Less than 24 hours after the Utes suffered a 67-63 overtime loss to No. 4 Arizona, they were back on the practice court trying to put their most recent heartbreak behind them.
Head coach Larry Krystkowiak has complimented his team throughout the season on the resiliency they have shown, but just hours after the defeat, the memories were still fresh.
“We had opportunities that we missed, and you just wish you could have those back,” says sophomore forward Jordan Loveridge.
Loveridge wasn’t the only Ute to let chances slip away. Fellow sophomore Brandon Taylor was clearly haunted by the three free throws he missed in overtime.
“You don’t want to be that person who could have made a difference in a game,” he said. “You don’t want to feel the way I felt last night. I felt disgusted and all sorts of feelings that just weren’t good. I couldn’t fight it. Some of those are still lingering around.”
Taylor admits that when he got up to the line he thought about everything that could have gone wrong.
“When you think like that, it’s bound to happen,” he says.
Even with the loss still weighing on them heavily, Taylor and Loveridge made it clear that they are trying not to focus on the past but instead looking forward to the future.
“I can’t sit here and think about it all day,” Taylor says. “I am not going to get anywhere, I can’t change anything. I wish things would have worked out differently, but sometimes stuff happens, and I’m a firm believer [that] everything happens for a reason.”
With a few days in between games, the Utes could have taken a lighter day, but Krystkowiak felt a hard practice would better serve his team. He hopes doing well in practice will start to ease the pain from Wednesday night.
“Fresh off some of the stuff last night, guys may be feeling down, but for me it’s no different than if we won,” he says. “It’s all about the journey, about trying to get better. This isn’t the ‘feel sorry for yourself’ time of year. What we have in front of us is pretty easy to improve on. It’s time to get back in the saddle and try it again.”
The Utes will get another try on Sunday when they welcome Arizona State. The Sun Devils are currently tied for fourth in the conference and in position for an opening round bye in next month’s Pac-12 tournament. Arizona State was upended by Colorado on Wednesday 61-52 and will be hungry for a win.
“I think it would have been easier for us if they had beat at Colorado, but now it will be tougher, and I’ll have to kind of shutdown my brother, if I can,” says junior center Dallin Bachynski.
This game will hold a special meaning to Bachynski as it will be the last time he gets to play his brother Jordan at the collegiate level. His parents and family are expected to make the trip to Salt Lake to watch the two brothers clash. Sitting in a sea of Utah fans who are all hoping for a specific outcome, Bachynski says he thinks his family will be singing a slightly different tune come game time.
“I think they will be cheering for him since this is the last time that we will play,” he says.
The Utes will tip off against Arizona on Sunday at 6 p.m.
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