SALT LAKE CITY — With 0.6 seconds left in Saturday’s 74-72 overtime win over Colorado, Both Gach was instructed to miss a free throw after making two in a row before that. That way, the Buffs would have little chance of getting time to try a long, possible game-winning shot.
But even when he tried, Gach couldn’t miss as his hard free throw banked off the backboard into the net.
“I feel I’m being myself once again, being able to make plays for myself and my teammates.” — Utah sophomore Both Gach
It was that kind of day for Gach.
Sure he missed shots, six field goals and a free throw, but for the most part everything went well for the sophomore guard. He had his best day as a Ute, scoring a career-high 28 points on 9 of 15 from the field and 8 of 9 from the line, while making the basket to send the game into overtime and the three free throws that clinched it in overtime.
As his coach Larry Krystkowiak said afterward, “Without him we wouldn’t have had a chance today.”
Gach’s play helped propel the Utes to the No. 9 spot in this week’s Pac-12 Tournament, where they’ll face Oregon State in the tipoff game Wednesday at 1 p.m. MDT against Oregon State.
Gach played most of Saturday’s game at point guard, a position he played most of last season, but he had moved to the shooting guard position with freshman Rylan Jones taking over point duties this season. He went through an awful midseason slump when he made just 22 percent of his shots over an eight-game period when he sank just 1 of 29 from 3-point range.
He’s played well last week against Stanford and Cal, scoring 15 and 19 points, respectively, and with Jones sitting out because of a head injury he suffered a week earlier, Gach took over the point and thrived in the role against Colorado.
“I feel I’m being myself once again, being able to make plays for myself and my teammates,” he said. “It’s not good being in a slump, you kind of get down on yourself but for me, it’s keep grinding it out and keep being in the gym.”
Krystkowiak said Gach and Jones are both good point guards, but play different styles.
“Both is far more explosive, athletic, getting downhill and is hard to get in front of,” he said. “When you have a stretch where you go 20-something shots from three that you don’t make, I probably wouldn’t take them and I’d try to go get on the rim and that’s what he’s really been doing a good job at.”
Besides the stellar play of Gach and Alfonso Plummer, who scored 21 points in his first starting role, one of the overlooked aspects to the game was the rebounding.
In the game at Boulder the Utes were, in Krystkowiak’s words, “pummeled” on the boards by a 42-24 count. However, on Saturday the Utes won the rebounding battle 30-27, which Krystkowiak called “the key to the game.”
The victory was a happy end to a roller-coaster regular-season for the Utes (16-14), who were excellent at home this season with a 12-2 record, but not so much away from home, where they were 1-10 in road games, including an 0-9 record in Pac-12 contests and 3-2 in neutral-site games.
Now it’s off to a neutral site the Utes are familiar with, the T-Mobile Arena, where the Utes knocked off current No. 6 team Kentucky back in December.
“It’s nothing magical, but at least we’ve been there,” Krystkowiak said. “All our guys have been in that parking lot and the whole deal won’t be quite as new as it might be for others.”