In the NCAA Tournament, it’s all about survival.
Just ask Arkansas-Little Rock, who pulled off the biggest upset inside the Pepsi Center, and maybe the entire tournament, on Thursday, March 17, after clawing and fighting its way through regulation and two overtimes to get the win. Oh, and the Trojans were trailing by 14 points with just five minutes to go in regulation.
While this case is hardly comparable to that of Utah, who sits as a No. 3 seed and was expected to cruise through its opening round matchup with Fresno State, the principle is still the same — survive and advance.
At times, the Utes looked far superior to the Bulldogs, who couldn’t seem to grab a rebound, not only over Ute seven-footer Jakob Poeltl but over any Utah player, for that matter. At any moment, it seemed as if Utah could take over this game, but midway through the second half, things got a little dicey.
After Fresno State’s Julien Lewis hit a three-pointer to put his team up by one point, the Bulldogs’ first and only lead of the game, momentum shifted, and the Utes were on the verge of becoming the next victim of March Madness.
Sometimes though, coaches know best, and while many would have called a timeout in that situation, Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak didn’t. It was a gut feeling, and he wasn’t even sure what was going to happen, but the Utah play that followed shows how in tune Krystkowiak is with his players, especially the seniors.
“I’ve never been a big fan,” Krystkowiak said after the game. “They had the lead for 33 seconds of the game. I don’t like to call a timeout and let them have the lead for two and a half more minutes during the timeout. I was real curious how we were going to respond.”
Luckily for him, the Utes couldn’t have responded in a better way. First, a Lorenzo Bonam jumper gave them the lead right back, and that’s how it would remain the rest of the way. Utah put together a 19-2 run after losing the lead for just 33 seconds, putting to rest any talk of a second Cinderella team in Denver on Thursday.
Krystkowiak had to be happy with that response by his players, but let’s remember what got them in that situation—sloppy play. The Utes turned the ball over 20 times against the Bulldogs, who took advantage to the tune of 28 points, a statistic that would make any head coach sweat as much as Arizona’s Sean Miller was in Arizona’s opening-round loss on Thursday. (If you haven’t seen that picture on the Internet, go see it. He was drenched.)
But there’s one difference between Utah and Miller’s Wildcats, the Utes will be playing again on Saturday and that’s all that matters.
Sure, it wasn’t the best game in terms of taking care of the rock, but the players know that and realize they have a lot to work on before squaring off against No. 11 Gonzaga, who beat Seton Hall in the late game at the Pepsi Center. Just ask senior point guard Brandon Taylor.
“We had way too many,” Taylor said. “I’ll be better next game, but thank the Lord we have another game to fix that problem.”
While everything is supposed to come together during this time of the year, it didn’t for the Utes on Thursday night. However, that doesn’t mean they are in trouble for the next round. The point of the tournament is to survive and advance, not destroy every team in your path on your way to a national championship. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a champion in recent memory who didn’t struggle against one team or another on their way to the crown.
There will be ugly games, like the Utah win over Fresno State. But so long as you get that W in a time where upsets reign supreme, that’s truly all that matters during this madness.
@GriffDoug