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SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin' Utes finished their 2013-14 home schedule with a 75-64 win over Colorado (20-9, 9-7) Saturday afternoon at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
Here are the takeaways from the Utah (19-9, 8-8) victory.
Defense delivers
The Buffaloes came into Salt Lake City looking to bounce back from a 27-point home loss to Arizona last Saturday, and it showed in the early going. Shooting at an impressive rate — about 70 percent from the field for much of the first half — Colorado jumped out to a 30-22 lead after a Jaron Hopkins 3-pointer with 4:35 left.
That's when the Ute defense took over.
Utah scored eight straight points to tie the game, holding the Buffaloes scoreless in the final four-and-a-half minutes heading into the locker room.
"The reality was, we weren't playing defense as hard as we needed to," said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. "We finished that four-minute segment off heading into the locker room and managed to tie the score, and that kind of set the pace. We were able to keep that pace going into the second half."
In fact, the Utes held Colorado scoreless for another 3:38 to start the second half of play, while scoring another nine straight points.
"We started picking up our defense and that was helping our offense," sophomore Jordan Loveridge said. "Coming out of halftime, coach just said to try to build off that. Get some stops, push and play our game. And that's what we did."
The rally grew into a 23-2 run over nearly 12 minutes of game time, putting Utah in complete command of the contest, and it was all thanks to its increased defensive intensity. The Utes forced eight turnovers over that span, and limited the Buffaloes to 39 percent shooting from the field on the day, despite Colorado's hot shooting early on.
Dynamic duo
Jordan Loveridge and Delon Wright scored 21 points apiece for Utah, with four other Utes adding six or more.
"(Loveridge) had that look in his eye," Krystkowiak said. "When he was releasing shots, I had a sense that they were going in. They were the right kind of shots at the right time and in the right position. He's growing."
"My teammates keep having confidence in me," Loveridge said. "I've got to have the same confidence in myself and in them."
Loveridge went 9-of-14 shooting while Wright converted 7-of-9 from both the floor and the free throw line. Wright also tallied five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
When the Utes are getting top-notch performances from both Loveridge and Wright, contributions from the bench, and are defending and rebounding well, they'll be a tough team to beat.
Rebounding rebound
Utah was manhandled on the glass in its last meeting with Colorado, getting out rebounded 42-24 on Feb. 1 in Boulder, Colo.
The Utes rebounded from that effort by beating the Buffaloes 30-27 on the boards Saturday afternoon, led by Loveridge's seven.
"For us to have a rebounding advantage against this team was big," Krystkowiak said. "We got pounded at their place. We basically gave up 20 points on the glass. We made that a point of emphasis on our team."
Despite his team's stellar performance, Krystkowiak found room for improvement moving forward.
"Defensively, we were pretty dialed in," he said. "And to shoot 71 percent in the second half was about as well as we could play offensively — with the exclusion of a handful of those mindless turnovers. We can't seem to get off of that 15 number for turnovers. Otherwise, it's a heck of an afternoon."
Back on the road
The Utes finish their home schedule with an 18-2 mark, with both losses coming in narrow overtime defeats to Oregon and Arizona.
Winning away from the Huntsman Center hasn't been as easy, however, as has been well documented all season.
But to keep its momentum going into the Pac-12 tournament play, Utah will need a strong showing on its final road trip of the season against two of the teams it's jostling with in the air-tight Pac-12 standings.
They'll head to the Bay Area to face Cal (18-10, 9-6) on Wednesday, followed by an afternoon tip-off at Stanford (18-9, 9-6) on Saturday to close out the regular season.
"If we are going to be one of the upper-echelon teams in our league, which I'd like to think we can get to at some point, we've got to do a better job on the road," Krystkowiak said. "I'm just hopeful that our team keeps growing. The most important thing for us right now is to just get a little galvanized as we head into the Bay Area and try to figure out a way to win at Cal."
"It will be good for us to try to get these two wins on the road," Wright said, "and go into the Pac-12 tournament with some confidence."
The matchup with Cal gets started at 9 p.m. MT on Wednesday night.
"You should be playing your best basketball at the end of the year," Loveridge said. "And I feel like with this game and our last game, we're starting to play that (kind of) basketball." Tyson Maddy has covered the University of Utah football and men's basketball teams as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011. Follow his Utes coverage on twitter @Tyson_Maddy
