LAS VEGAS — Utah men’s basketball coach Craig Smith left the possibility open that fifth-year center Branden Carlson could play in the Runnin’ Utes’ Pac-12 tournament opener against Arizona State.
He also kept that possibility realistic, saying it will be a game-time decision when No. 6 seed Utah plays the No. 11 seed Sun Devils in the tournament’s first round Wednesday night (9:30 p.m. MDT, Pac-12 Network).
“There’s a chance he’ll play, there’s a chance he will not play, so it’s just really going to be dependent on how things recover,” Smith said. “But it’s certainly, he’s doing everything he possibly can to get on that floor.
“... It’s been a tough injury. He’s handled it so well. He’s itching and scratching, inclined to be on that floor to represent the University of Utah on Wednesday night, but we will not know up until that point.”
Carlson left the Utes’ most recent game — a 66-65 loss at Oregon — with just over 17 minutes remaining after he got tangled up with Oregon’s N’Faly Dante while battling for position inside.
Carlson, who was named to the All-Pac-12 first team for the second straight year, eventually returned to the Utah bench with ice wrapped around his left elbow, but he never returned to the game.
The fifth-year senior has been playing some of his best basketball in recent weeks, including a 30-point effort in Utah’s home finale two weeks ago, a career-high 40 points in a loss at Oregon State last week and 19 points in just over a half against the Ducks.
Having Carlson available would be a major benefit for a Utah team that is fighting to get back into NCAA Tournament contention with Selection Sunday just five days away.
“Obviously with us being on the bubble, so to speak, a lot of this last month or what have you, even going into that road weekend with Oregon State and Oregon, he showed up ready to compete and put his best foot forward and tried to will our team to victory,” Smith said.
“... We’re not counting on him playing. Obviously we’re cautiously optimistic. He’s doing everything he possibly can but you can only do what you can do, so if he’s out on the floor, he’s going to make a monster impact the best he can and if he can’t go, he will try to impact the game by coaching his teammates and encouraging those guys and helping them be ready to compete.”
If Carlson, the team’s leader in scoring (17.5 points per game), rebounding (6.9) and blocks (1.6), isn’t available, Smith said everyone will have to step up a little bit to help fill those big shoes.
In the post, that means a bigger assignment for guys like forward Ben Carlson, as well as centers Lawson Lovering and Keba Keita.
“It’s not one guy that’s typically going to do it. We need everybody just to be a little bit better and everybody has to just be a little bit tighter with their game, so to speak. We have to have even more connectivity with our communication,” Smith said.
“We just have to be better all the way around and we have to make some adjustments as a coaching staff.”
Utah (18-13) enters the Pac-12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas looking to rebuild some momentum after a pair of losses on the road last week that moved the Utes from bubble consideration a week ago to off the NCAA Tournament map heading into the tournament.
The Utes will likely need a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament to give themselves a shot at snapping a seven-year NCAA Tournament drought.
That may be a tall ask for a program that’s never won a Pac-12 tournament and has only reached the championship game once.
The way Smith sees this year’s league, it’s anyone’s game — even with No. 6 Arizona and No. 22 Washington State the clear favorites.
“I think when you look at each game in terms of one game at a time, I don’t think it would be surprising to see any individual team win,” he said.
“Now, you got to have some depth, you got to play, have some momentum, got to have some star power and you got to have some tenaciousness to find a way to win three games in three days or four, eight of us four games in four days. I don’t think anything will be surprising.”
“We’ve got to do a better job of contesting shots, not allowing them to be comfortable. Forty-two% of their points against us have come in transition and off of our turnovers.”
— Utah coach Craig Smith, on facing Arizona State
First up for Utah is an Arizona State team that swept the Runnin’ Utes in their two regular-season matchups.
The Sun Devils (14-17) enter the tournament on a three-game losing streak and will be playing without Jose Perez, who averaged 24.5 points in ASU’s two wins over Utah this season.
Perez left the team last week and is already playing professionally overseas.
“Both times they played us, they shot it very well, made double-digit 3s at a very good percentage,” Smith said. “We’ve got to do a better job of contesting shots, not allowing them to be comfortable. Forty-two% of their points against us have come in transition and off of our turnovers.”
The Sun Devils have also been able to disrupt the Utes offensively in their two previous matchups.
“They are incredibly athletic. They’re going to pressure and deny you and disrupt you and try to take you out of your offense,” Smith said. “It’s hard to get rhythm, clean shots against these guys because they are very, very athletic and aggressive.”
Utah’s coach emphasized his team will also need to take care of the ball against the Sun Devils — the Utes averaged 14 turnovers in their two losses to ASU, the same number they had last Saturday in their one-point loss at Oregon.
“Against Oregon I thought we did some amazing things. We defended hard. We did some great things,” Smith said. “But the No. 1 reason we lost that game by one is our turnovers, and so we have to take care of the ball against these guys and we cannot allow their defense to be their best offense.”