Trending: Utes sweep the Evergreen State, and midseason grades


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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah’s Evergreen State road trip could not have gone any better as the Utes managed successive blowout wins over Washington St. and Washington. KSL.com details the Utes’ successful road trip in this edition of trending.

No UCLA hangover for this Utes squad

After what might have been a debilitating loss for the Utes at home vs. UCLA, they managed to push it from their minds and take care of business this week in Washington. In an 88-47 win over Washington State and a 94-72 win over Washington, the Utes managed to do something they haven’t done since 2015: beat two Pac-12 foes by 20 points or more and shoot a combined 59 percent while doing it.

The Washington State game was impressive and matched Utah’s largest margin of victory in the Pac-12 from last year, also against the Cougars, seven players scored nine points or more, and the Utah bench was cleared with a few minutes left to go.

Wazzu is, however, one of the weaker schools in the conference, and that victory won’t ring any bells for the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Utah's win over Washington and Markelle Fultz, the presumable No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft, might carry a little more weight. Utah managed a remarkable 60 points in the paint in the win, scoring 40 of those on layups or dunks.

In fact, 20 of their 39 field goals came on layups or dunks. Fultz managed to get his, scoring 30 points in 39 minutes of play, but Washington never seriously threatened Utah, and the Utes left the Evergreen State with a road sweep.

It’s yet unclear whether Utah will make the NCAA Tournament, but if they do, at what point will we look back and define a turning point in their season? For weeks, the Utes plodded along, playing almost exactly as we expected them to by winning most the games they should win, losing the ones they should lose and slipping up occasionally. Generally, they played like a team picked to finish between sixth and eighth in the Pac-12 Conference.

Now, Utah is playing like a viable fourth-best or maybe even third-best team in the Pac-12. After their win over UCLA on the road, Arizona joins Oregon as top dogs in the conference. Utah trails UCLA by a game for third place in the Pac-12. Was it the opening conference win over Colorado? The dismantling of USC at home? Or, more likely, was it the heartbreaking loss to UCLA in the final seconds that now has Utah on a collision course? Whatever the case, team sentiment was clear after that close shave with the mighty Bruins.

“Eighth in the league?” said a quizzical Lorenzo Bonam, speaking on the media’s preseason projection of Utah. “I’m gonna be real, that’s disrespectful. They really underestimate us because we got a lot of freshmen, a lot of new bodies, a lot of new people, and they really didn’t know the talent that they have. Now, they’re starting to see it, and they’re starting to change their minds.”

Season grades thus far

We are well passed the midway mark in terms of games played, but two months through the college basketball season with another two left to go, it’s time to give the Utes some midseason grades:

Coaching: A-

Overall, the Utes have far outplayed expectations. Was that due to lack of exposure, or can we give credit to the coaching staff? Whatever the case, Larry Krystkowiak and his seasoned staff have done a remarkable job with this team.

Three things point to good coaching helping Utah succeed this season:

  • The ability to change: In previous seasons, the Runnin’ Utes employed very little zone defense and shot a lot more 3-pointers. This year, the Utes have blended a ton of zone into what is still primarily a man defense, and they’ve done it to great success. Since employing the zone, Utah’s defensive rating has improved by nearly three points per 100 possessions, per Kenpom.com. They also have crashed to the paint on offense more, reducing their 3-point attempt rate by nearly 6 percent, and in doing so, have seen their offensive rating improve to 39th in the nation.
  • Finding an offensive identity: This took Utah longer than expected to occur, but now, the Utes are off and running since discovering their two-point prowess. After beginning the season attempting nearly 36 percent of their shots from 3-point land, Utah has refocused on the paint and is shooting an incredible 59 percent inside the arc, fifth-best in the nation. Bonam and fellow slashing guard Devon Daniels are succeeding at the highest rates of anyone on the team at scoring efficiently, as each finds himself in the top 70 players in the nation in two-point field-goal percentage: Bonam, fourth int he nation, shoots 74 percent, while Daniels, 67th, shoots 64 percent.
  • Managing new faces and new spaces: With the arrival of 10 new faces on this roster, and the return of another in Parker Van Dyke from an LDS mission, the staff had a monumental task to integrate everyone into the team and define a role for each. In addition, there would likely be new roles for old faces. With the emergence of newcomers Sedrick Barefield and JoJo Zamora, Bonam, who saw much of his time at point guard last season, has shifted into more of an off-ball role, though he continues to share plenty of ball handling duties. Kyle Kuzma, likewise, has had to adjust to playing more true power forward after playing a ton of minutes as a hybrid forward last season, catching the ball in the post and handling the rebounding duties. Those are not easy transitions for anyone to make, but the Utes have made it look easy this year.
Things haven’t been perfect, hence the A- instead of an A or A+ — the gags down the stretch against UCLA are proof of that — but overall, this coaching staff has been fantastic thus far.

Guards: B+

Transition defense, ball movement, and ball security have been identifiable issues for this Utah team, and those duties mostly fall on the guard position’s shoulders. The Utes don’t sport a great assist to turnover rate (1.12-1), and still this is likely the deepest and most talented the Utes have been at the guard position in years.

The emergence of a wing stopper who can also create on the offensive end in Devon Daniels has been the most obvious improvement, but the offensive firepower now afforded the Utes with the arrival of Barefield and Zamora has truly changed things. Bonam continues to be the proverbial engine of the guard line, making things go. No one replaces a Delon Wright, but these guards as a whole unit shoot better and create offense easier than any guard line in the Krystkowiak era.

Forwards: B

Perhaps it would be better to assess the forwards individually because they all play such different games from one another. In assessing this unit as a group, however, great promise is often thwarted by inexperience or a general lack of chemistry. Defensively, Utah has struggled to rebound against the conference’s top teams. In all reality, defensive rebounding cost Utah in both conference losses, but especially against UCLA, where 10 Bruin offensive rebounds resulted in multiple 3-pointers that proved too much for the Utes.

Tyler Rawson, a magnificent offensive player, has struggled to match the physicality of other Pac-12 big men. David Collette, as talented and as important as he has become to this Utah machine, is at times a black hole on offense. Jayce Johnson is young, energetic and powerful, but still looks at times like a duck out of water, especially on offense. And Kuzma, Utah’s presumed leader and cornerstone? He’s played very well, yet has struggled mightily to find his 3-point range. He’s 11-for-45 against D-I opponents. If that comes around, this Utah team is a whole different animal.


Stephen Lindsey covers Utah athletics for KSL.com, as well as the SLC Stars and prep sports. Get in touch with him via twitter at @slthe3.

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