SALT LAKE CITY — In taking care of business last week at home against Washington State and Washington, the Utah Utes improved their chances of earning a bye in next month’s Pac-12 Tournament.
Losses by California and USC brought them a step closer to the fourth and final position. With five games left in the regular season, the Utes and Trojans are tied for fifth at 8-5. They’re just one game behind the Golden Bears (9-4) in the race for an automatic quarterfinal slot in Las Vegas.
Utah’s next three games are on the road — this week at Oregon and Oregon State and then a trip to Colorado on Feb. 23. The Utes, though, aren’t looking at it as a “do or die” portion of the schedule.
“No. Nope. Not at all,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “I’ve never looked at it that way, in any way, shape or form.”
Krystkowiak noted that the focus is on the next challenge — Thursday against the fifth-ranked Ducks in Eugene (7 p.m., ESPN).
“That’s a big game. We need it. We’ve got to bring our all,” said freshman Devon Daniels. “We’ve got to be locked in. So we’ve got to practice hard and play hard.”
Utah gave Oregon a good battle in the Huntsman Center on Jan. 26, but dropped a 73-67 decision.
“We had them beat at our place and it’s a tough place to play up there,” noted sophomore Parker Van Dyke. “But we’ve shown in the past that we can compete with top-level teams, and we just need to finish.”
Van Dyke added that the Utes have nothing to lose and they’re going to play with a lot of intensity and have some fun.
For the most part, that was the case in Saturday’s 85-61 win over Washington in the Huntsman Center. Utah shook off a turnover-plagued sluggish start to win handily, erasing an eight-point deficit in the first half with a 23-1 run.
“If we don’t turn it over, I like what we’re doing,” Krystkowiak said.
All five Utah starters scored in double-figures. Daniels and Van Dyke led the way with 16 points apiece. David Collette finished with 14, Kyle Kuzma added 13 (along with 10 rebounds), and Lorenzo Bonam contributed 11.
Things clicked when the Utes began taking better care of the basketball after a stern reminder from Krystkowiak during a timeout.
“We stopped turning the ball over so much,” said Van Dyke, who acknowledged that it’s hard to defend turnovers. “It’s a combination of playing smart and playing hard. When we do that, we’re really good defensively.”
Washington shot just 44.6 percent from the field. Utah, meanwhile, wound up connecting on 55.7 percent of its attempts and made 11 3-pointers in the contest. The Huskies hit just five.
“When we strayed away from our game plan, Utah took over because they are such an efficient team,” said Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, who also addressed how the Utes succeeded on the perimeter. “They were definitely shooting the basketball well. They play inside-out basketball. They’re a very opportunistic basketball team. They also grind into you until you make a mistake.”
EXTRA STUFF: Krystkowiak is giving the Utes Sunday and Monday off in hopes of getting everyone’s batteries recharged. … After closing its road slate over the next two weeks, Utah closes out the regular season with home games against California and Stanford over the first week of March. … Van Dyke and Tyler Rawson each had four of the Utes’ 21 assists against the Huskies. Rawson also recorded three steals. … Saturday’s attendance was 13,216.
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