SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s road woes are well documented. The Utes are an impressive 10-1 in the Huntsman Center, but just 1-6 in true away games. They’ll get another chance to improve the latter this week with Pac-12 trips to Oregon State and Oregon.
“We’re not really going to play in the rearview or get ahead of ourself, it’s just so far we’ve had a good week of practice,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “I think our team is getting better and we’ve got to mature, we’ve got to be ready for a road environment — where maybe we’re not as comfortable as we are at home and make enough plays.”
Krystkowiak doesn’t believe the Utes were too far away in a couple of those games.
“It’s not a mystery,” Krystkowiak said. “Break down the film and each game’s got a different storyline.”
After prevailing 79-74 in the season opener at Nevada on Nov. 5, Utah has dropped consecutive road contests at Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, USC and UCLA.
COMING OF AGE: Center Branden Carlson, who tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds in Utah’s 64-56 overtime win over Stanford, was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
“We need some inside presence from him,” Krystkowiak said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence and it’s fun to see some of the growth.”
WARDROBE MALFUNCTION: Former Runnin’ Ute Jakob Poeltl had one of those days earlier this month. The San Antonio Spurs center went to check in for a game against the Los Angeles Clippers in the Staples Center and had forgotten to put his uniform top on. He had to run back to the locker room in order to retrieve it.
“We taught him well didn’t we,” joked Krystkowiak, who later added that he’s sure it made Spurs coach Gregg Popovich happy.
As for himself, Krystkowiak admitted that he had dreams about such things during his playing days — including not having clothes on to start a game.
“So, nothing live that I’m embarrassed about,” Krystkowiak said. “But I’ve had plenty of dreaming moments where things haven’t gone exactly well.”
Poeltl’s mistake, he continued, is typically something that usually only happens once because a lesson is learned. Krystkowiak lightheartedly said it may never have happened had Poeltl stayed with the Utes for his junior and senior seasons.
GACH UPDATE: Krystkowiak declined to comment on the specific status of sophomore Both Gach, who has missed the past four games with an apparent knee injury.
“We’ve got him on scholarship. He’s out here trying to do some things and we’ll see,” Krystkowiak said. “Right now I will tell you this, we’ve been pretty locked in defensively. Three out of our last four opponents have scored 50-some points and our guys have been connected and that’s always been a challenge.
“So I hope he comes back and joins us, but certainly we want to keep the standard up at defense and he’s got to be ready to jump into some of the improvement that we’ve made and keeping our fingers crossed that he plays,” Krystkowiak continued. “But until I hear otherwise and even when I hear ... I’m not going to tell you.”