Defense. Defense. Defense.
That was the postgame lament of Utah coach Alex Jensen as he talked about his team’s latest setback, an 81-78 loss at Kansas State on Tuesday night.
It’s a familiar frustration for the Runnin’ Utes in a season wherein losses are mounting in recent weeks as Utah makes its way through Big 12 play under its first-year head coach.
“Our problem, kind of all season, has been defense. (We) can’t score enough points to make up for bad defense,” Jensen told reporters postgame.
On Tuesday there were nine lead changes, and six times the game was tied at Bramlage Coliseum, though the real headline of the contest was the ballyhooed matchup between high-end scorers P.J. Haggerty of Kansas State and Terrence Brown of Utah.
It absolutely lived up to the hype.
Unfortunately for Utah, its chance to earn a road win in Big 12 action — no small feat — was undone by mistakes in key moments in the arena known as the “Octagon of Doom.”
For Kansas State, the win stopped a five-game losing streak (10-9, 1-5 Big 12), while Utah (9-10, 1-5 Big 12) has now lost five of its last six, with the only win a three-point victory at home against TCU last Saturday.
For the fifth time in league play, Utah gave up 80 or more points, as Kansas State shot 50% from the floor. Only Arizona State is giving up more points than Utah in Big 12 action, with ASU allowing opponents to score an average of 95 points per game, while the Utes are now at 86.5.
“Throughout the game, we’ve got to get stops,” Jensen said.
Those defensive struggles overshadowed the offensive showcase between Haggerty and Brown.
Haggerty only had six points in the first half, though he also had four assists in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, though, the Big 12’s top scorer put up another 28 points on 12 of 18 shooting and finished the night with 34 points.
Haggerty scored all but seven of the Wildcats’ 35 second-half points, and that included a stretch when he scored 22 of Kansas State’s 25 points, with a 3 from David Castillo the only other points from another Wildcats player.
Brown had his moments, too — he made a more balanced scoring impact in both halves, with 14 in the first half and 19 in the second.
Like Haggerty, he scored more than half of his team’s second-half points. Brown’s 33 points on the night included five points in an 8-0 run when Utah took a game-high 60-55 lead, then he scored six of the Utes’ final seven points.
Following their performances Tuesday, Haggerty (at 23.4 points per game) and Brown (22.2) were 1-2 in the Big 12 in scoring.
“It was probably fun to watch,” Jensen said.
He added, “There are a few special players that can do it, but the ones that get the stops usually end up getting the wins. ... I thought we could have given a little more effort there at the end, but you know, Haggerty is a great player. He’s a veteran player, hard to stop.”
In the final minute, Kansas State outperformed the Utes.
Brown scored on a driving layup with one minute to play, tying the game at 77-77.
Haggerty had yet another answer, scoring on a jumper to make it 79-77 with 39.4 seconds to go.
“When it was winning time, my man’s a winner,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang told CBS Sports Network.
On Utah’s next possession, Brown missed a left-handed layup on a well-guarded drive to the hoop, but Haggerty’s outlet pass off that miss was too far in front of his teammate and went out of bounds for a turnover.
With Utah given a second chance to tie the contest or take the lead, the Utes got the ball in the hands of their other top guard, Don McHenry — an understandable play, given that Kansas State was constantly doubling Brown at this point.
McHenry, who had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists in the game, drew a shooting foul — while he was trying to draw three foul shots, McHenry’s foot was on the line and he was awarded two.
But McHenry, normally one of the Utes’ most reliable free throw shooters, missed the first, then made the second to cut the Kansas State lead to 79-78.
Utah then fouled Nate Johnson with 6.7 seconds to play, and he made both shots from the line to make it a three-point game.
With the Utes out of timeouts, Brown brought the ball upcourt and got a decent look at a game-tying 3, but it bounced off, giving Kansas State the win.
The Wildcats were dealing with attrition going into the contest. They didn’t have their second-leading scorer, Abdi Bashir Jr., while Khamari McGriff was hurt during shootarounds Tuesday.
Castillo, who entered the starting lineup for Bashir, stepped up in that opportunity, as he hit a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 20 points, with 18 of those points coming in the first half, when Kansas State shot 10 of 18 from 3-point range.
Johnson also came up big, with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists.
“I give a lot of credit to Jerome and Kansas State. They had a few guys out and had some guys step up. They did a good job, made some good adjustments to the game,” Jensen said.
Utah’s Keanu Dawes, meanwhile, wasn’t his usual self as he played through a foot injury, per the CBS Sports Network broadcast.
He was listed as “questionable” on the Big 12’s initial availability report for the game and he ended up playing 31 minutes, though he finished scoreless with seven rebounds, an assist and a block.
“Keanu Dawes, he’s been playing well. Disappointing tonight, because he’s another guy that we need to be aggressive on offense to take the pressure off (Brown and McHenry),” Jensen said. “And I think he was a little hesitant most tonight on what he was doing.”
That did allow for other guys to step up, particularly Seydou Traore and Josh Hayes.
Traore scored in double-figures for a second straight game, as he had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.
Hayes, meanwhile, shot 4 of 5 and scored nine points to go with three rebounds and a blocked shot.
Give Utah credit, the Utes overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half before making it a tight contest through the entirety of the second.
And unlike several of their previous Big 12 losses, Utah actually had the opportunity in the final minute to win.
Some untimely turnovers, even though Utah had just nine giveaways to 10 for Kansas State, and a low number of assists — 10 of 32 — were also troublesome for the Utes.
The end result was frustration following a game where the Utes had chances to add a conference win. Now, they’ll get ready for their second matchup with No. 13 BYU in as many weeks.
“The big thing is just, you can’t make the same mistakes repeatedly. There’s easy things that you have you’re in control,” Jensen said in his ESPN 700 postgame interview.
“... It’s all the little things, and you know, we’re better at it, but we gotta continue to improve on making those things habits, and then the scoring and all that stuff will come.”