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SALT LAKE CITY — Just two days after facing Kentucky on the road, Utah returned home Monday to defeat the visiting Florida A&M Rattlers 93-64.
Utah scored the first points of the game on a Timmy Allen layup bucket and the Runnin’ Utes never looked back. The win Monday broke Utah’s two-game losing streak, during which the Utes struggled to garner any semblance of a consistent offense and were blown out by in-state rival BYU and then-No. 19 Kentucky.
Although Utah shot well for much of the game Monday, head coach Larry Krystkowiak was not pleased with his team's first-half effort as the team led by 10 going into the break.
"You know, this one I wasn't pleased with the first-half energy — let them shoot 60 percent, didn't have a steal, didn't have blocked shot," he said. "So it was a little disappointing."
Krystkowiak said he was forced to give an "animated" halftime speech to get the players' attention.
"I wasn't comfortable at halftime — getting as excited. It's probably as animated as I was at any halftime, and that's not the way I really want to coach," he said. "But I think sometimes that's the only way a team responds. You know, you need a little bit of a wakeup call and you can't sugar coat certain things."
Utah came out with a 49-point second-half performance and a better attention on defense, limiting the Rattlers to only 30 points in the half.
The Utes were led in scoring Monday by Parker Van Dyke, who finished the game with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting in 30 minutes. Van Dyke made six 3-pointers on 6-of-8 shooting in an impressive performance from the senior.
In total, Utah had five players in double figures on a night when the team shot 59 percent from the field. Allen and Sedrick Barefield added 16 points each on a combined 10-of-13 shooting. Riley Battin and Jayce Johnson each provided 12 points and a combined 11 rebounds.
Krystkowiak played around with several lineup options throughout the game, hoping to start a spark among his program, that is now .500 on the season with a 5-5 record after the win Monday. Krystkowiak elected to hold out team leaders Barefield and Donnie Tillman from the starting lineup.
The two finally checked into the game after the first media timeout, giving some of his younger players an opportunity to start the game. In total, 13 players saw the floor in the win over the Rattlers.
"We hadn't been starting very well, so I'm trying to jumpstart a couple guys and give a couple other guys an opportunity," Krystkowiak said. "More than any year I've been here, our starting lineups not going to be set in stone."
