SALT LAKE CITY — Before Thursday’s Pac-12 opener against Oregon State, a lot was made about Utah’s long, 11-day layoff between games — too much was made of it in Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak’s opinion.
The Utes hadn’t played since Dec. 21 when they were handed a trouncing by San Diego State, and for the first four or five minutes of Thursday’s Pac-12 opener against Oregon State, the Utes looked rusty and apprehensive.
“I talked about it in our first timeout,” Krystkowiak said, “We were kind of punched in the mouth and I said, ‘OK, now our 11-day break is over — we better wake up.’ The guys responded really well.”
The Utes had more turnovers than points in the first four minutes, but once they woke up and grabbed the lead, they took control over a good OSU team that came in with a 10-2 record, and the Utes never looked back in cruising to an 81-69 victory at the Huntsman Center.




















“Those first four minutes we got it out of our system and moved on,” said Both Gach.
The Utes got nice games from their big three: Timmy Allen had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Gach scored 17 points with six rebounds and freshman Rylan Jones finished with 14 points and five assists.
But what really pleased Krystkowiak Thursday was his team’s defense.
“The key to the game for us was making up our mind we wanted to guard,” he said. “There was only one six- or eight-minute part of the game when it wasn’t very comfortable and we left shooters open and got outscrapped. That’s a really good offensive team with two of the elite players in our conference and we made them earn it.”
The Beavers two “elite” players are Tres Tinkle and Ethan Thompson, who both ended up close to their season averages with 19 and 15 points, respectively. But the points didn’t come easy as Tinkle made just 6 of his 17 shots, while Thompson went 5-for-10 and missed all three of his 3-point tries.
While the Beavers only managed to shoot 3-fo-21 from 3-point range, the Utes were an efficient 8-for-17, with Jones leading the way at 4-for-7.
The Utes also had a big advantage at the free-throw line where they sank 25 of 28 for 89.3%, while the Beavers made 14 of 19.
“You’ve heard me say it before, it’s a marathon. You don’t win a whole lot in the big scheme of things in one game, but I was pleased with our effort. Anytime you get a W in this league, it’s going to be a challenge” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak
No team likes to look too far ahead and most everyone, including Utah, abides by the “one-game-at-a-time” mantra. But looking at the schedule after Thursday night with games against No. 4 Oregon and road games at Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State, the Utes couldn’t be blamed for worrying that a loss to Oregon State could put them on their way to an 0-5 start in league play. Instead, they’re 1-0.
“You’ve heard me say it before, it’s a marathon. You don’t win a whole lot in the big scheme of things in one game, but I was pleased with our effort,” Krystkowiak said. “Anytime you get a W in this league, it’s going to be a challenge.”
The Beavers came with that impressive 10-2 mark, their best start to a season since clear back in 1984-85, and looked to be the better team in the opening moments.
In the early going, the Utes were clearly intimidated by Oregon State’s 7-footer Kylor Kelley, who is second in the nation in blocked shots. He blocked two shots in the opening two minutes and for a while, Ute players were timid going to the rim. But the Utes got in gear, caught up and took the lead for good at 20-19 midway through the first half.
Utah led by seven at the half, and OSU cut the lead to three a couple of times before a 13-2 run put the game away.
With the win, the Utes improved to 10-3 overall and 6-0 at home. Now they’ll face an angry Oregon team that is ranked No. 4 in the nation but lost at Colorado Thursday night 74-65.
“To get a W feels great, but just about the time you start patting yourself on the back, you’ve got the Ducks rolling in here Saturday on a bit of a short turnaround,” said Krystkowiak. “We just have to chop wood and keep grinding.”