Utah’s men’s basketball team just can’t seem to catch a scheduling break in this season of the coronavirus pandemic.
Case in point: Saturday night’s moved-up-a-day game against the No. 17 Oregon Ducks at the Huntsman Center. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network; spectators will not be allowed in the building, as has been the case for the Utes all season.
After Wednesday’s matchup with Oregon State was postponed because of COVID-19 issues within OSU’s program, the Utes (4-3, 1-2 Pac-12) were hoping to host a red-hot Oregon team on a lengthy winning streak to build their waning NCAA Tournament resume.
But the showdown lost some luster Thursday when Colorado downed the Ducks 79-72 in Boulder, snapping UO’s eight-game winning streak. No other Pac-12 team is ranked, and folks are already starting to worry that the Pac-12 could be a three- or four-bid league in the Big Dance if other teams don’t step up.
“So we can all cry and moan and be upset about it. ... A lot of it is how you are going to view things and the attitude you are going to carry forward. So we are going to remain as positive as possible and try to throw our best punch with each of these games and play and compete and do what we have all fought and scratched to be able to do.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak
Oregon is No. 17 in the Kenpom.com rankings, while Colorado is No. 19, USC is No. 20 and UCLA is No. 32.
Utah sits at No. 68, a spot below rival BYU after the Cougars were waxed 86-69 by No. 1 Gonzaga Thursday night in another hastily arranged contest.
In the all-important NCAA NET rankings, Oregon dropped from No. 21 to No. 26 after losing to Colorado, which is now the Pac-12’s highest NET team, at No. 11.
Utah’s NET ranking is 110.
Suddenly, Saturday’s game becomes the most important on the Utes’ schedule, in terms of taking a step toward getting an at-large bid to the tournament. Monday’s might be just as big.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak said Friday in a Zoom meeting with reporters that the Utes are just happy to be playing and nobody can afford to complain this year.
“So we can all cry and moan and be upset about it,” he said, noting that the Utes will play 20% of their conference games in the next seven days. “A lot of it is how you are going to view things and the attitude you are going to carry forward. So we are going to remain as positive as possible and try to throw our best punch with each of these games and play and compete and do what we have all fought and scratched to be able to do.”
Point guard Rylan Jones said Utah is expecting an angry opponent, after Colorado joined Missouri as the only team to beat the Ducks this season. Missouri won 83-75 on Dec. 2 in Omaha, Nebraska.
“I mean, you always come out harder, more aggressive, after a loss,” Jones said. “So I am sure they will be fired up to play. Coach (Dana) Altman is a really good coach, so he is going to have them ready to go, and we got to be ready to go as well.”
After the Utes lost 64-46 to USC last Saturday, Krystkowiak said the defense played well enough to deliver a victory, but the offense was found lacking. Still, the 10-year Ute coach said it is far too early to panic. He said it was mostly a case of the Utes missing wide open shots.
“So we have looked at a whole bunch of numbers and data, and I am still confident that we have what it takes,” he said Monday. “And you can’t get too mentally caught up in it when you come off two losses.”
Jones, who is averaging just 7.4 points per game after averaging 9.6 his freshman season, said he has been told by “a couple of coaches” this week to “be more aggressive and always play on attack.” The sophomore is shooting 47% from the field — seven percentage points better than last year — and 45% from 3-point range, but is playing three fewer minutes, partly because of the emergence of freshman Pelle Larsson, a combo guard who can run the point.
“I am trying to be more aggressive as long as I make the right play,” Jones said.
Krystkowiak said he takes some responsibility for Jones’ reticence to shoot this season.
“I think Rylan is trying to be the prototypical point guard who is getting everybody else involved,” Krystkowiak said. “We will run some sets and various things to get some guys shots. And I am not sure I have done a great job figuring out how we are going to get Rylan shots, and that’s something we have worked on this week.”
Asked what offensive adjustments the Utes will make moving forward — they host Colorado on Monday at 4 p.m. in another moved-up game — Jones said it all has to start with making shots.
“We have just been working on getting the ball from side to side more, and just being more patient, moving the ball side to side, getting more movement, player movement, and just making shots,” he said. “If we made shots, we probably could have won that (USC) game and will probably win a lot more games.”
The postponement of the OSU game was Utah’s third this season — joining Arizona State and New Orleans, which were because of virus issues on the Utes’ side of the ledger. Still, the Utes have played just seven games, fewest in the Pac-12.
Jones said playing fewer games put them at a disadvantage earlier in the season — like when they lost 82-64 at BYU in the Cougars’ eighth game, and their third — but isn’t really a factor now.
“I feel like everybody has enough games under their belt now that everybody is right around the same track,” he said.
As for Oregon, the Ducks are led in scoring by 6-foot-6 senior forward Eugene Omoruyi at 18.6 points per game, followed by 6-6 senior guard Chris Duarte at 17.7 and 6-6 junior forward Eric Williams Jr. at 11.7. Senior guard/forward LJ Figueroa is their top rebounder, grabbing 6.9 boards per game.
“They are just good players, and good players are hard to deal with,” Jones said.
A lot like a virus-altered college basketball schedule.