Utah Utes don’t let foot off throttle, roll to the 38-point win over winless Idaho

The quality of opponent certainly had something to do with it, but the Utah men’s basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better performance in wrapping up its nonconference slate on Friday night.

The Utes dominated every facet of the game in a resounding 79-41 win over winless Idaho in front of no fans at the Huntsman Center.

“I thought we were focused to start both halves. We did a really good job defending that team.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak

“I thought we were focused to start both halves. We did a really good job defending that team. Don’t be fooled, the team is a lot better. That’s the best 0-5 team that’s in the country and I’ll think you’ll see them coming together as time goes on,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak in a Zoom call after the game.

“They have shooting versatility on that roster and our guys just made up their mind that they were going to guard, and I thought we did that throughout.”

Much of that mentality stemmed from Utah’s narrow win over UVU on Tuesday when it let a double-digit lead slip away in the second half, forcing it to hold on late.

“It was obviously a close game against UVU and they played hard, and we kind of let them back in the game and we just wanted to come out just play extremely tough, just play physical and play harder than the other team and we did that from the tip and it showed,” said Ute guard Rylan Jones, who dished out seven assists in the win.

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Krystkowiak admits his team dodged a bullet with the UVU win, but also that the final minutes were a positive as his team reversed momentum, which isn’t easy to do.

That was never an issue as the Utes rolled to the 38-point win as it wrapped up a four-game stretch of nonconference games (3-1) over the past 10 days heading into next week’s Pac-12 game at Arizona State.

About the only weakness Friday night for the Utes was their outside shooting as they shot a season-low 26% (6 of 23) from 3-point range. On future nights in the Pac-12, that type of performance won’t cut it, but it was a moot point against the Vandals.

Timmy Allen was the only Ute who wasn’t off the mark from 3-point range, connecting on 2 of 3 finishing with a game-high 22 points to go along with his six rebounds.

Pelle Larsson came off the bench and added 15 points.

“I challenged (Pelle) at halftime, play hard. Everybody wants to get on the floor; you’ve got to be able to play hard and make plays. Pelle is a talented, bigger guard, thought he made some nice passes to some guys. It was a big boost his second half performance,” said Krystkowiak.

Utah finished the game shooting 40%, and just as critical was forcing Idaho into 22 turnovers.

A 12-2 run to close the half helped Utah realistically put the game out of reach by halftime, leading 40-16. Early in the second half it ripped off a 14-0 run, and during the 10-plus minute stretch encompassing both runs Utah outscored overmatched Idaho 30-6.

“This was just constant. I thought first half … the guys were all locked in and did a really good job of playing some connected defense, and defense will make things a lot easier,” said Krystkowiak.

The decision 12-2 run in the first half started with a backdoor alley-oop dunk from Jones to Ian Martinez out of a timeout, and on the next possession Martinez buried a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 33-14 at the 3:03 mark.

“I thought Ian gave us a big spark with his energy and rebounding, and you saw some of his athletic ability on that lob,” said Krystkowiak. “There were a lot of guys this game should be making us feel good, and that’s super important as we move into the conference season.”

Jaxon Brenchley buried his own 3-pointer on Utah’s next possession, a just reward after his hustle prevented a backcourt violation to keep possession alive.

Utah shot 47% in the first half to open up the 40-16 lead. And as efficient as it was offensively, perhaps more impressive was its effort at the defensive end of the floor.

Idaho only shot 24% in the first half, including only 15% from 3-point range with 11 turnovers.