LAS VEGAS8212;You have to win the battles if you want to win the war.
The Runnin’ Utes won the little battles en route to winning the war, as they beat Wyoming 68-55 in semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.
All season head coach Jim Boylen has talked about winning the games inside the games, including defense, rebounding, free throw shooting and turnovers.
“You have to defend and rebound this time of year because your offense will come and go,” Boylen said. “I really talked to my guys about defending and rebounding today and yesterday and I think that’s been the difference.”
The Utes were successful in three of the four areas on their way to victory as they out-rebounded, out-shot and committed fewer turnovers than the Cowboys.
Although it looked shaky at times, the Utah defense was successful in keeping the Cowboys from gaining any sort of momentum needed to make a comeback.
Despite having struggled with the Cowboys speed and quickness in the past, the Utes held Wyoming to 34 percent shooting from the field, as the Cowboys only made 17 out of 50 shot attempts, while the Utes shot 47 percent on the game.
“We have a hard time defending Wyoming with speed, quickness and athleticism,” Boylen said. “I thought our guys really scrapped and defended the ball really well, I’m just proud of our effort defensively.”
Holding the Cowboys to a low number of 3-pointers was the main focus of the Utah defense, as Wyoming made 17-37 from behind the arch in the last two match-ups and hit 10 last night in the upset win over New Mexico.
“The things when your playing Wyoming is field goal and 3-point percentage,” Boylen said. “Our focus was to not give them 3s and I thought we did a good job of that. Those are two huge games inside the game that we won.”
As usual, the Utes won the battle on the glass as they pulled down 35 boards and held Wyoming to 31. Luke Nevill was the leading rebounder for the Utes as he grabbed 15 on the night.
While Utah shot well from the foul line, earning 78 percent from the charity stripe as they went 11-for-14, the Utes lost the foul shooting battle as the allowed Wyoming to go to the line 26 times.
Turnovers were another area Boylen has emphasized all season, saying that if his team can give up less than 12 turnovers in any given game they have a shot.
The Utes did just that against Wyoming tonight as they only gave up 11 turnovers, including just four in the second half.
“We had seven turnovers at halftime and 11 at the end of the game and that was a factor as well,” Boylen said.
The win advances the Utes to the championship game against the San Diego State Aztecs to tip-off at 4 pm.
Erik DaenitzLuke Nevill draws a foul on Brandon Ewing. Nevill shot 7-10 from the foul line against Wyoming.