The Runnin’ Utes limped into Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament looking for a bright spot after struggling during the last two weeks of the regular season. The Utes followed that up with a lackluster performance against the Stanford Cardinal on the opening night in T-Mobile Arena. The loss has almost assuredly ended their season, falling in the first round 73-62.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
The Utes offense flatlined
Draining an early 3-pointer in the first minute of the game Branden Carlson pulled the Utes ahead by one. However, that would be the only time they would lead in the entire game. The Cardinals led by as many as 11 midway through the first half, Utah cut the lead to two with 7:06 left in that half after a 11-2 run but the Cardinals would extend the lead back to seven before halftime. Utah’s first half struggles continued to bleed into the second half making it impossible for them to rally as the Cardinal extended the lead to 15 with 5:00 minutes to play.
The Utes assist-to-turnover ratio plagued the offense early on too, finishing with 13 assists and 12 turnovers; the ball control and pass efficiency hindered Utah throughout the game.
Branden Carlson led the team with 27 points and 10 rebounds while Gabe Madsen added another 13 points combining for 40 of Utah’s 62 points.
“We were really struggling to find that third scorer, struggling to find another guy to get some easy baskets.” Smith said. “ I thought we had some easy looks; I thought we had some really clean looks and wide open looks, and we just couldn’t finish those plays.”
Lazar Stefanovic finished with 10 points hitting 2-5 from the perimeter while starters Rollie Worster and Ben Carlson came away empty handed in loss.
No defensive answers for the Cardinal offense
The defense the Utes have relied on all season just wasn’t there Wednesday. The Cardinal had no problem getting to the rim, outscoring the Utes in the paint 38-24 and adding 10 points off of Utah’s turnovers.
Stanford’s Branden Angel led the team with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Four other Cardinal players finished in double digits as the balanced offense shot 42 percent from the field.
“Defensively, we were elite. Elite, until about the last six games or so. And then we took a hit,” Smith said. “We always hung our hat on that. That has always been a consistent thing for this team. So we have been able to withstand some of the unevenness of our offense at times.”
The most glaring stat of the night was that the Cardinal had a 17:4 assist to turnover ratio — they only committed one turnover in the first half. Proof that the Utah defense just wasn’t up for the challenge.
A season’s promising start turns to a discouraging end
Utah finished the 2022-23 season 17-15 overall and 10-10 in Pac-12 play. It was a discouraging end, but they improved by leaps and bounds from their 2021-22 season when they finished 11-20 overall and 4-16 in Pac-12 play. Injuries and lack of depth left Smith shorthanded and exposed a lot of issues the Utes faced on their roster heading into the final stretch of the season.
Craig Smith and staff deserve some slack as they continue to rebuild the basketball team. His predecessor had such a long leash over bad basketball, that patience has worn thin with the program. What they do over the coming months with recruiting, will go a long way to whether or not they’re able to calm fears.
