On Monday, the No. 17 Runnin’ Utes were back at practice following their loss to Washington over the weekend. According to head coach Larry Krystkowiak, there were a number of things that went wrong in Seattle, and he doesn’t want to hear any excuses for his team’s effort.
“However you want to diagnose it and try to explain it, it’s pretty much irrelevant,” Krystkowiak said. “Everybody has a story this time of year and what they’re facing and coming off of.”
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Utah is coming off of a loss heading into the Pac-12 tournament, where the Utes will play their first game on Thursday night. While its opponent will be decided in a Wednesday night tilt between Stanford and the Huskies, Krystkowiak needs to shore some things up with his own team before worrying about who it will be playing.
Admitting to having a plethora of issues that the Utes need to work on prior to their first tournament game, Krystkowiak believes that their is a rather simple solution heading into Vegas.
“It’s not that complicated,” he said. “We don’t need a shrink, we don’t need a big, Yogi Berra simplistic definition of it either, let’s just play harder.”
Three-point contest
For much of the season, Utah guard Brandon Taylor was on a tear, leading the Pac-12 in three-point field goal percentage. However, thanks to a recent shooting slump, Taylor’s percentage has dropped to 42.7 percent in conference play from behind the arc. While the mark is still more-than-respectable, the mark slides Taylor down to sixth in the conference.
But while one Ute has stumbled, another has picked up the slack and teammate Jordan Loveridge now lays claim to being the best three-point shooter in the Pac-12, sitting at the top of the list with a 45.1 shooting percentage. While Taylor is happy that a Ute still sits at the top, he had a different plan for the rest of the season.
“I was shooting to be first all season, but it is what it is,” Taylor said. “Still have the Vegas-tournament to shoot lights out.”
This team has shown its shooting prowess in spurts, as a number of Utes have had hot shooting nights throughout the season. But if there was a hypothetical three-point contest among the Utah players, there’s another player that wants to throw his name into the ring.
“I’m winning that thing,” fan-favorite Austin Eastman said. “Against everyone, I’m winning it.”
Wright snubbed?
When the Pac-12 awards were released on Monday morning, many expected Delon Wright’s name to appear as the Player of the Year. Instead, there was a small shock as coaches voted Oregon’s Joseph Young as the league MVP, and some Ute fans took to social media to let some anger out. One person who was irked by the decision more than most was none other than Wright’s older brother, Dorell.
Shortly after the announcement was made, Dorell Wright went to his official Twitter page to tweet out, “Lol still disrespecting the bro I see.”
That was the first of a string of tweets that Dorell Wright sent out, most of them showing support for his younger brother.
In Krystkowiak’s Monday morning press conference, the head coach was given the news for the first time that his point guard did not win the accolade. At first glance, he seemed a little bit shocked, but then went on to say how Young was “deserving” of the award.
“Terrific offensive player for a team that I think exceeded a lot of expectations,” Krystkowiak said.
@GriffDoug