File - Utah sophomore forward Both Gach dunks during Utah’s 88-47 exhibition win over the University of Texas at Tyler, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. | Jake Laramie, Utah Athletics
It was the best opening-night win for coach Larry Krystkowiak in his nine years after beating up on the likes of Prairie View A&M, Northwest Nazarene and Evergreen State over the years, always at home
SALT LAKE CITY — Tuesday’s game had been over for less than 10 minutes when the Utah basketball coaching staff headed back to the court at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. They wanted to get a group picture of the staff, including new assistant coach Henry Martinez to commemorate his first game as a Ute.
Perhaps the Ute players should have posed for a shot, as well. Because after the way they played in a 79-74 upset win over a Nevada team that had won a school-record 18 straight games at home, this young squad could be part of the start of something big for the Ute program.
The Utes have as young of a team as there is in college basketball, with fewer upperclassmen than any school in the nation (two) and are tied for the most freshmen with 11, 10 of which are true freshmen. Yet those players showed poise Tuesday in coming back in the final minutes after losing a game-long lead and then hanging on down the stretch.
It was the best opening-night win for coach Larry Krystkowiak in his nine years after beating up on the likes of Prairie View A&M, Northwest Nazarene and Evergreen State over the years, always at home. It was also the first opening-night victory on the road for Utah since the Utes beat Indiana in the Maui Classic to start the 1994-95 season.
Although Nevada isn’t a great team and is nowhere close to last year’s nationally ranked team that won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title, the Wolf Pack were picked to finish fourth in the MWC under new coach Steve Alford and had a couple of experienced players in Lindsey Drew and Jazz Johnson, who scored 30 and 16, respectively, against the Utes.
But the Utes dominated inside, out-rebounding their opponents 51-32 with 7-foot freshman Branden Carlson (8 points, 9 rebounds), 6-8 sophomore forward Riley Battin (9 points, 6 rebounds) and their backups Lahat Thioune and Mikael Jantunen, all playing well.
Two of the team’s “veterans,” forward Timmy Allen and guard Both Gach, led the scoring with 23 and 22 points, respectively. Allen also pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds. Freshman Rylan Jones ran the point well and finished with nine points, five rebounds and five assists in 22 minutes.
Allen explained that he and his teammates aren’t worried about their youth.
“People say we are young; we think we are experienced beyond our age. We’re a poised young group. We can build on that,” he said.
Krystkowiak had mixed feelings about his young team’s poise Tuesday night, saying it was impressive at times and not so great other times.
“A lot of the game on offense there was poise, but there were a couple of stretches where we threw it away,” he said. “But to come back like they did, I’m real proud of them.”
Starting at the 13-minute mark of the first half, the Utes didn’t trail and led by as many as eight before a 9-0 run by the Wolf Pack gave them a 58-56 lead with 8:46 left in the game.
At this point, the energetic home crowd of 8,324 was rockin’ and all the momentum seemed to be on Nevada’s side.
But the Utes didn’t wilt.
Gach came back with a drive in the lane, and after a Nevada turnover, he sank a 3-pointer from the top. That was followed by a basket in the lane by Alfonso Plummer to push the lead to five with 5:36 left. Then after a Nevada basket, Allen made a nice move inside and was fouled, and then Gach buried another 3-pointer to give Utah its biggest lead of the game at 69-60 with 4:07 left.
Now the Utes should get a breather Friday at the Huntsman Center against Mississippi Valley State, a team they beat by 35 points last year and 40 points the year before. Then they’ll get a week off before playing Minnesota the following Friday.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2WUgVau
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