The U basketball team’s offense never looked so bad this season as it did against BYU on Monday night.
A season-high 23 turnovers destroyed any chance for the Utes to defeat the Cougars, and the offense was completely stagnant throughout the game.
“We have [been stagnant on offense] in the past and we have gotten away with it,” U center Tim Frost said. “Yesterday, we were not moving at all, and we paid for it.”
The offensive play was all-too similar to the Utes’ first-half play against the Cougars earlier in the season.
But in that game, the Utes turned it around and exploded in the second half, while in Monday night’s game, the stagnation of the offense never ceased.
“We were just playing back on our heels and weren’t aggressive,” Frost said.
“I know we have done it in the past, but this time we were awful.”
The offense consisted of moving the ball around the perimeter with no real plan of action to attack the basket in any way.
Then, when the shot clock was down to 10 seconds, the Utes tried to scramble with a screen or two and then attempted desperation shots.
That is too much one-on-one play for a team that lives by an offensive philosophy based on passing the ball.
“We just stood around and didn’t do anything,” Frost said.
“We tried to get the ball inside and we did, but we just weren’t a threat offensively because we didn’t move the ball well enough.”
Not only did the Utes have an inactive offense, but several of their passes in the first half were lazy, which led to easy fast-break points for BYU.
“The players just didn’t care to meet the ball,” Frost said.
The easy fast-break points were some of the reasons for the explosion midway through the first half.
BYU went on a 19-2 run to close the half with a seven-point lead that they would never relinquish.
The run was the key point in the game, and the Utes gave up the flurry of Cougar points because of the immobilization of the offense, along with unforced turnovers.
“Besides the turnovers, guys just stood around,” Frost said. “When you have one or two guys standing around, then the whole offense goes bad.”
U head coach Kerry Rupp said after the game that it was a case of bad preparation for the pressure that was going to be thrown at them, but Frost disagrees.
“I think coach Rupp did a good job getting us prepared, but it’s on the players when you have 23 turnovers,” Frost said.
BYU fed off its crowd and really pressured the Ute ball-handlers.
Cougar guards Kevin Woodberry and Mike Hall were responsible for many of the loose balls.
“In this conference, they are not even one of the best teams that pressures the ball, but for some reason, we had problems,” Frost said. “We should have been able to handle it because we have done it before.”
The Utes will have to live with their mistakes and will probably go into the conference tournament with the third seed.
“We know we are a good team,” Frost said.
“Everybody was upset about the game, but I think we are a young but mature team and everyone will be ready to go for practice tomorrow.”
The defense has been the staple of the team throughout the season, but the inconsistent offense has been the Utes’ downfall.
Lack of discipline on offense, along with laziness, has given the Utes problems in many of their games, but Monday it really came back to bite them.
