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SALT LAKE CITY — Points were scored, but the final result didn't matter. Call it a warm-up game.
As Utah prepares to officially open up its season on Nov. 9 against Abilene Christian, the Runnin' Utes treated a smattering of fans to an 87-51 win over the visiting Westminster Griffins Thursday night.
And while there's little actual substance to glean from an exhibition game, it was the first live look at the roster assembled by newly-hired head coach Craig Smith — a combination of transfers from Utah State that followed Smith, as well as others brought in to add to the handful of players leftover from Larry Krystkowiak's tenure as coach.
Utah had 13 players dressed and active for the Thursday night game, and all saw action in a night where Smith mixed and matched the lineups to get different looks, with the team's expected starting rotation seeing limited action in the second half. Only one of the 13 players to see action Thursday did not score a basket.
But the emptying of the bench did nothing to hurt Utah's chances as the Runnin' Utes continued to build up a lead in the second half against the Division II opponent.
Sophomore guard Gabe Madsen, who saw some end-of-game playing time, went off late in the game and drained three 3-pointers, including his last for a 4-point play, to lead the Utes with 16 points and three assists.
Veterans David Jenkins Jr. and Branden Carlson were the only other Utah players in double figures and scored a combined 24 points on the night. Jenkins finished with a team-high 11 points in 18 minutes of action, and Carlson added 11 points in 15 minutes of action.
"Overall, it's just exciting to be out there," Smith said. "This is why we play this game because it's the first time a lot of these guys have ever put on a University of Utah uniform. It's been 20 months since they've played in front of fans. It's the first time they walked down that huddle after we come out of the locker room and go out there as a new team.
"I thought we got out of it what we wanted to get out of it — certainly we've got to tighten some things up as we prepare to play a very good Abilene Christian team."
A night of rotation and experiment
Thursday night was not about getting a win, though it's never a bad thing to come out on top. But it was an opportunity for Smith and his coaching staff to mix and match various lineups to see what sticks. And there were several options thrown out in the game — lineups that most likely will never see the light of day.
Smith opened up with what is expected to be the team's starting unit — David Jenkins Jr., Marco Anthony, Rollie Worster, Riley Battin and Branden Carlson — as a means to get three guards and two big out on the floor. That unit didn't see much time together, but didn't light up the floor when they were together.
There's not much to gain from that since the team was getting a feel for each other, but it's something to watch as the season progresses. Smith said he's got a good idea of where the team is at, but added that he's "open minded" about how the lineups will shakeout in the coming weeks.
"I do feel good about where we are at and I think we have a pretty good idea of who can do what," Smith said. "At the same time, we're very open minded enough to say we do have different guys that can bring some different things to the table.
"I do think it's just going to be one of the things we're going to play a lot of different guys until guys can really settle into a role."
But guys that were previously buried on Krystkowiak's roster — Eli Ballsteadt and Lahat Thioune — seem to have more of a contributing role under Smith. While it's not expected to see Ballsteadt for extended minutes, Thioune factors to be one of the core bigs to fill in for Carlson when he's out or give the Utes a different look with both bigs in.
Thioune only had 6 points, but recorded eight rebounds in 11 minutes of play. Smith has singled out Thioune for his hard work and believes he's going to be a big part of the team's makeup this season. Ballsteadt played 12 minutes and added 6 points and three rebounds, and will give the Utes some added depth at the guard position. At the very least, he'll likely see more time this season.
Defense leads to a quick offense
Westminster started out on an 8-2 run to start the game as Utah looked out of sorts on offense and tried to get into a rhythm. But when shots weren't falling on the offensive side of the glass, Utah's defense locked in and limited Westminster's looks. The Griffins missed some open looks, but overall the Utah defense got the job done.
That defense, which has been a staple of a Smith-led program, eventually led to an offense that pushed the tempo and attacked Westminster at the rim. And once the offense started to flow, there was no stopping Utah from putting distance on the Griffins.
"At the end of the day, to beat the big boys, you've got to be able to guard," Smith said. "I like where we're at. I mean, certainly — we've come so far defensively."
Smith said the team still has a lot of work to do on defense, like figuring out screen-and-role coverages or the best personnel to guard various positions groups, but the effort has "come a long way in a short amount of time." And that defensive effort will help Utah as it works to develop its offense.
"I think we have enough weapons on offense where we can have some spurtability where we can we can go on an 8-0 run pretty quick," Smith said.
"We kind of all try to keep this mentality of like a blue collar, and that just means a worker or someone who is gonna keep going hard no matter what," Jenkins added. "We started making shots, we started seeing it all come together a little bit. So I think that was kind of a first glimpse of what we'll be."
Madsen added: "Defense leads to offense, and once we got comfortable and got some stops, you could see that the offense started flowing, and you could just see this team really plays well together. Everybody just wants play for each other, and that's always a good recipe for winning."
Both Gach is still out
There's not much to be said here, but it's an intriguing aspect to the team's makeup this season. Gach, who returned to Utah after a one-year hiatus to Minnesota, has yet to have a waiver approved by the NCAA, which means he cannot suit up for the Utes until that waiver is approved.
The NCAA is often slow to act, but it's expected Gach will get to play. But the longer his waiver process drags on, the harder it will be to insert Gach into the lineup without changing up the entire makeup of the team. He'll be a welcomed addition to the team once (if ever) he's cleared, but nobody knows when that day may be.
