SALT LAKE CITY — Timmy Allen is such a valuable player for the Utah basketball team — he leads the team in both scoring and rebounding — he rarely comes off the floor. In last week’s two Pac-12 games, he sat out for a total of one minute and 19 seconds as he played all of the Oregon State game and 38 minutes and 41 seconds of the Oregon game. For the season, Allen ranks second in the Pac-12 in minutes played with an average of 34.41 per game.
He’s not the only Ute playing a lot of minutes. Against Oregon, Both Gach played 38 minutes after playing 35 against Oregon State. Rylan Jones went more than 35 against Oregon State 31-plus against Oregon, sitting out for the final seven minutes of the first half because of foul trouble. Riley Battin played 34 and 31 minutes, respectively, in the two games.
The big minutes are not going to continue, at least that’s the plan according to coach Larry Krystkowiak. He wants to develop and use more players off the bench as the season moves along and games become more frequent.
“No doubt in my mind we’re going to need to engage our bench more and that’s going to be on me in some regards and some of it’s going to be on those guys,” Krystkowiak said. “We had this discussion in a meeting yesterday that it’s a two-way street, this trust and belief. We can’t play three or four guys 30 to 35 minutes per game and expect to weather the storm through this conference, so we’re trying to encourage guys to step up and simplify things for them. We’ll see what happens this week.”
The first two guys off the bench have been freshmen Mikael Jantunen and Jaxon Brenchley, while another freshman, Lahat Thioune, has played backup center. Those three are averaging 21.2, 15.8 and 11.7 minutes per game, respectively, while playing in every game.
“No doubt in my mind we’re going to need to engage our bench more and that’s going to be on me in some regards and some of it’s going to be on those guys.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak
But after that, the backup minutes have been spotty. JC transfer Alfonso Plummer, who was expected to be a 3-point shooting threat for the Utes, has played just 11.2 minutes per game, but has sat out of four games and only got in for nine seconds total of last weekend’s games.
Of Plummer, Krystkowiak said, “I just think we’ve thrown a lot at him offensively and defensively and that’s been a challenge. We’ve had some discussions internally with him and trying to get on the same page. We’re going to need him.”
The Utes have a lot of time to practice this week with the next game not coming until Sunday at Colorado and hope to get a couple of more guys ready for action as the Pac-12 gets into full swing.
Krystkowiak said, “Instead of a rotation of eight guys, I’d like to get nine or 10.” Two others who could see more action are 7-foot-4 freshman Matt Van Komen and freshman guard Eli Ballstaedt.
UTE NOTES: The Utes have moved up to No. 48 in the latest NET rankings ... Allen leads the Pac-12 in scoring at 21.14 and is seventh in rebounding at 7.86 ... Jones ranks fifth in the league in assists at 4.92 ... Despite their off day on Saturday, the Utes still lead the Pac-12 in free throw percentage at 75.1%. However, no Utes rank in the top 10 individually in foul shooting with Allen 12th at 77.2% and Battin 13th at 76.6% ... Jones would be No. 2 at 87.9% but doesn’t have the minimum number to qualify ... Jones ranks 4th in 3-point percentage at 46.0 with Brenchley 13th at 40.5% ... Utah is still No. 3 in the league in rebounding margin at 5.29, but a big part of that is the plus-40 advantage from the win over Mississippi Valley State ... After playing Colorado Sunday afternoon, the Utes will have a quick turnaround with a game at Arizona the following Thursday and Arizona State Saturday.