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SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off an NIT championship game blowout loss to Penn State last season, Utah basketball head coach Larry Krystkowiak felt his team needed to be more physical.
Utah was outmatched, outrebounded and simply outdone by the Nittany Lions. In the aftermath, Krystkowiak told his strength coach, Charles Stephenson, that Utah needed to resemble the physicality of Big Ten teams. And that’s what Utah tried to accomplish in the offseason.
Stephenson took the message to heart and doubled down on their strength and conditioning approach, and pushed the players in the weight room and on the court.
Sophomore Donnie Tillman said the offseason training and practices have been “pumped up” and everything has been different.
“They’re not calling fouls in practice,” Tillman said, speaking at Utah’s media day session Wednesday. “We’re going full court, we’re pressing, we’re getting after different things.”
Most importantly, Tillman said he’s in the best shape of his life coming into the season and is being pushed by the incoming recruits who already embody the physicality asked of them.
“I think we have the most athletic team in the Pac-12. These young guys are different,” Tillman said. “It's a special group of guys. I'm actually scared. I think we have the best group of freshman out here in the Pac-12 so far.”
Senior Sedrick Barefield agrees with his teammate, saying this year’s team is “probably the most athletic and skilled team that I've been around.”
Utah’s incoming class has been heralded as one of Krystkowiak’s best in terms of physicality and pure shooting. And incoming players like freshmen Naseem Gaskin, Timmy Allen, Riley Battin, redshirt freshman Vante Hendrix (formerly Devonte Doutrive), junior college transfer Charles Jones and grad transfer Novak Topalovic are expected to have a big impact early on for the Utes.
But Krystkowiak isn’t ready to name impact players this early in the season, particularly since the team is still learning to play with each other. But he’s encouraged that they brought in talented players at every position and have a “bunch of freshmen that can play.”
“But there's a lot of guys, and I wouldn't bet against any of them,” Krystkowiak added.
Although early in the season, Utah is optimistic about their chances this season and hope to build off the successes that got them to the NIT championship game.
“If we can get to the championship game of the NIT, it just kinda shows how good of a team we really were and how close we were to get into that next level,” Krystkowiak said.
There’s one thing that’s certain, though, Utah is not allowing last season’s successes cloud the goals for the coming season.
“We've got to keep growing and not take any of that success that we had in the NIT for granted, and know that we've got to keep on improving and pushing each other,” Krystkowiak said.
Utah kicks off the season with its annual Night with the Runnin’ Utes on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. Utah will welcome the College of Idaho in an exhibition game on Thursday, Nov. 1.
