After suffering an 18-point loss at home to Oregon, the Runnin’ Utes have been on a roll and are currently riding a five-game winning streak, but they don’t want it to end there.
The team seems to be hitting on all cylinders after taking down Stanford 96-74 Saturday evening in a game where the Utes shot 59.6 percent from the floor. In addition to that, they were 76.2 percent from the free throw line and 47.1 percent from three-point range.
Although the offensive stats read well, another one that stands out is turnovers — Utah turned the ball over 15 times. While things could have been much worse, the Cardinal got nine points off of them, and this is one offensive aspect the team will be working on this week.
While it seems like the team has been invested in scoring, it has never been the main focus for any one of the players. The team’s been zeroing in on its defensive play ever since that 18-point loss at the Huntsman.
By paying more attention to guarding and not letting the opposing team get any baskets, players and coaches are confident that their offense will come naturally and they won’t need to think about it too much.
Head coach Larry Krystkowiak has always been a defense-first type coach, so to see his team buy into that concept makes it all the easier to ready his players for games.
“If we continue to guard, it’s a pretty high-power group offensively,” Krystkowiak said. “If you’re committed to playing defense and guarding, then good things will happen. It’s happened in our practice setting and it’s happened with the last opponents that we’ve played. Our guys are getting the sense that the coach isn’t crazy.”
Something else Krystkowiak has noticed in his team is that the Utes are enjoying the minutes they get on the court more so than they did at the beginning of conference play and he is sure it is because of their defensive mindset. The players are going into the games with a positive attitude and even if they get off to a slow start offensively they know they can make it up on the other end of the court.
“If you actually get down and get your matchups and have the game plan and focus on that, the game is a lot more fun, and certainly when you win it’s good medicine,” Krystkowiak said.
Brandon Taylor thinks the team is hitting its stride at just the right moment: in the middle of conference play. However, he sees plenty of room for improvement and hopes they can continue playing like this not only for the nine remaining games left on the schedule, but for postseason play as well.
In the mean time, Taylor will focus on the team aspect and will be looking for the best option on the court, whether or not he’s scoring points. This is something he did against Stanford, when he scored 15 points and recorded four assists.
“I just took what they gave to me,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t really trying to force anything, just taking what they give to me and going out there and making plays as much as I could.”
When the team gets back to the gym, Krystkowiak is certain they will be ready to go and eager to get a couple more wins on the road this week. His team is playing with a bit more confidence after a shaky start to conference play, but he needs them to stay humble and hungry moving forward.
“My goal has always been to be playing the best basketball at the right time of year,” Krystkowiak said. “Whether you talk about trend or whatever it might be, I think we’ve improved as the season’s gone on and it’s important that we keep that focus and challenge ourselves to do the same thing.”
The team travels to Oregon this week and faces Oregon State on Thursday night and Oregon on Sunday.
@kbrenneisen