On a 3-game losing skid, Utah basketball looking for identity on offense

SALT LAKE CITY — In losing five of its last six games, including three straight on the road by large margins, the Utah basketball team’s biggest problem has been its offense. 

The Utes haven’t shot above 43% in any of those games and four times have shot below 40%, including Saturday night in an 83-64 loss to Arizona State.

The offense has lost its identity, according to coach Larry Krystkowiak. 

“It seems like we’re grinding and trying to find an identity with what it is we’re doing,” he said after Saturday’s defeat. “Our offense has been atrocious. Individual players need to step up and have impact. We need to do a better job of sharing the ball.”

Two individuals who haven’t been very good for the Utes lately are their two leading scorers and when that happens to a team, it’s a big problem.

“It seems like we’re grinding and trying to find an identity with what it is we’re doing. Our offense has been atrocious. Individual players need to step up and have impact. We need to do a better job of sharing the ball” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak

Utah’s leading scorer, Timmy Allen, who is also the leading scorer in the Pac-12, hasn’t shot above 50% in any of the conference games and is shooting just 32.5% in his five league games. He was 6 for 18 against Arizona State.

Both Gach started off conference play with a 6-of-12 game against Oregon State and went 9-for-20 against Oregon, but in his last three games he’s hit just 5 of 24 shots, including 2 of 15 in the two games in Arizona.  

Allen and Gach have both seemed to force the action, perhaps feeling pressure to get the offense moving. Allen will often drive wildly up the middle and fling up a shot against a couple of defenders, seemingly hoping to get fouled. Gach isn’t getting to the hoop like earlier in the season and he’s settled for 3-pointers, which haven’t been falling (2 for 15 in last three games).

“Right now there’s a heck of a lot of forcing and we’re a little bit out of whack,” said Krystkowiak.

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He said his team will “get back to the drawing board Monday morning” and “commit to getting better” with Washington and Washington State coming to town this week.

After the Arizona State loss, the Utes find themselves in last place in the Pac-12 at 1-4. Washington is just ahead of them at 2-4 after an overtime loss to Oregon Saturday and has already lost more league games than it did all of last season. The Utes and Huskies meet Thursday night. Then on Saturday, the Utes will have to play a Washington State team that has been the surprise of the league this year with victories over both Oregon and Oregon State by double digits over the weekend.

“We need to do things collectively and play together,” Krystkowiak said. “Maybe we’ll do a bunch of clips of the Kentucky game, the Minnesota game and BYU game when everybody was engaged.”

At 10-7 overall with victories over the three aforementioned teams, the Utes still have a shot at postseason play, but need to get some things figured out in a hurry before the season gets away from them.