Midway through the second half of a game where the University of Utah was a heavy favorite against Purdue Fort Wayne, Runnin’ Utes coach Alex Jensen called a timeout after Utah had given up a second-chance bucket after getting out-hustled for a rebound.
That cut the Utes’ lead to eight points, and correction needed to be made by Utah’s first-year head coach.
While the night ended up in an 85-77 victory for the Utes, it was also an imperfect night for a Utah squad that is still learning how to play together.
“Winning is actually something that you have to learn how to do,” Jensen said. “So we’re kind of going through that, and it’s more difficult with everybody being new.”
How the game transpired
Terrence Brown, who was shooting an ice-cold 1 of 15 (6.7%) from 3-point range through the Utes’ first four games, finally got hot from outside.
He made his first three 3-point attempts of the night over the first 7:15, including back-to-back 3s, to give Utah a 21-11 lead at the second media timeout of the first half.
That helped Utah set the tone early and carry a double-digit lead through much of the first half before going into the break leading 42-32.
Utah quickly pushed that lead out to a game-high 16 at 48-32 after Brown hit two more 3s in the first minute of the second half, but the Mastodons, to their credit, fought back and kept that lead hovering around eight to 12 points over the next several minutes.
While Utah led for all but 47 seconds Tuesday night, eventually Purdue Fort Wayne made it a six-point contest at 71-65 with 1:52 to play.
Don McHenry then came up clutch on two straight offensive possessions.
First, he scored on an and-one on a deft drive to the basket, then made the subsequent free throw. After the Mastodons countered with a 3 to make it a six-point game again, he nailed a step-back 3 with 52 seconds to play to increase the lead to nine again at 77-68.
Utah then wrapped up the win from the free-throw line.
When will Utah show it can put away an opponent?
Utah went into the night with a 4-0 record, all against teams the Utes were favored to beat.
That was the case with Purdue Fort Wayne as well, who came into the night ranked No. 261 in KenPom’s ratings.
By the end of the night, though, the topic of conversation turned to Utah allowing another team to stick around.
While Utah led by as many as 16 and never trailed in the second half, Purdue Fort Wayne shot 60.7% in the final 20 minutes, making things uneasy down the stretch. The Utes’ defense has yet to show it can avoid lapses, and the Mastodons had a 42-34 edge in points in the paint.
That’s concerning for the Utes, who will soon see their competition level increase.
“We were aggressive with them on the pick and roll. So I think mostly, it was the block outs, offensive rebounds, the points in the paint, and then just missed assignments on the weak side,” Jensen said, adding that at times Utah lost its mental focus.
“We wanted to pressure them at the point, which left us vulnerable underneath. If somebody forgot their assignment, it makes it hard to rebound as well. But I think we executed pretty well for most of the night.”
Already this season, Utah had to overcome a 10-point second-half deficit to win in overtime against Weber State.
In their last game against Sam Houston, the Utes led by 20 before holding on to win by six and saw their lead trimmed to two with just over a minute to play.
The early season has given the Utes, who are still building chemistry, the chance to experience game situations where they need to execute late.
“I think even though they’re close games at the end, when they really shouldn’t be, is teaching us how to be able to finish games, even though we shouldn’t really be in the situation where we need to (have) this learning experience from it,” Utah forward Keanu Dawes said. “But I think we are learning how to finish games.”
That’s the positive side. Taken with a glass half-empty perspective, Utah should have won each of its first four games with more ease than it has at times, particularly the Weber State game.
Utah will host Cal Poly on Thursday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) in the final game of a six-game home-stand to start the year.
After that, the Utes will be away from the Huntsman for three games, including two at the Acrisure Series in Palm Desert, California, next week and Utah’s first true road game at California on Dec. 2.
Thursday’s matchup with the Mustangs will be Utah’s last one to tune up before hitting the road for the first time.
