Check off victory No. 4 on the season for the Utah men’s basketball team, another one that came with ease.
It wasn’t perfect — there were some lapses at times for the Runnin’ Utes — but the outcome, as it’s been for every home game this season so far, was never in doubt in the second half in an 84-53 win over Utah Tech on Friday.
“I thought we had two very good practices coming into tonight, and then I just thought we had some really good and some not so good,” Utah coach Craig Smith said of the effort. “… I thought we really responded in great spurts.”
He added that Utah, with three players currently unavailable due to injuries, is doing its best to make adjustments without the full arsenal of the roster.
“There’s just some things that, our ability to cover up mistakes, it’s hard for us right now and playing some guys really out of position, so we keep growing and trying to get these guys healthy and get back to more of a complete team,” the coach said.
Ultimately, the victory sends Utah into Thanksgiving week with a 4-1 record — just where pundits would have pegged the Utes at.
Next week’s action — Utah hosts the Mountain to Sea Showcase, with games against Mississippi Valley State and Eastern Washington — should bring two more wins, barring something wild happening.
For now, the expectations — and judgments — have to be made largely in watching how Utah’s chemistry is coming together for a team that has nine newcomers — 10 if Caleb Lohner ends up joining once football season is over.
In that sense, there were positives to take away.
Utah allowed Utah Tech (1-4) to shoot just 30.3% from the floor, the lowest shooting percentage from the opposition the Utes have allowed this season.
“I was happy with a 31-point win. We were able defensively to hold them to some season lows. You know, 30% they shot from the field. We had nine kills — one kill equals three straight stops, and we had nine of those. We were one more away from 10, so that that’s a really good thing,” Smith said.
Keanu Dawes nearly had another double-double, finishing the night with 14 points and nine rebounds while adding two assists and a blocked shot.
The sophomore’s assertiveness on the court shone through again, especially during a stretch in the first half when the 6-foot-9 forward, who comes off the bench, scored nine straight points for Utah and did a nice job timing a block in transition for a big swat.
That helped Utah, which shot 48.5% for the game, go into the half up 42-26.
“The goal is really just go out there and do whatever it takes to win,” Dawes said. “I don’t really think when I’m checking in this game, like, ‘Oh, I got to do this.’ I kind of just go with the flow of the game, and I feel like I’m a versatile player, so I kind of just be plugged in to different spots to do what it takes to win.”
Added Smith: “He’s playing with a lot of force right now. I love when he just goes in, attacks, rebounds and plays with aggression, and he’s a really good shooter.”
One of the other individuals who showed some positive moments Friday was point guard Miro Little, the sophomore from Finland who’s learning to command an offense after playing minimal minutes for Baylor last season.
He ended up with four points and had a team-high 11 rebounds. His eight assists were also a season-high.
“I thought he was good defensively. He took the challenge to guard their leading scorer and just played with really good pace tonight,” Smith said of Little. “I thought tonight he just had a different look to him in a good way of just getting everybody going.”
The chemistry and communication of the team wasn’t as sharp as it’s been in other games, but there was a more concerted effort to attack the paint — even if there were a half dozen or so misses inside that both players and the coach were critical of.
Utah ended up having a sizable advantage in points in the paint, at 44-24 and outrebounded visiting Utah Tech 51-36. This all comes as Utah waits to get its two tallest players — Lawson Lovering and Zach Keller — back on the court.
Utah, which led the nation in 3-pointers made per game at 15.2 going into Friday, instead found success in attacking the front court — not always perfectly, but it was a chance to show that the Utes could control an overmatched opponent inside.
“Everybody on the floor can shoot the 3 and I think everybody knows that, but at the same time, (there’s a focus on) just proving the point that we can get to the rim and finish at the rim,” Little said.
“That’s going to be one of our focusing points, just getting to the rim and really finishing there, because there was a lot of missed layups today.”
Smith also gave Utah something to hope for, saying after the game that Keller “is maybe a little farther ahead than we thought” in returning to action.
Earlier in the week during his coaches show on 700 AM, Smith had mentioned a potential mid-December return for the Wake Forest transfer.
“I would be surprised if it’s not earlier than that now,” Smith said.
It’s still unclear when the 7-foot Lovering will be back after he injured his ankle in Utah’s exhibition game against CSU Pueblo, while guard Jayden Teat, who also hasn’t played this season, “hurt himself again” Thursday, according to his coach. Smith didn’t elaborate on the situation beyond that.
Back to the positive, though: fifth-year senior guard Gabe Madsen, who scored just 9 points in a five-point loss against Mississippi State on Sunday, got going early in the win Friday.
He matched his Sunday point total just over 10 minutes into the game against the Trailblazers and finished with a game-high 19 points on 8 of 17 shooting, while making three 3-pointers.
A transition layup, wherein he spun the ball behind his back before breezing past a defender for the score electrified the crowd early and got his confidence and shot in line.
“I thought Gabe Madsen played with a ton of purpose tonight, like he had real purpose on both ends of the floor,” Smith said.
Two other Utes, Mason Madsen and Mike Sharavjamts, also scored in double-figures, with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Utes, as a whole, looked like they had shaken off the loss to Mississippi State — a game that could have bolstered Utah’s resume, as it was against a top 30 KenPom team.
“We’re winners. All we want to do is win. We focus on winning and going through a tough loss on Sunday really gave us a good push, and I feel like we’ve been really locked in since then,” Little said.
“We needed that in a weird way, but today, we were really on point, and there’s a lot a lot of stuff that we still got to be a lot sharper on, but I think that Sunday’s loss gave us a little extra motivation.”