The University of Utah men’s basketball team suffered their ninth loss in a row on Wednesday evening against the Washington State Cougars. Utah went back to old habits, turning the ball over 19 times and allowing a big run to start the second half, allowing the Cougars to pull away. Utah had played much better their past two games despite the losses, but this one felt like they took a few steps back, and the losing streak continues.

Utah played even with the Cougars through most of the first half. They had it tied at 18 with under six minutes to go in the half before WSU began their run. The Cougars hit a flurry of jumpers and free throws to push their lead to double digits, before settling at 33-25 at the half.

The Cougars came out of the gates on fire in the second half, making five three pointers within the first seven minutes. Utah went ice cold and couldn’t answer, allowing the Cougars to push the lead to 20 points. The Utes fought hard the rest of the half, but the hole they had dug proved to be too big and they couldn’t make a comeback. WSU went on cruise control for most of the second half and that was enough to get the win, 71-54.

The difference in this game was turnovers and rebounding. Utah shot a higher percentage from the field than the Cougars did, which would normally be a recipe for victory. However, the Cougars took 65 shots to Utah’s 46, which is a pretty striking number. The 19 turnovers and 39-29 rebounding deficit explain it, and you can’t win games that way.

Utah’s rotations were shuffled up tonight. Head coach Craig Smith has been experimenting with a lot of different lineup combinations, and he switched up the starters again in Pullman. Dusan Mahorcic and Gabe Madsen entered the starting lineup, sending Riley Battin and Branden Carlson to the bench. 

“I think we’re better. Obviously tonight we took a step back on the offensive end,” said Smith. “I thought we did defend really, really well tonight as a whole.”

Carlson was playing in his first game since having an emergency appendectomy a few weeks ago. Mahorcic only ended up playing 10 minutes, with Carlson getting a starter’s share at 19. 

Battin only played seven minutes after he had been a starter and a main fixture in the rotation up until this point. David Jenkins Jr. was again limited in his minutes, playing just nine.

This has been a season-long experiment for Utah, with Smith not afraid to shuffle the deck each and every night. Most of the roster is expected to play on any given night, and Smith is trying to find the combinations that will give them the best chance to win.

Utah will be back in action against the Washington Huskies at 3 p.m. MST on Saturday. That game will be their best chance in a while to break the losing streak, but they’ll have to play better than they did tonight.

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