After an uneven win against Colorado that got the Runnin’ Utes back into the win column but didn’t inspire a lot of confidence about the team’s direction moving forward, Saturday’s game against West Virginia felt pivotal for Utah as it tries to get back on track in its inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference.
Against a suffocating Mountaineers defense, it was an all-too-familiar result for the Utes on the road, as they lost 72-61 to drop their Big 12 Conference record to 5-7 and their league road record to just 1-5.
Here are three takeaways from the Utes’ defeat:
Scoreless final three minutes
Thanks to a second-half bench-powered run led by Keanu Dawes, Utah cut a 14-point West Virginia lead to just six with 8:30 remaining in the second half, giving the Utes new life in a game that previously looked as if it was going to get away from them.
Utah locked down on defense, forced West Virginia to speed up on offense and eventually cut the Mountaineer lead to just five points with three minutes remaining after a 3-pointer from Jake Wahlin, but that would be the final points Utah would score in the game aside from a layup from Mike Sharavjamts with 22 seconds left after the game was well in hand for the home team.
Meanwhile, West Virginia finished the game on an 8-0 run with buckets from Jonathan Powell and Joseph Yesufu plus free throws by Powell and Javon Small.
When it mattered the most, Utah’s offense couldn’t get into a rhythm and was suffocated by the Mountaineers’ defense.
“You just can’t afford empty possessions, in particular on the road,” Utah coach Craig Smith said.
Keanu Dawes continues to shine
The best player on the court for Utah on Saturday night was Dawes, who stepped up on a night the Utes’ usual playmakers such as Gabe Madsen (seven points on 3 of 8 shooting and 1 for 5 from 3) and Ezra Ausar (six points on 3 of 5 shooting) didn’t make a sizable offensive impact.
Dawes led all Utah scorers with 14 points while adding 11 rebounds, and was the catalyst during the Utes’ run to get back into the game with 8:30 left.
Dawes scored seven points in the 11-3 run by the Utes, including a 3-pointer and a steal and a layup.
“KD was really good. He was really, really good. It was great for him. He’s a good shooter. He doesn’t shoot that many, and that’s one thing we said, ‘Hey man, when you’re ready to shoot, you got to be ready to catch and fire. You are a good shooter,’ and it was good for him to nail a couple of those,” Smith said in a postgame radio interview on ESPN 700 AM.
The lineup of Dawes, Hunter Erickson, Zach Keller, Miro Little and Mason Madsen paid off for the Utes, especially defensively, as Utah was finally able to get consistent stops.
“We did make a big adjustment, I thought with that lineup, specifically. That lineup with Zach and KD,” Smith said on ESPN 700 AM. “We had talked about this before the game, coming in, and probably when they got that 12-point lead, we switched Zach onto their four and we put KD on their five and we just switched everything and we were able to keep the ball in front of us with KD, and Zach was our big time helper off of (WVU guard Toby Okani) and they got stuck. They got stuck and we held ‘em scoreless.”
After Utah inserted its regular starters for the final five minutes of play, West Virginia went on a run to finish the game off.
“We need more production from some of our upperclassmen. We didn’t get a lot of production tonight from a couple of those guys, and those are the veteran guys that have been in these types of battles,” Smith said on ESPN 700 AM.
Dawes headed to the bench with 4:42 remaining in the game and didn’t return until 1:41 remaining. While the sophomore did need a rest, it was a puzzling decision from Smith to not insert Saturday’s best playmaker in a little sooner as the Utes’ offense unraveled down the stretch.
Utah struggles against West Virginia’s defense
Coming in Utah knew it was in for a challenge against one of the Big 12′s best defensive teams, and West Virginia backed up its reputation, stymieing the Utes’ offense.
West Virginia’s on-ball pressure for much of the night prevented the Utes from getting into consistent action on offense and forced Utah into some bad shots.
Though Utah had the size advantage over the hosts, it didn’t matter as the Mountaineers held the Utes to 41% from the field and just 26% from 3-point range.
While Utah improved in sheer numbers of turnovers — the Utes turned the ball over 10 times on Saturday as compared to 15 times against Colorado — it was what West Virginia did with those turnovers that made the difference, scoring 16 points off Ute giveaways.
“A big key to playing West Virginia, as well as a lot of teams in the Big 12, is you got to value the ball. You got to be able to take care of the ball, got to be able to make simple plays,” Smith said, “and I just thought we had a lot of self-inflicted turnovers and some they caused, right?
“And they do a great job. I mean when they get turnovers, they’re out running and they make you pay and so you can’t allow your offense to be their best offense.”
The Utes had an off night as a whole offensively, with sophomores Dawes and Jake Wahlin the only two players to score in double digits.
Utah stays on the road for its first multi-game road set of the season, flying to Ohio to take on Cincinnati on Tuesday (5 p.m. MST, ESPN+). The Utes defeated the Bearcats 69-66 on Jan. 28 in the teams’ first matchup of the season.