Takeaways: Led by Carlson, Utes Dominate Wazzu

The Runnin’ Utes travelled to Washington State on Thursday and dominated throughout the game, beating the Cougars 71-56. Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak made another adjustment to his starting lineup by reinserting center Branden Carlson and it was a move that paid off in a big way.

Here are the takeaways from the victory:

Carlson that’s who you are. Now be consistent

It came in spurts last season and it’s being witnessed again the last couple games, but this is the Branden Carlson (14 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks) that the staff has been expecting. This is the Branden Carlson that made Jayce Johnson want to transfer. This Branden Carlson is the anchor that the Utes need in the middle.

The challenge now for Carlson is to either maintain his current level of play or find a happy medium. Sure it’s up to him, but it’s also up to the coaching staff to challenge him and keep him motivated. This current team won’t win many games without a dominant big man in the paint. They’ve now unlocked something here, and it’s up to Carlson to catapult the Utes for a strong lad half of the Pac-12 finish.

Breaking a two year drought is not a positive

Let’s get the bluntness out of the way, first… It’s ridiculous that a University of Utah program had a 13 game road losing streak. No excuses and no justifications.

Now for the positive… After so long, there really is a mental struggle when wins just aren’t coming your way. Now with that monkey off their backs, Utah needs to show that they are past their early season struggles of starting games strong and finishing with a dud.

The Stanford and Washington wins are positive signs that they’re turning the corner, but consistency and turning the corner can’t be proven with two good wins and a bad loss sandwiched in between.

Plenty of impacts in the win

Carlson was the star, but the Utah squad had five guys in double figures other than him: Timmy Allen 13, Riley Battin and Alfonso Plummer 12, and Mikael Jantunen 10.

Sophomore Rylan Jones continued his long shooting slump going 2-6 from the field, but he dished out 10 assists and his contributions went far beyond the box score.

As a team overall, the Runnin’ Utes shot 54.9% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range. Equally as important, they only went to the line nine times, but connected on all of their free-throws.

Up next

The Utes have a golden chance to start a winning streak as they travel to Seattle to face the 2-11 Washington Huskies on Sunday at 2PM MST.