The Runnin’ Utes were on the comeback trail, the announced crowd of 8,235 — every bit of that number this time, for once — had the Huntsman Center rocking louder than it has rocked in years and a double-digit Oregon lead had been cut to five with 74 seconds remaining.
Was undefeated-in-the-Pac-12 Utah ready to exorcise some demons against a program that has basically owned it since the Utes joined the league in 2011?
Not quite, and not yet.
“Tonight is super disappointing because we didn’t eliminate losing. We gotta be better than we were tonight.” — Utah basketball coach Craig Smith.
Oregon held on for a 70-60 victory, handing Utah (5-1, 12-5) its first Pac-12 loss of the season and knocking the Utes out of its first-place tie with UCLA, the team the Utes will face Thursday at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood.
Making matters worse, this particular miscue was self-inflicted, and sapped all the energy out of the building, except for the couple dozen Ducks fans in attendance and Oregon’s bench.
Utah coach Craig Smith and fifth-year Marco Anthony called it both a microcosm of the Utes’ struggles overall on a night when they had the opportunity to seize more attention, and more love from a fanbase that has been reticent to jump on the bandwagon the past four or five years.
Here’s what happened: With the Ducks leading 63-58 with 1:14 left, Oregon’s N’Faly Dante missed two free throws. But after Dante’s second miss, the Utes inexplicably failed to box out, and OU point guard Will Richardson somehow snuck in and grabbed the offensive rebound.
Seventeen seconds later, Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier made his only 3-pointer of the game, after missing his first five attempts from deep, and the Ducks had a 66-58 lead.
Ball game.
“We showed a lot of character coming back and giving ourselves some chances,” Smith said. “We cut it to five late, and then we foul and they miss a free throw and we give up an offensive rebound to their point guard. You can’t do that if you expect to be great.”
You also can’t lose to a mediocre Oregon team (now 3-2 in the Pac-12, 9-7 overall) that lost to Utah Valley on its home court before Christmas and was hammered 68-41 by Colorado on Thursday and expect fans to blow it off and come back in force again in two weeks.
But that’s the end result of not matching Oregon’s energy level until the final four minutes. The Ducks took a 63-51 lead on a Richardson jumper with 3:41 left before the Utes came storming back, unleashing a wicked full-court press that had the Ducks flustered and coming apart at the seams.
“Tonight is super disappointing because we didn’t eliminate losing,” Smith said. “… We gotta be better than we were tonight.”
Oregon might have won this game when it lost by 27 two nights ago, because the Ducks had a fire and intensity that they have rarely displayed this season for veteran coach Dana Altman.
“Obviously, that is a very talented team over there,” Smith said. “… They had a bitter loss the other night. So you know (with) a championship level program, and Dana Altman is a great coach. You knew they would respond in a great way. … They weren’t going to play like that two times in a row.”
With an opportunity to stay undefeated in league play and make Thursday’s showdown in Los Angeles must-see TV as a 4.5-point favorite, Utah wasn’t quite ready for prime time, for whatever reason.
“I just thought it started from the (opening) jump,” said Anthony, who led the Utes in scoring with 15 and rebounding with 10 and was the only player dressed in a black jersey who didn’t struggle, in Smith’s estimation.
Anthony said the failure to box out on the missed free throw “kinda summed up the night” for the Runnin’ Utes, who had won three straight and entered the game with a NET ranking of 31 and a No. 10 projected seed for the NCAA Tournament in ESPN’s Bracketology.
Added guard Lazar Stefanovic, who had 13 points but committed four turnovers and was 5 of 17 from the field: “I think we had some uncharacteristic mistakes. That box-out (failure) was one of them.”
The Utes struggled at times against Oregon’s length and athleticism, and committed 14 turnovers. They were 3 of 21 from 3-point range (14.3%) and got sped up at times by an Oregon outfit playing like it had nothing to lose.
“I didn’t think we were very good tonight. Some of that was Oregon. Some of the stuff was self-inflicted,” Smith said. “I just thought we looked like we were on our heels, which they can do to you, just with their length and athleticism and some of their pressing.”
The Ducks shot 40%, which doesn’t seem that impressive until one considers that Utah is usually elite defensively. The Utes entered the day ranked No. 3 in the country in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 36.3% shooting from the field.
“We knew they were going to come out with a bigger edge,” Anthony said. “… This stings a little bit more because of the track we are on, and the track we are headed.”
Stefanovic described Smith’s post-game locker room message as “really short,” while Anthony said his takeaway was that “we are going to take this (feeling) and not be in this position again.”
Oregon outscored Utah 30-24 in the paint, with Dante leading all scorers with 17 and Richardson chipping in 11.
For the Utes, it hurt that star center Branden Carlson did not have one of his best games, partly due to some early foul trouble. Carlson was doubled a lot in the post and attempted just six shots, making two. He did have nine rebounds to go with his 10 points.
Sharpshooting guard Gabe Madsen also struggled, going 1 of 8 from the field and 0 for 4 from beyond the arc.
“At the end of the day, it would have helped if we had shot the 3 better,” Smith said. “We go 3 for 21 from the 3, and some of those were really good looks. I thought some of them were forced looks. But that is what length and athleticism can do to you, so we gotta be better against that.”
After Guerrier’s killer 3-pointer, Anthony hit a shot to get the Utes within six with 47 seconds left. However, Rivaldo Soares and Jeremaine Couisnard hit free throws to put it away for the visitors, the big crowd hit the exits.
“I do want to thank our fans that came out tonight. That is partially why (it is so disappointing),” Smith said. “I mean, it sucks losing. But we had a good crowd tonight and I thought they had a great spirit to them and were trying to will us when we were kinda stuck in the mud there for a stretch.”