Utah coaching staff and what they have in store for Utah’s overall offensive and defensive gameplan.
“I think we have a pretty good idea of what’s going to be expected from us before almost every game in our season,” Poeltl said. “Our coaches do a tremendous job of scouting our opponents.”
Game time is set for 6:40 p.m. MT.
@kbrenneisen