Huntsman Center on Saturday, Dec. 7. Photo by Chris Ayers.
Midway through the second half, Wright switched into scorer mode, posting 11 consecutive points to give Utah a 16-point lead. The Utes never looked back and eventually defeated Fresno State 90-77.
“In the first half, I wasn’t trying to score,” Wright said. “I was just trying to get my teammates involved. I would rather have my teammates score than me score.”
What caused his scoring outburst?
“Coach told me to go off the pick and roll one time and it worked, so I did a second time just off of instinct and it worked again,” Wright said. “So I kept attacking. I didn’t even notice I was scoring.”
Wright finished the afternoon with 23 points and 12 assists, both career highs, as he routinely was able to penetrate the Bulldog defense, leading to either layups for himself or for his teammates.
“It feels good to have someone make plays,” said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. “It makes us as coaches look smart.”
The Utes entered Saturday coming off their first loss of the season, and looked like a disinterested group at the beginning of the game. Wright admitted that his team wasn’t as intense as it usually is in pre-game warm-ups, and that led to the sluggish start.
Fresno State’s Marvelle Harris took advantage of Utah’s slow start by scoring 10 of his team’s first 12 points as the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead. They kept that edge through the opening half as the Utes struggled to defend the three-point shot. Fresno hit five threes in the first half and held a 39-32 lead with just under three minutes to go in the stanza.
“They were getting position and wide open shots,” said Utah center Renan Lenz. “Then at the end of the first half, our defense started clicking.”
After being challenged by Krystkowiak during a timeout, the Utes didn’t allow the Bulldogs to score again in the half and went on an 8-0 run to lead 40-39 at the break.
Utah then scored the first six points of the second half to extend its lead, but the Bulldogs did not go quietly as they hit big shots to try to answer the Utes.
Then Wright took over and Fresno had no answer.
“[Fresno State’s] a nice one-on-one team and in our plan, I think we did what we wanted to do,” Krystkowiak said. “Our energy showed up in the second half and we got locked in.”
Six Utah players finished in double figures, illustrating the depth at Krystkowiak’s disposal. In addition to Wright’s 23 points, Lenz scored 15, Jordan Loveridge added 13, Brandon Taylor and Jeremy Olsen had 12 apiece and Dakarai Tucker chipped in 10.
After being replaced early in the first half, starting small forward Princeton Onwas did not play again. Krystkowiak said he went with his gut on the decision and that it wasn’t a punishment. Onwas was ejected in the first half of last Tuesday’s loss at Boise State after being called for a Flagrant 2 foul. Krystkowiak said he thought it helped Onwas to sit and digest the game after the incident.
The Utes will return to action on Tuesday when they welcome Idaho State to the Huntsman Center. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m.