Utah suffers gut-wrenching loss to Oregon State, falls on last-second shot by unheralded player

LAS VEGAS — Disappointment and sadness clouded the faces of Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak and Ute three players as they made their way into the interview room for their press conference after the opening-round game in the Pac-12 Tournament Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.

The Utes had just lost 71-69 to Oregon State in a most brutal fashion — a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left by a reserve guard who averaged 4.3 points per game, while making only 31% of his 3-point shots on the season. It marked the fourth straight year the Utes had lost their first game in the Pac-12 tourney.

“I was proud of the resolve and fight with our guys. We obviously had an unbelievable shooting performance by Alfonso and outrebounded them, which was a positive. But 17 turnovers — you’re not going to win many ballgames.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak

Jarod Lucas was the hero for the Beavers as he sank four straight 3-pointers in the final six minutes, all from the left side, including two in the final minute to send the Beavers (18-13) to Thursday’s quarterfinals against regular-season champion Oregon. 

Lucas’ heroics overshadowed one of most extraordinary performances by a Utah basketball player in years. Junior Alfonso Plummer, who has come on strong late in the season, scored 35 points with an array of 3-point shots all over the T-Mobile floor. He finished with a school record 11 3-point makes on 16 attempts, but it wasn’t enough to bring the Utes to victory.

“They made two big 3s in the last (minute),” said Krystkowiak. “We lacked a little discipline on the second-to-last one and then we tried to step in on penetration for the last one and weren’t fortunate. But they hit two big 3s and obviously two really nice passes led to that.”

Utah had led since the 3:21 mark of the first half until Lucas’ last-second shot and by as many as 14 points early in the second half, but couldn’t quite hold on. 

When Plummer hit his 11th 3 of the game with 1:05 left, the Utes led 69-65, but Lucas came back with a 3 with 50 seconds left. Up one, the Utes seemed to have a good chance for a two-for-one — a shot before the 30-second mark, so they could get the ball back for the last shot.

But Krystkowiak said it was too difficult.

“Not in that environment with the trap, it’s really hard to manufacture a shot,” he said. “If something presented itself, we were all for it, but we weren’t going to try to force anything.”

Instead, Gach lost the ball in traffic with 22 seconds left, giving OSU the ball for the final shot. 

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The Utes shot well, thanks in large part to Plummer, making 49% from the field and 52.4% from 3-point range. The Utes won the rebound battle handily 33-20, getting 13 boards on the offensive end,

But turnovers, a Utah bugaboo for several games this season, was a killer as the Utes finished with 17 on the day compared to just 10 for the Beavers.

The Utes missed freshman point guard Rylan Jones, who sat out his second straight game because of a head injury suffered 11 days earlier. Both Gach, who had played so spectacularly in Saturday’s win over Colorado, struggled for much of the day and finished with more turnovers (6) than points (4), although he did lead the team with six assists. 

“I was proud of the resolve and fight with our guys,” said Krystkowiak. “We obviously had an unbelievable shooting performance by Alfonso and outrebounded them, which was a positive. But 17 turnovers — you’re not going to win many ballgames.”

Tres Tinkle led the Beavers with 19 points while Lucas and Kylor Kelley each scored 12 and Ethan Thompson scored 11. The Beavers shot 53% from the field and had 18 assists to 13 for Utah.

The Utes’ roller coaster season might be over, although there is a chance they could get an invitation to the NIT Tournament when bids are announced Sunday evening. Krystkowiak was positive when asked about the possibility. 

“Oh, for sure,” he said. “This group is connected. It’s as positive of a culture that we’ve had at Utah and we’ve got a number of young kids. If we can garner some experience from being in an NIT tournament because we weren’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament, then we’d love it.”