A year ago, Idaho State, which was 1-5 at the time, shocked the Runnin’ Utes in one of the most surprising losses in recent memory.
With the Utes’ convincing 12-point win against the Bengals on Saturday night, one might think that Utah was snatching a slice of payback.
However, head coach Jim Boylen said revenge was far from his mind coming into the game.
“I don’t coach like that, no,” Boylen said. “We’re a totally different team than we had last year. If you want to get into retribution in this business, I think it’s a dead end. You’ve got to make your guys better, you’ve got to grow with your team, and every year is different.”
Last season’s loss was the first time Utah had lost to Idaho State in more than 50 years. The Utes got down big early in that game, but battled back to take a second-half lead before eventually losing 72-68, despite 22 points from Luke Nevill. Adding to the disappointment of that loss, the Utes were 5-1 and entered the contest having won five straight.
The loss was perhaps the low point of a disturbing trend of Utah basketball in recent seasons of surprising losses to teams from smaller conferences. During the past two years, the Utes have lost to Southwest Baptist, Seattle University and Weber State in addition to Idaho State.
The Utes appeared to be determined to not let that happen again when they jumped out to a 25-point lead in the first half of Saturday’s game.
Senior guard Luka Drca said one key difference between this season’s matchup and last season’s was the Utes’ ability to get out to the big lead this time, rather than letting the Bengals stick around.
“It was a bad loss,” Drca said of last season’s defeat. “(Tonight) we came out ready to play. Our defense was really good, and when our defense is good, our offense comes around.”
The win continues a positive streak for the Utes to help balance out the negative trend of losing to lower opponents. The Utes have not lost nonconference games to any team in consecutive years in the Boylen era. Last season, Utah avenged 2007-2008 losses with wins against Oregon and Gonzaga. So far this season, the Utes have already atoned for last season’s loss to Utah State. The Utes will have one more chance to extend the streak this season, when they face Oklahoma, which beat them 70-52 last season.
Although revenge might not be the Utes’ mindsets, a double-digit win such as the one the Utes delivered Idaho State would go a long way toward erasing any memory of last season’s drubbing in Oklahoma.