The University of Utah men’s basketball team suffered another crushing defeat on Sunday (83-79), this one coming after leading most of the contest. To make matters worse, it gave the Washington Huskies only their third win out of 14 games.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

Not all was bad

The boys deserves some positives, but they definitely don’t spin as an explanation. That’s something head coach Larry Krystkowiak kept from doing for a change.

Four of the Utes were in double figures, led by Timmy Allen who was three rebounds away from a triple-double—15 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Branden Carlson continued his hot streak by leading all scorers with 18 points and five rebounds, while Riley Battin and Alfonso Plummer each had 15 and 13, respectively.

The Utes out rebounded the Huskies 32 to 28 and the also shot 83.3% from the free-throw line, while Washington was 59.1%. The big difference there, was that the Huskies nearly doubled Utah’s attempts.

You can’t trade threes for twos

Utah didn’t shoot bad from three-point range, going 7-18 for 38.9%. Battin rained in 3-5 while Plummer struggled with 1-5.

The crucial moment that turned the game around was when Utah was holding a steady commanding lead and the Huskies caught fire from behind the arc. The Utes would go down on offense and match them bucket for bucket, but the Huskies seemingly ate into the lead one point at a time, gaining the momentum despite being down by three at halftime.

Jamal Bey and Quade Green combined to shoot 8-9 from long distance, and the neither the Utah players or coaching staff had any answers on how to stop it.

“Bad coaching”

Look, this game was weird. The Utes played well, but the Huskies played better. Then you obviously look at the Washington record and say, “What the hell?” One of the most tiring things for Utah fan base in 2020-21 has been the excuses, the spin, and the positives mentioned after bad losses. That didn’t happen this time when Krystkowiak spoke to the media. It was obvious that this loss hit him harder than the other—maybe he finally sees the writing on the wall that’s becoming so painfully obvious. No one associated with the program takes any pleasure in this, but it’s been bad. He did point out that there were some bad passes and untimely turnovers in the closing minutes, and he wasn’t wrong.

Ultimately though, there were two words that defined the postgame press conference, two words that said all that needed to be said, and two words that should have been uttered a lot more this season, as the team has given up double digit lead after double digit lead… “Bad coaching.”

Up next

The Runnin’ Utes have just under a week to do a bit of soul-searching as they travel to Colorado on January 30th for a 7:30 tip against Colorado.