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DENVER — Veteran play and experience are often touted as a viable reasons for sustained success in the NCAA tournament. For Utah, though, last year’s tournament experience helps, but it is not something to rely on when the game starts.
“I think just having experience, you know, of getting to the Sweet 16 last year, I think we got a taste of what it’s like to survive and advance, no matter what it might be,” senior Brandon Taylor told media Wednesday. “It’s not going to be a perfect game. If you take the 40 minutes and you try to attack each and every 4-minute segment like it’s your last, I think you’ll be in the position where you’ll want to be.”
The experience helps to a point, as sophomore Jakob Poeltl added, but it’s not something Utah should rely on when approaching a game in the tournament.
“We’ve still got to go into every single game with 100 percent effort and focus, and we’ve got to be dialed into the game plan because it really doesn’t matter what happened last year,” he said. “If we have a bad shooting day, it only takes one day and one game to kick us out of the tournament and end our season.”
“I think the biggest thing we’ll take from (last year) is you’ve got to come out every play, every minute, that could be your last possession, that could be the most important possession of the game,” senior Jordan Loveridge added. “We’ve got to make sure there’s no little things and make sure we leave it all out there on the court.”
Utah comes into the tournament as a higher seed than last year, but many around the country believe Utah is a program that is a team likely to be upset in March. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi went as far as to say that he doesn’t believe in Utah solely on its dismal performance against Oregon last week.
But this is a team that won nine straight games to close out the season before falling hard to Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game. Utah beat several tournament teams, including Arizona, Cal, Colorado and USC in that nine-game stretch, and comes into the tournament as one of the hottest teams closing out conference play.
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NCAA Tournament Blog
The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will take place this week, with eight teams playing in Denver, Colorado. This blog will cover the NCAA Tournament in Denver all week. Follow along, and check back regularly for all the latest updates.Head coach Larry Krystkowiak said the Oregon loss was a “humbling experience,” but that the team is ready to “get back in the saddle and get after it” and that there is a sense of urgency surrounding the team.
“One thing I noticed that’s real similar to last year is there’s a sense of urgency,” he said. “Based on the last two practices we’ve had, I’ve got a little bit of an edge about me. But my players reminded me the last two days that we’re about to do something that’s pretty special.”
Taylor said the team has a “renewed focus” now that the tournament is here and that this year is all about going out strong as a senior.
Fresno State offers a difficult matchup for the Utes, particularly with all-around guard Marvelle Harris looking to press Utah and make opponents work on every play. Krystkowiak compares Harris to former Ute Delon Wright with his ability to make big plays on offense as well as forcing turnovers on the defensive side of the ball.
“It’s a little bit rare for most players, not just college players, to be able to be a threat from the 3-point line, a threat from the mid-range game, then also the ability to get to the rim,” Krystkowiak said. “It’s not just about scoring points. He’s found a way to stuff the stat sheet a little bit. He’s pretty productive in a lot of areas.”
Utah has been vulnerable to turnovers this year, averaging 12.2 per game, which is an average 17.8 percent of all possessions being turned over. Fresno State will look to take advantage of that coming in as the fifth-best team in the country with a +4.3 turnover margin.
“They get out in the passing lanes,” Taylor said. “If you get sloppy, they capitalize on those mistakes, get out and get a lot of steals during the game. They try to run you. They try to speed you up, a lot like Oregon's pace. We’ve had to dial it in and really focus, get back to fundamentals.”
The Utes will be forced to rely on Poeltl's presence in the post to establish its game plan, particularly with Fresno State not having the size of the Pac-12 teams Poeltl is used to facing. If established properly, Poeltl would draw significant attention to the post, while leaving perimeter players like Kyle Kuzma open for easy baskets as part of a help-offense mentality.
Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry said it will be a team effort in trying to stop Poeltl and Utah’s approach to the game.
“We’re going to defend him by committee,” Terry said. “It will be a team guard. He’s the type of player that not only is successful himself, but he makes other guys around him better. You’re never going to stop a great player. We’re going to try to contain him and hopefully do a great job on his supporting cast.”
“Every possession for us is important,” Fresno State’s Harris added. “We have to value the basketball. We have to make decisive decisions. We have to take care of the basketball. Every possession counts because they can come back and haunt you in later times in the game.”
Utah will tip-off against Fresno State at 5:27 p.m. MST at the Pepsi Center in Denver on TruTV. Should Utah beat Fresno State, they will play the winner of Gonzaga-Seton Hall on Saturday night.
