The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Men’s Basketball: Daniels making an impact

Mens+Basketball%3A+Daniels+making+an+impact

Although Devon Daniels is only a freshman, he doesn’t look the part in his coach’s eyes.

Playing in their first road game of the season, and playing against one of the top teams in the country in No. 13 Xavier, head coach Larry Krystkowiak thinks his team handled the pressure fairly well, especially Daniels.

When the team was competing in Cincinnati, Ohio, this past weekend, there was a point where Daniels had scored 12 straight points, and the growing pains freshmen typically have adjusting to the college game have been few and far between for Daniels in Krystkowiak’s opinion.

The team came out on the losing end, Xavier handed the Utes a 77-69 loss, but Krystkowiak was still impressed with everyone’s performance for the most part.

“Devon looked like he wasn’t intimidated,” Krystkowiak said. “It was a real solid performance by him. Devon gave us a nice lift. ”

Shaping up for Hawaii

The Utah men’s basketball team has one more game to play against Prairie View A&M on Saturday Dec. 17 in the Huntsman Center before it packs its bags for Hawaii.

Although the players and the coaches tend to have their focus on each game as it comes, the Utes are looking forward to getting away for Christmas. Krystkowiak thinks his team will get some great exposure while competing in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

And the upcoming tournament means that Sedrick Barefield and David Collette are nearing their debuts as Runnin’ Utes.

The two new players to the Utah roster have sat out all of the preseason thus far, and assuming everything goes according to plan, the the duo should return to the court in Hawaii. This does shake things up on the roster though.

Krystkowiak would not say whether or not either of the two or both would make their way into the starting lineup, there’s always a possibility for any player to do so, but it will limit some other players’ minutes. However, it may also make the workload on certain players a bit easier.

According to Krystkowiak, a team can never have enough weapons, and that’s what Barefield and Collette are, more weapons to this young, inexperienced Utah arsenal, and they’ll be ready to play when their name is called on.

“Barring any unforeseen circumstance I anticipate us having them, but it’s not a done deal” Krystkowiak said. “There have been some instances where they have been sidelined [in practices], obviously to get through this first portion of the season, but it’s not as though they’ve been sitting over there in their street clothes waiting for clearance.”

Coleman no longer with the Utes

Tim Coleman has left the Utah basketball program in hopes of finding someplace else where he can excel. The junior college transfer has been dealing with a nagging shoulder injury for quite some time, but Krystkowiak thinks he has a healthy body now, and he expects him to be picked up by a Division II school, and he could possibly draw some interest from a Division I school.

Although Coleman’s departure does not necessarily impact the team or the program right now, the sting of any player deciding to leave does hurt.

Krystkowiak never wants any of his players to leave the program. He wants the guys he goes after, the guys he recruits, to buy into the system, and he wants them to have an enjoyable college experience.

“It’s disappointing and disheartening when somebody isn’t happy and wants to leave,” Krystkowiak said.

[email protected]

@kbrenneisen

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *