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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah head coach Craig Smith didn't shy away from the fact that his team struggled on offense late in the season last year.
Utah lost guards Rollie Worster and Gabe Madsen, the team's most consistent sharpshooter from deep, for an extended period of time during Pac-12 play, and the team's offense became essentially non-existent for much of that time.
There were few options available to create a shot outside of veteran big Branden Carlson, but even his numbers suffered because opposing teams drew their attention to him with no outside threat to relax the defense. At that point, there was nothing left to give for Utah as it tried desperately to get out of its various lulls on offense.
"Lulls might be an understatement," Smith said with a slight chuckle. "It was hard. ... When we had those injuries, we just didn't have what we needed to — the depth of our program, the experience in our program, it just wasn't there. Obviously, that was a huge focal point for our team."
Utah suffered from multiple extended scoring droughts, often within the same game, throughout the last part of the season, and had to rely on its defense to keep the team in games. But even then, the Runnin' Utes lost their last five games of the regular season and eight of their last 10 games.
Smith said his starting unit last season could contend with any team in the country, borrowing a phrase from former Utah football coach Urban Meyer, but once the team had to call upon its depth, there were few answers available to help the team.
Something had to change in the offseason.
Utah brought in transfers Lawson Lovering (Colorado) and Cole Bajema (Washington), as well as Georgia Tech guard Deivon Smith, who awaits news from the NCAA on a waiver request to play this season. Utah also added former BYU and Salt Lake Community College guard Hunter Erickson and freshman forward Jake Wahlin (Timpview HS).
Each has a penchant for shooting, and making them, too.
As Utah opened up its first practice of the 2023-24 season Tuesday, Smith, who is in his third season as head coach at Utah, believes those additional players have been the answer to the team's depth and shooting issues — at least that's the early prognostication, though Smith is quick to point out "we've still got to prove it."
"We've definitely upgraded our shooting. ... I think we have more depth and more weapons on the offensive end where even if things kind of break down, or whatever, we just have more guys that can make a play," Smith said. "Whether it's make a 23-foot jumper at the end of the clock or hit the open guy, they just keep the game simpler, so that's called talent, right? And I think we have more talent, we have more experience; experience matters.
"I think you'll see we just look a lot different this year, in every way, shape and form than we did the last two years, and I think that's a real positive."
And though Tuesday was the first official start to the new season, Utah got a jumpstart to the season over the summer with a four-game exhibition in Spain. It's there where the players learned to work through issues in game settings rather than in scrimmages or practices, or even the favorite "secret scrimmages" against other NCAA teams ahead of the season.
Carlson said the experience to play together as a team, especially as they integrated the newcomers into the roster, that early in the process has already given Utah a leg up on the season. The first day of practice felt like the current roster had been battle tested and gained experience on the court.
"I think it just gives us kind of like a head start on how this team plays and kind of building chemistry and to work out some kinks that you figured out in the first few games of the season," Carlson said. "I think we've been able to kind of work (them) out earlier since those longer practices over the summer and those games."
Added Madsen: "It almost feels like our second season already with these guys, because we went through a whole summer together, had tons of practices. And then just spending all that time, coming into this practice, it's just like, this chemistry is — we had so much time to spend together in Spain, so it's a great advantage and a good head start."
Whether that jumpstart will translate into more wins this season remains to be seen, but there's growing optimism for Smith and his players that Utah finally has the right balance to contend in the Pac-12 this season. No longer will Utah rely solely on its starters, but there's potential for the depth players to make an impact this season, too.
"I definitely didn't come back to not make the tournament this year," Carlson said. "It's definitely something we're trying to do."
