There wasn’t a whole lot to say. I mean it was pretty ugly. We were getting manhandled in the post, throwing the ball all over the gym. – Larry Krystkowiak

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak got his point across. He made it clear that things weren’t acceptable early on in Saturday’s 85-61 win over Washington in the Huntsman Center.

The Utes were down by eight at the time and had turned the ball over five times in the opening seven minutes of action. A timeout was called.

“That’s why I have a Band-Aid on my hand. I didn’t say much. I just karate-chopped the old grease board and dropped a few expletives,” Krystkowiak said. “There wasn’t a whole lot to say. I mean it was pretty ugly. We were getting manhandled in the post, throwing the ball all over the gym.”

Krystkowiak added that he thought he was on bloopers show like “Punk’D” or something. It was a “C’mon guys” situation with all the turnovers.

“Some of that stuff you can’t make up,” Krystkowiak said. “I appreciate all the people coming out and watching us, the fans coming out, the product’s not exactly sharp right now. But we got things going, made enough plays.”

And how.

In the aftermath of the timeout, the Utes responded in a big way. They held the Huskies scoreless for more than 7½ minutes and kept them without a field goal for a span of 9:41.

Utah’s success on defense was countered by a run of 20 straight points on offense. Washington missed nine straight shots and turned the ball over five times during the decisive stretch that allowed Utah to turn the 18-10 deficit into a 12-point lead. Overall, the Utes outscored the Huskies 34-7 at one point en route to building a 44-25 advantage late in the first half.

Krystkowiak’s demeanor set the tone.

“That was probably the most intense he had been all year,“ said sophomore guard Parker Van Dyke. “But I think it was need because we just needed to play smarter, we needed to play harder. We were just being outplayed in every aspect of the game.

“So he got it out of us and we came back and went on a big run,” he continued. “It feels good, but we definitely needed some more motivation.”

Van Dyke and teammate Devon Daniels led Utah with 16 points apiece. David Collette finished with 14, while other starters Kyle Kuzma and Lorenzo Bonam wound up with 13 and 11, respectively.

Utah extended a 44-28 halftime lead to 24 in the second half of the lopsided victory.

“We took that timeout and in the huddle we just talked about taking care of the ball and we tried to do that and I think that helped a lot,” Daniels said.

So, too, did Krystkowiak’s message in the pivotal timeout.

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“He didn’t say much. He just broke (the clipboard) and stared at us,” said Daniels. who noted that the message to get it together worked.

The outcome upped Utah’s record to 17-8 overall and 8-5 in Pac-12 play. Washington, meanwhile, fell to 9-16 and 2-11. The Huskies, who are now assured of their first losing regular-season record since 2002-03, played without freshman guard Markelle Fultz. The leading scorer in the Pac-12 (23.2 points per game) was sidelined with a sore knee.

However, teammate David Crisp stepped up and scored a game-high 31 points.

The Utes play their next three games on the road. They’re at nationally ranked Oregon Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN) and at Oregon State on Sunday (6:30 p.m., ESPNU). Then comes a trip to Colorado on Feb. 23 (9 p.m., ESPNU).

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