By Scott Funk
SALT LAKE CITY—A frustrated Utah team and a lineup without Markelle Fultz is what the Washington Huskies (9-16, 2-11 Pac-12) had to face when they came to town to face the Runnin’ Utes (17-8, 8-5 Pac-12) on Saturday night. In the end, it proved to be too much as the Utes would top the Huskies 85-61.
A trend for Utah lately has been slow starts followed by spurts of life. This trend would continue its tradition Saturday night as the Utes fell behind to Washington 18-10 early with six turnovers.
Carelessness and selfishness has been plaguing the Utes the past three games, but after a timeout by head coach Larry Krystkowiak, the mindset of the team completely changed.
“That’s why I have a band-aid on my hand. I didn’t say much,” said Krystowiak. “I just karate-chopped the old grease board, dropped a few expletives, and there wasn’t a whole lot to say. I mean, it was pretty ugly. We were getting manhandled in the post, throwing the ball all over the gym. I thought I was on an episode of Bloopers.”
The Utes came out of the timeout with back-to-back threes by Lorenzo Bonam and Devon Daniels. Over the last twelve minutes of the first half, sharing the ball and defense were the highlights of their game as the Utes outscored the Huskies 34-10 to go into halftime up 44-28.
“That was probably the most intense he’d been all year, but I think it was needed,” said Parker Van Dyke. “We needed to play smarter, we needed to play harder. We were just being outplayed in every aspect of the game. So he got it out of us and we came back and went on a big run, so it feels good. We definitely needed some more motivation.”
The Utes started off slowly again in the second half, allowing the huskies to score six straight points, but would once again assert themselves as the dominant team for the rest of the game.
David Crisp of Washington did his best to try to lead his team to victory by scoring a career high 31 points, shooting 61% from the field; but the lack of defense by the rest of his team would prove to be the deciding factor of the game.
All five starters for Utah scored in double digits, with Daniels and Van Dyke leading the way with 16 apiece.
Up next for the Utes is a road trip to face the Oregon schools next week starting with a re-match against the number five ranked Ducks (21-4,10-2 Pac-12) on Thursday. The game will be televised on ESPN with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 MDT.
Larry Krystkowiak Postgame:
Parker Van Dyke Postgame:
Devon Daniels Postgame:
Highlights:
