Late Thursday night, the No. 11 seed Runnin’ Utes faced off the No. 6 seed Washington Huskies in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Utes led most of the first half, shooting 50% from the field (15-30) putting up a good fight against the Huskies and the Utes were down by only three going into the half. Marco Anthony led the team in points with 18, Branden Carlson had 14 with six rebounds, and Gabe Madsen was the only other Ute to hit double digits with 12 total. Despite the positive first half, the Utes season woes came back to bite them in the second.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
Turnovers: the story of the Utes season
Utah only had six turnovers in the first half, which is why Washington only led 40-37, but the Utes forgot to take care of the basketball in the second half. Utah turned the ball over 16 times total, and Washington scored 21 points off of those mistakes, making it impossible to pull off the upset against the No. 6 seed. Utah’s starters had nine of those turnovers, with only Carlson playing a turnover-free game.
Heading into the offseason, the turnover issue will be a key focus on both figuring out how to improve the team with incoming players and also skill development with the current guys on the roster.
Utah couldn’t sustain momentum
Despite Anthony being up for the challenge to defend Terrell Brown Jr., there wasn’t much stopping him. Brown Jr. led the Huskies with 22 points and five assists, knocking down 9-19 shots. Cole Bajema had 11 points and was 2-3 from the 3-point line.
Utah would struggle to get anything going in transition, and whatever shots didn’t work for the Huskies, they recovered to shut down the Utes defensively. Huskies would go on a 12-2 run with 11 minutes remaining and capitalized off the seven Utah turnovers within a span of six minutes to solidify their win against the Utes.
The Utes never seemed to be able to get and sustain momentum, as their biggest lead was three and the best scoring run they had was five.
Time for NCAA Transfer Portal
Earlier in the season, Smith let it slip that the team will look much different next season. Who transfers out and who transfers in? Only time will tell. This Washington game, however, was yet another example that Utah needs to land a trusty and speedy ball handler that’s ball-dominant. They also need a guy that can take over games as a scorer, as evidenced by the fact that their longest scoring run in a crucial game was only five points.
Up next
With coach Craig Smith’s first season under his belt, the Runnin’ Utes finished their season 11-20 overall and 4-17 in Pac-12 play—not unusual as teams transition to new coaching regimes. Looking forward to next season, Coach Smith has a young talented roster returning, but he has a lot of work to do in recruiting through the high school and JuCo ranks, as well as the NCAA Transfer Portal.
As a transition year, this is an opportunity to build, grow and learn from the struggles that plagued the team. However, Smith will need to right the ship in a hurry as over the years Ute fans have justifiably ran out of patience.
