The one good thing about the first-place Runnin’ Utes’ upcoming schedule is that if they can get through the next two weeks, they’ll keep that spot.
On top are three teams that will challenge Utah’s spot as the king of the mountain. Utah will face UNLV (14-4, 2-2 MWC) on Saturday, BYU (14-3, 2-1 MWC) on Tuesday and New Mexico (11-7, 2-1 MWC) on Jan. 31 . All three of these teams are legitimate contenders for the Mountain West Conference crown.
“This is probably one of our most important stretches of the season,” said Ute forward Shaun Green. “All three are really good teams so we know what we’re going up against.”
The Utes have a week to prepare for both UNLV and BYU.
“We’re going to double prep8212;prep for both teams coming up next week,” Green said. “We’re going to watch film and get a good game plan going into both games.”
When the Utes get ready for an upcoming game they don’t make too many changes based on their opponent’s style of play. They virtually run the same defense game in and game out.
Their only change on defense will come if the Utes’ opponent is a 3-point shooting team like Air Force, or a driving and 3-point shooting team like UNLV. They learned to press 3-point shooting teams the hard way early this season when Southwest Baptist dropped 16 shots from beyond the arc.
“We’re going to try and take away the 3s and make them make 2s,” Green said.
Utes center Luke Nevill said he doesn’t match up well with UNLV’s four and five positions. Neither of them play like a true forward and center, preferring to take the jump shot then going down low. This pulls Nevill away from the basket, preventing him from using his length in the paint to stop players from driving.
“It’s tough for me to guard those guys ’cause they’re always moving, always running,” Nevill said. “I’m always running out of the key and not able to protect the rim as much as I’d like.”
The Utes will run their offense according to the style of defense their opponent throws at them. The Utes had to run a zone offense against the Falcons because of the zone defense they played. UNLV, BYU and New Mexico press the ball on the defensive end so the Utes work on handling ball pressure.
Against UNLV, Nevill will have to contend with Darris Santee at 6-feet-8-inches or Joe Darger at 6-feet-7. BYU has two guys taller than 6-feet-10 who see little playing time, and New Mexico doesn’t have a true center. Like many of the teams the Utes have faced this season, these three are small, fast and can shoot well from the perimeter.
It’s the guard positions that need to make things happen for the Utes next week. Utah has three guards averaging around 10 points per game in Tyler Kepkay, Lawrence Borha and Carlon Brown.
Thien SokLuke Nevill faces a tough challenge from UNLV?s frontcourt when the Utes play the Rebels Saturday.