Lots of things went right for the Runnin’ Utes in the first 13 minutes of their game Thursday night against the Cal Bears. Their methodical offense was producing and they outrebounded Cal 15-10. The Bears were certainly helping Utah’s cause, as they shot just 32 percent from the field during the stretch. The result was an eight-point Utes advantage, 22-14.
As good as that stretch was, the final 27 minutes were absolutely disastrous for Utah, as it fell 64-46 on the road. The 46 points the Utes produced were a season low, as was their shooting percentage. Utah made just 29 percent of its buckets.
“I thought it was definitely a capable win and for the outcome, the score to be what it was, it’s disappointing,” said point guard Glen Dean on the ESPN 700 postgame show. Dean finished with six points and one assist.
Utah went scoreless over the last six minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second as the Bears opened up a 40-24 lead before a Dakarai Tucker fast-break layup ended the long drought.
“We lost our poise and made some careless passes with the ball and let them get out in transition and get some easy, easy baskets,” Dean said of the end of the first half. “I think if we just keep our composure and don’t turn the ball over like we did, we have a different story.”
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak also pointed to his team’s turnovers as the reason for the momentum shift. Cal scored 15 points off Utah’s eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes. The Utes turned the ball over 11 times in the game.
“That sucks the life out of you,” Krystkowiak said on the postgame show. “Those turnovers suck the life out of you. You can’t defend them. It got the crowd involved, got them going, just disrupted us.”
As if things weren’t already bad, they only got worse after Tucker’s layup. Cal secured seven offensive rebounds in the second half and led by as many as 22. Utah shot just 26 percent in the second half, as it missed many wide open shots.
“It’s somewhat of a recipe for disaster when you have a combination of turning it over and then when you’re getting open looks they’re not going in,” Krystkowiak said. “It kind of compounds the issue.”
Cal’s Allen Crabbe led all scorers with 15 points to go along with 11 rebounds, while Jordan Loveridge led the Utes with just nine points. Indicative of the way the game played out, Loveridge went scoreless in the second half. The defeat was the Utes’ third consecutive and they still have not eclipsed last year’s three victories in Pac-12 play. The Bears have now won six straight.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Utes, as next up is a Sunday matinee against Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. Utah fell to the Cardinal by 31 on Jan. 27 in its worst performance of the season.
“We got to remember this feeling that we have right now and take that feeling and remind us going into Sunday that we don’t want that feeling at the end of the game,” Dean said. “We need to go into practice tomorrow and the next day prepping for Stanford and get focused for the game Sunday.”
The contest will tipoff at 3 p.m. and will air on the Pac-12 Networks.