Statistics don’t lie. Sure you can find ways to spin them all you want. You can blame fatigue, you can say the other team is one of the best in the conference in a category, you can say… Look, there have been a lot of excuses for the 2020-21 Runnin’ Utes, especially when it comes from the top. Statistics paint a picture though, and it’s not a pretty one for a head coach who is losing the fanbase.

Here are some key statistics:

One quick look and you can call it an old-style team that still even struggles with the old-school toughness approach on the glass and blocking shots. Utah also came into the season with two elite level three-point shooters: Alfonso Plummer and Rylan Jones. Plummer has been relegated to the bench, as Larry Krystkowiak has looked for a sixth-man spark—it’s not working. Jones is in an extreme sophomore slump.

In the world of advanced statistics, Utah is no. 75 in the KenPom rating for adjusted efficiency margin. That puts them as the eighth rated Pac-12 team and even locals BYU and Utah State are ahead of them.

When your big men can’t rebound and your shooters can’t shoot—they’re dead last in Pac-12 three-point percent—there’s a problem. Even more troubling are the countless times Utah has been up at the half or held a double-digit lead, only to crumble and lose as the opponents adjust. The Utes also can’t seem to muster up a road win in the Pac-12, winless dating back to last season.

Utah hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2015-16. These aren’t new problems. This isn’t a slow demise of Utah basketball, Utah basketball hasn’t been Utah basketball for all but what seems like one brief year over the last ten and two in the last 15.

Krystkowiak can fix this, he has before. If he doesn’t, a pandemic ravaged season won’t be a reason to save him—buyout money be damned—as the Utah athletics department is growing restless. Stats don’t lie and it’s not like most of those struggles are a 2020-21 problem. The second half of their Pac-12 schedule is about to begin. It’s time for Krystowiak to do everything he can to save the season and show some more urgency in proving he’s the man for the job.