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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s opening weekend of Pac-12 play was not expected to be favorable to a program with few signature wins and a poor nonconference record.
After all, the Runnin’ Utes were on the road to face an Arizona State program that was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 the week prior and was seen as one of the top programs in the Pac-12, and an Arizona program that has dominated Utah at home for decades — Utah’s last win at the McKale Center came in 1986.
The most probable of scenarios ended with Utah coming away with a 0-2 start in a conference that has struggled to remain relevant among its Power Five counterparts. Worse yet, they’d be bottom dwellers in a conference that might only get one bid in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The Utes, though, split the series in an otherwise successful opening weekend, beating Arizona State by 10 points and dropping a close contest to Arizona by 3 points in overtime. It’s a weekend where Utah finally looked like they could compete on the floor without being run out of the gym.
Utah erased a 17-point first-half deficit behind 16 made 3-pointers against the Sun Devils to claim a signature win. And against Arizona, Utah had multiple opportunities to claim victory in the final minutes of the game, but they were without their leading scorer Sedrick Barefield, who finished with 26 points on a red-hot shooting performance, and center Jayce Johnson.
Still, there were more positives to take away from the opening weekend than negatives for Utah, who appears capable of competing with anyone in the conference — even if the conference as a whole is in a down season.
It’s not that Utah has suddenly figured it all out and will claim a top spot in the conference; it’s that they’re starting to play more like a team, shots are falling on budding confidence and the defensive effort is translating to overall team success.
“I think our guys are really starting to understand it’s very much a team thing,” head coach Larry Krystkowiak told ESPN 700 following Utah’s win over Arizona State. “We’ve got enough different plays and things going on to give guys an opportunity. That takes a while, I think, to get some of that cohesiveness and understanding. You can talk about trust a lot, but it’s really experience together that’s not really talked about.”
Most importantly, Utah reclaimed some veteran leadership after a shaky preseason.
For a time this season, Krystkowiak sent a message to two of his team’s leaders — Barefield and Donnie Tillman — by taking them out of the starting lineup. The two, quite simply, seemed to lack urgency on the court and struggled to consistently produce on a nightly basis. That message seemed to get through to them in the last couple weeks.
Barefield averaged 25 points, five 3-pointers and five assists in the two-game Arizona series and was the driving force to Utah’s strong weekend. Against Arizona, Barefield scored 19 first-half points and controlled the pace for a Utah team looking for a weekend sweep. But foul trouble in the second half doomed Barefield, who fouled out with just under 2 minutes left to play.
While not a guarantee, had Barefield been in the game for the final minutes of regulation in which no team scored a field goal, Utah may have avoided an overtime loss and could have come away with a victory in regulation. Regardless, it’s a positive sign that Barefield is taking charge of the team.
Tillman also had a solid week and was the team’s second-leading scorer. The sophomore forward averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 3-pointers and 4.5 rebounds coming off the bench as the team’s sixth man.
And although Barefield and Tillman have stepped up lately, it’s the team-first shift in mentality that has made the biggest difference over the last couple of weeks. Leading up to Utah’s final nonconference matchup against Nevada, Utah’s players mostly worked independently on the court and struggled to put together a cohesive framework for beating a team. There was a lot of ISO-play and guys looking to get their own points.
Now, though, there’s a lot more teamwork and sharing of the ball. There’s still work to be done, but it’s a sign of progress for the relatively young team. Following Utah’s win over Arizona State, Krystkowiak pointed out that the team hasn’t lost a game when they have more than 14 assists in a game. Utah only had 13 assists in its loss to Arizona.
“Trust is a big thing, and I think our team has really grown in the last couple of weeks,” Krystkowiak said.
“The win the other night gave us a sense of confidence and a team identity, team unity, if you will,” Utah assistant coach Andy Hill told ESPN 700. “When you go on the road, it’s kind of like an us-against-the-world mentality, especially in places like this. I feel as though the guys are really coming together and doing some good stuff for each other. That’s the most important thing.”
Utah will look to continue its recent successes as it welcomes conference-leading Washington to the Huntsman Center on Thursday at 8 p.m.
