Utah basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak sat in a high-rise Seattle hotel room Saturday afternoon and talked with reporters via Zoom about his favorite restaurant in that city — Metropolitan Grill — and several other fairly lighthearted topics while also answering questions about how well the Utes played in a 71-56 win over Washington State Thursday in what was supposed to be the tougher game on their Pacific Northwest road swing.
Twenty-four hours later, Krystkowiak was in the bowels of the Alaska Airlines Arena, tersely answering questions about why the Utes (6-7, 3-6 Pac-12) played so poorly down the stretch in an 83-79 loss to a Washington Huskies team that entered the Sunday afternoon contest in last place in the league standings with a 1-7 record.
Welcome to life in the Pac-12 and this puzzling Utah basketball season, where the Utes can seemingly beat any team in the conference one night, then lose to any team in the league the next, as star forward Timmy Allen said after Utah ripped Stanford 79-65 at the Huntsman Center on Jan. 14 before losing to Cal 72-63 two days later.
Prognosticators could go broke wagering on this unpredictable eighth-place team, which doesn’t play again until Saturday night at third-place Colorado (12-4, 6-3) in a game to be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
“We just gotta be better from the top down, take care of the ball better. Simple message. Not much you can say after a loss like that.” — Timmy Allen
“We just gotta be better from the top down, take care of the ball better,” Allen said after coming close to a triple-double — 15 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds — against the Huskies, but committing four turnovers, including a costly one with just over two minutes remaining and Utah clinging to a 77-74 lead. “Simple message. Not much you can say after a loss like that.”
When you have been competitive in all nine of your league games, but lost six, there is obviously a lot you can work on. But here’s the rub: As soon as the Utes get one problem figured out, another “rears its ugly head,” as Krystkowiak likes to say.
Sunday’s problem was a failure to finish; Utah was better or even with the Huskies (3-11, 2-7) in almost every statistical category. It was reminiscent of the Utes’ 72-70 loss at first-place and No. 23-ranked UCLA when they led for most of the game but didn’t make enough plays down the stretch to pull off the upset of the 12-3 Bruins.
“You just gotta look yourself in the mirror and see where you can be better all-around,” said Allen, a stand-up leader who takes losses hard and always looks inward when discussing the ways Utah can improve.
Turnovers generally haven’t plagued the Utes this season, but they did Sunday and they did in the 79-73 loss to then-No. 17 Oregon on Jan. 9 when they had 18 giveaways.
Asked what Utah could have done differently against UW after committing three turnovers in the final two minutes, two seconds, a somber Krystkowiak paused for awhile and then said it was a combination of poor drilling and poor passing.
“We got into the paint, Timmy (Allen) got stripped. Rylan (Jones) threw a ball away and Ian (Martinez) threw a ball away, so that’s what needed to change,” he said.
Against Washington State, the Utes shared the ball magnificently, assisting on 19 of 28 field goals. So the potential is there.
“This team, we have a special bond here with each other. We are all brothers. We are going to be focused and dialed in and be ready for our next game. So yeah, I definitely think we have tough players and a positive attitude and we will bounce back from this one.” — Branden Carlson
Utah coaches like to remind their players that “defense travels” even when shots aren’t falling, and Krystkowiak was generally OK with the defense played Sunday. That wasn’t the case in the loss to Cal when the Bears scored 50 points in the second half at the Huntsman Center.
If there’s a positive, it seems that Utah has improved its rebounding. That hasn’t been a problem since it was outrebounded by 18 against Colorado in Salt Lake City.
Also encouraging is the recent play of sophomore center Branden Carlson, who had a career-high 18 points against UW. Carlson said more consistent play is on the horizon and the Utes will stay unified.
“This team, we have a special bond here with each other,” Carlson said. “We are all brothers. We are going to be focused and dialed in and be ready for our next game. So yeah, I definitely think we have tough players and a positive attitude and we will bounce back from this one.”