After coming off of a dominant performance Thursday night in the Huntsman Center where Utah defeated the No. 25 USC Trojans, 86-64, the Runnin’ Utes are gearing up to take on the No. 4 UCLA Bruins on Saturday.
The Bruins are also coming off of a win. UCLA took down the Colorado Buffs, 104-89, Thursday night in Boulder. However, following their takedown of one of the top teams in the country, Utah is confident in its ability to be competitive in any Pac-12 game.
One thing the team will be working to correct is its slow starts. Against the Trojans, the Utes found themselves down 10-0 at the start of the game. Granted the team had missed some “bunnies,” as head coach Larry Krystkowiak noted after the game, the Utes will need to make those easy shots against a star-packed team like UCLA.
Slow starts have been a problem all season long for Utah, and the Bruins are a team that could use this to their advantage. However, so long as the team can shoot the way it did against the Trojans, the Utes shot 55.2 percent from the floor, they should be fine. They may need to sharp up on their three-point shooting, though.
Thursday night, the Utes were 52.9 percent from downtown, but UCLA bested them when it went 19-of-31 from three-point range against the Buffaloes. So long as the Utes continue to swing the ball around and take open shots, they should put up a good effort facing one of the top five teams in the nation.
The Utes have a fairly young team this year, and Krystkowiak thinks that the effort the players have been putting forth in practice has been showing on the court. He also thinks they are starting to understand that success doesn’t just happen overnight.
“There’s a lot of basketball karma, and when you come into practice and you focus and you put that much energy on the line, typically some good things happen in those games, and that’s part of the validation process that happens with our young guys,” Krystkowiak said.
A lot of Utah’s efforts will focused on stopping UCLA’s premiere players. Like this Ute squad, though, the Bruins have six players averaging double figures, and this could make scouting the team a bit difficult — something the Utes take pride in when other teams have to scout their own offense.
TJ Leaf is averaging 17.4 points per game, Bryce Alford is averaging 16.8, and Lonzo Ball is averaging 14.7. Utah has been defaulting to a zone defense as of late, and this may make guarding the Bruins a bit more manageable instead of the team trying to slow down one player. So far the zone defense has been effective, and Utah is hoping to find more success with it come Saturday afternoon.
David Collette has scored in double figures in each outing for the Utes this season, and he agrees with Krystkowiak that the work the team puts in practice is reflective of how the team plays in a game.
“Most times in a zone teams get threes, but we really try to emphasize taking away the three-point shot, so it takes a lot of work trying to get all the rotations down,” Collette said.
Fans can expect the Utes to be dialed in Saturday, because the players and coaches do not like to lose in front of their home crowd.
“I’m really excited, and I had a great vibe looking around the Huntsman [Thursday night],” Krystkowiak said. “The crowd played a big factor in [the win over USC], and we got one of the better homecourt advantages.”
Game time is set for 4 p.m. at the Huntsman Center.
@kbrenneisen