“It’s a big deal,” Jensen said, of how much newness there is on Utah’s roster and its coaching staff. “The staff’s new. The players are new. It’s something that you probably don’t want to have every year, because it takes time.
“Winning is something that you learn how to do and I think we’re learning that. And coaches and players, some of us have won other places, but this is different, new for me.”
There’s glimpses of athleticism and cohesion
Anyone who’s watched the past few years of Utah basketball can recognize that the athleticism has received a significant boost with Jensen’s first squad.
At one point in the first half, James Okonkwo, who had 10 rebounds of the night in his second game of the season, jumped into the air to grab a loose ball, then tossed it behind him to a teammate to get the ball back in play on offense. That led to two points.
Josh Hayes had one sequence where he skied to block a shot on one end, then scored with a left-handed shot in the lane.
In the final minute of the first half, after Utah turned over the ball on an in-bound, Hayes swatted another shot in the lane that brought some oohs from the crowd.
As usual, Dawes showed off his dunking skills and Brown drove to the lane with fervor.
In the second half with eight minutes to play, Seydou Traore came up with a steal and fed Brown, who quickly dribbled down court on the fast break, reversed his dribble to move past a defender and finished at the rim for a layup to push Utah’s lead to 13 at 69-56.
It was one of those moves that Utah fans are starting to get used to with the shifty, talented guard.
Yes, there were plenty of defensive lapses that will make the film session an animated one and the Utes had some ill-timed turnovers on a night where Utah had one more turnover, at 11 to 10, and lost the points-off-turnovers battle, 16-10.
In the past two games, Utah has started to show better chemistry and cohesion as a group of 12 newcomers starts to gel.
Those lapses, though, have kept games closer when it looked like the Utes would start pulling away.
Brown led the Utes with a season-high 27 points, as he shot 7 of 14 from the field, 5 of 8 from 3 and a perfect 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. Brown also had four steals, two rebounds and two assists, with just one turnover.
Four Utes scored in double-figures. McHenry had 18 points and a team-high six assists, while Traore put up 17 points and Dawes added his third double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Brown preached patience, that the gelling and cohesion will come if Utah continues to focus on its scouting and prep with a “certain intention to be get better.”
“We’re really intentional on what we want to do and what we want to get out of (scouting and games), and coaches just really high detailed on what what a player does,” Brown said. “So I feel like, if we just keep doing that and then work on the things that coach tells us do, like transition defense, rebounding and then low turnovers, I feel like would be good against anybody.”
3-point shooting early in each half helped lift Utah
Traore and Brown both made three 3s in the first half to pace an effort that had Utah shooting 56.7% in the opening 20 minutes and taking a 10-point lead into the break.
Utah’s first four makes of the second half all came from long range as well.
Brown hit 3s from opposite corners on back-to-back possessions to make it a 48-32 game, then McHenry and Traore hit from 3-point range as Utah started the second half hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.
“Coach was just instilling confidence into me every single day,” Brown said, even as he started off the year with a low 3-point shooting percentage. “Obviously, I got confidence in myself, but it hits different missing as much as I did.
“... Overall, (having) my whole team being behind me, and then hearing the fans just once you hear one going, it’s like, it gives you more confidence to keep shooting more.”
Utah made a season-high 12 3-pointers, on 29 attempts, as part of a night where the Utes shot 51.8% from the floor overall.
The ability to hit timely 3-pointers was one of the bright spots of the night for the Utes and played a role in Purdue Fort Wayne not challenging the Utes further.
Brown ended up making a team-high five 3-pointers, Traore added four, McHenry had two and Jacob Patrick also hit from outside.
“The best part about (the 3-pointers) early on is they were assisted,” said Jensen, whose team had 12 assists on 17 made baskets in the first half and 17 assists on 29 makes overall. “... At any level you play, when the threes are assisted, it’s a great shot, and it kind of brings the team together.
“We kind of lost our patience and tried to make things happen on the first side of the floor. But yeah, we had some great 3s early on and spaced and played with the pass.”