Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Buffs Prepare To Face Upwardly Mobile Utes
February 28, 2014 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Just a short hop to the other side of the mountain - Salt Lake City to be precise - the restoration of a college basketball program is underway. The Colorado Buffaloes will see it firsthand on Saturday.
After searching and twice ending up low and generally well short of the mark to replace the late Rick Majerus, Utah appears to have hit the bullseye with Larry Krystkowiak. Majerus coached the Utes for 15 seasons, leaving in 2004 with a 325-95 record. His two successors - Ray Giacoletti and Jim Boylen - coached eight seasons between them and lost five more games (a combined 123-100 mark) than Majerus.
It wasn't what Utes fans or the school's administration had come to expect or wanted for the long term. Enter Krystkowiak in 2011. His three-year record (37-50) doesn't compare with that of CU coach Tad Boyle at this time last season, but the Pac-12's "Coach K" clearly has the Utes on the upturn.
In the school's - and Krystkowiak's - first season in the Pac-12, Utah was almost everyone's welcome mat, finishing 3-15 (11th) and 6-25 overall. In 2012-13, the Utes climbed to 5-13 (10th) and 15-18. But a case can be made for Utah's rebirth beginning in last season's Pac-12 Tournament: the Utes won two games in Las Vegas, beating Southern California and California, to reach the semifinals before losing to No. 3 seed Oregon, 64-45.
Krystkowiak's third Utah team is 18-9, 7-8, and as CU's Pac-12 traveling partner, ends the regular season with the same two trips as the Buffs - at Cal and Stanford next week. So, CU catches Utah Saturday for Senior Day in a venue - the Jon M. Huntsman Center - that under Krystkowiak is rapidly becoming what the Coors Events Center has evolved into under Boyle.
That is, a nasty, inhospitable Pac-12 stop.
The Huntsman Center's atmosphere, said Boyle, "was not dynamic until this year . . . the attendance numbers jump off the page." He's right. Consider: Fourth-ranked Arizona leads the Pac-12 in home attendance at 14,365 per game, with Utah second at 10,267 and CU third at 9,635. Said Boyle: "The thing about Utah that people can't forget is that they have unbelievable tradition. Their fans know what it's like to win; they're thirsty for a winner and Larry has done a good job in resurrecting that program. They've gotten progressively better since he's been there."
The Utes' home record this season is 17-2, with both losses coming in overtime - 70-68 to then-No. 10 Oregon, 67-63 to No. 4 Arizona. (Not-so-gentle reminder: After slipping out of Salt Lake City with their four-point OT win, the Wildcats came to Boulder and waylaid the Buffs, 88-61.)
DATING TO LAST SEASON, UTAH has won 20 of 23 games in the Huntsman Center, with this season's average margin of victory at 21.6 points. If Buffs fans need a disclaimer, here it is (and it comes courtesy of the Utes' weekly press release): According to RPI, Utah went 11-1 against the country's second-easiest non-conference schedule. In nine games against teams ranked outside the RPI top 200, the Utes won by an average of 33.7 points.
Of course, Boyle is paying no attention to those numbers. The figures he's most interested in have been posted by the Utes' defense - at 67.9 points a game they're second to Arizona in scoring GÇÿD' in the Pac-12 - and by junior transfer Delon Wright, who belongs in any conversation about the Pac-12's newcomer of the year.
The 6-5 Wright, who played last season at City College of San Francisco, has averaged 17.3 points in conference play and leads the Pac-12 (No. 12 nationally) in shooting percentage (59.8). But there's little wrong in Wright's overall game. "I can't emphasize how good he is in so many different areas," Boyle said.
Aside from being Utah's team leader in scoring and field goal percentage, he's atop the stat chart in blocked shots, steals and assists. Against CU in a Feb. 1 overtime loss (79-75) in Boulder, Wright had 17 points, 11 assists and 7 steals. "Delon Wright is the difference" in Utah's success this season, Boyle said. "He does everything for them."
Neither the Buffs nor the Utes have played since last weekend. A day after Arizona blew through Boulder, Utah throttled Arizona State by 23 (86-63) in SLC. Boyle gave his players Sunday and Monday off, hoping the break would rest their legs and, in light of the Arizona smack down, possibly increase their focus for the Utah trip.
"I know our players were affected by that loss," he said. "I know it bothered them. I know they don't feel good about it." He called Tuesday's practice "a good one, not a great one," and said this week's point of emphasis won't differ from last week's, next week's or next October's. "We just need to keep improving. It's a little later in the season (so) we're not going to be changing a bunch of things. It's just more fine-tuning and getting the guys' bodies and minds and spirits right for the next battle we face."
In the "minds and spirits" department, Boyle shouldn't have any difficulty getting through to his team after the Arizona loss. Asked about his and his teammates' intensity for practices this week, sophomore Xavier Talton said, "I think it goes up. Obviously you hate losing at home, first of all, you hate losing like that and you hate losing on national television. We took it to heart and this week we're working our butts off. We're going to try to take it to Utah."
In CU's overtime win against Utah in Boulder, Talton came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points - including a career-best four 3-pointers - in 22 minutes. He scored five of his total in the overtime. In the next game - Washington State - Talton moved into the starting lineup at guard and has remained there.
Since Utah's visit, Talton said he's simply tried to maintain his consistency at a time of season when teams have few remaining secrets. Said Boyle: "The deeper you get into the season, into league play, the more you're scouted and the harder it is to score . . . teams know your sets, your personnel, your strengths and weaknesses."
IN HIS LAST FIVE GAMES, TALTON has averaged 7.4 points - hitting 11-of-20 from the field (55 percent) - and 4.0 rebounds. Of his shooting, Talton said, "It's obviously not going to be there every night. There's going to be off nights . . . these last couple of games I've tried to be more consistent on the defensive end, considering the matchups we've had."
He said he has become more comfortable as a starter: "Yeah, I feel like after about the third game I started to get a lot more settled into it. I'm just trying to stay more composed and run the team."
A week between games, according to Talton, is "more of a necessary time than a long time. We need to get better; (last) Saturday was ugly. We have a long ways to go still."
Boyle agrees, noting that his team needs to develop more "mental toughness" to deal with inefficient starts like it experienced in both losses to Arizona. In Tucson, the Buffs fell behind 18-4, then were down 22-5 last weekend after missing their first 15 shots.
His players, said Boyle, must "deal with it, handle it and overcome it . . . right now we're not mentally tough enough to handle it. It wasn't just the Arizona game; there's been other times that our frustrations or lack of success on offense bleeds over to our defensive intensity and energy. If we want to be a great team, it can't happen - we can't allow it to happen."
Meanwhile, in its lopsided win last weekend against the Sun Devils, the Utes blocked a season-high 12 shots, with their 86 points and 23-point margin of victory both highs since they joined the Pac-12 with CU in 2011. The Utes are coming off an historic win, the Buffs are coming off the worst home loss of the four-year Boyle era.
Utah, said Boyle, "is back in the fold in this league, there's no doubt." Buffs hoops might have arrived a season or two earlier under Boyle, but he's right about this: The Utes are on their way.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
