The Runnin’ Utes closed out non-conference play by sticking with the no. 6 team in the country for a half, before ultimately falling to the Nevada Wolf Pack, 86-71. In their final game before Pac-12 play, there were some developments to like, but plenty of kinks that still need to be worked out.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

Thanks to combinations of the zone, Nevada was contained for one half

Despite being down by one at the break, Utah outplayed the Wolf Pack in all major categories except for turnovers and three-point field goals. Nevada has struggled recently with zone defense, so the Utes took full advantage of that, through out different combinations that included a box-and-one attack. This led the Wolf Pack to a 12-32 first half on field goals and they were 5-15 from three-point range. The Utes also held a surprising rebound advantage of +4.

So how were the Utes down at the half? They were sloppy with the ball, while Nevada played a nearly clean first 20 minutes in that department, as the Wolf Pack held a 7-2 turnover advantage.

Either Tillman or Barefield needs to be inserted back as a starter

For the third game in a row, both Sedrick Barefield and Donnie Tillman came off of the bench. While you can’t argue with their individual results of 33 and 13 points respectively, it needs to stop. One of them—likely Tillman—needs to be reinserted as a starter. Other than Timmy Allen and his 11 points, the rest of the starters totaled seven points, with none of the other four scoring more than three—all of this in a combined 92 minutes on the court. One can make the argument that Tillman and Allen are the same type of player—which is true—but both can play at least three positions and play them well.

Larry Krystkowiak gets paid the big bucks for a reason, and his decision to make Barefield the sixth man, looks like it could be a brilliant move. However, when your starters can’t provide much of a consistent scoring punch, you’re going to dig yourselves an early hole that’s usually too big to get out of.

Nevada is good, really good, and you can only contain them for so long

When a team starts five fifth-year seniors, odds are that they’re going to be a handful, especially for a young team. As the second half hit, Barefield’s perfect 5-5 night wasn’t going to last for long (he finished 10-15), and it also seemed inevitable that the Wolf Pack were going to go on a run. Nearly four minutes into the second half, Caleb Johnson spearheaded a 13-3 outburst—and there wasn’t much the Utes could do about it. During that spurt, Johnson had nine points and assisted on the other two Nevada buckets.

From there, the Wolf Pack could never really run away with the victory, but it felt like the outcome was never in doubt.

Up next

The Utes enter Pac-12 play against Arizona State and Arizona, next week, with a 6-6 record. If they can remain at .500 after this coming week, that would be a promising accomplishment. The good news for this young Utah squad is, that no one looks unbeatable—the Pac-12 just finished a historically bad December—but they still have a long ways to go before being viewed as any kind of threat in the conference.