In ancient Greek mythology, if you cut the head off a hydra, another would grow back in its place. The same is proving to be true for the U men’s basketball team and its plethora of problems.
The Utes (7-13, 2-5 MWC) figured out their perimeter defense woes last Saturday, holding sharp-shooting San Diego State to 0-for-7 from the three-point range. But the Utes couldn’t take care of the ball on offense, committing a season-high 21 turnovers on their way to a 63-53 loss.
“You can’t turn the ball over 21 times in a possession game like that and expect to win,” U coach Ray Giacoletti said. “I wish there was something more I could say; you just can’t turn the ball over 21 times.”
Despite their problems, the Utes still held a 40-29 lead with just more than 15 minutes left in the game. But with center Luke Nevill in foul trouble and the rest of the supporting cast hitting a cold spell from the field, the U went on a scoring drought, hitting only 2-for-17 from the field in the final 15 minutes.
“They rushed us a little bit, but I take the blame on that because I took a couple of bad shots,” said Utah guard Johnnie Bryant. “I should have told the team to take good looks and be patient on offense.”
On the other side of the court, San Diego State wasted no time taking advantage of the mishaps, scoring 34 of the next 47 points to end the game.
“I don’t really know what was wrong,” U forward Shaun Green said. “I guess you could say we got a little too relaxed and just weren’t executing well enough, like we should have been.”
The Utes were able to hold high-profile shooting guard Brandon Heath to merely 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but the Aztec role-players picked up the slack. Junior forward Jerome Habel pitched in 17 points and an impressive reverse alley-oop dunk to lead San Diego State in the winning effort.
Aztec coach Steve Fisher, who came into the game 2-13 against the Utes’ all-time, thought his defense was the key to victory.
“I thought we collectively guarded as well as we have any time this year,” Fisher said. “It was a wonderful win for us, an important win. You have to find a way to win and we did that.”
The victory snaps a two-game slide for the Aztecs, as they had previously lost to Air Force and UNLV.
Meanwhile, the Utes had been finding ways to win lately-albeit through taking care of the ball or shooting 70 percent from the field. They did neither against San Diego State, committing 21 turnovers and shooting a paltry 37.3 percent.
Nevill, who played only 22 minutes, was perfect from the floor when he did shoot. But the 7-foot-1 Aussie only got four shots off in the game, finishing with 11 points and two rebounds.
Johnnie Bryant tried to carry the team in Nevill’s stead, shooting 4-for-8 from behind the three-point line to finish the game with a team-high 18 points. But his efforts weren’t enough to overcome the multitude of mistakes, and the Utes fell for the first time in three games.
Bryant and the rest of the team won’t have too much time to sulk about their latest mishap, as they return to play this Wednesday at home against red-hot BYU.