AP
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah basketball team hopes the friendly confines of the Jon M. Huntsman Center will get it back on track after a tough weekend on the other side of the country.
The Utes went back to the Myrtle Beach Invitational with high hopes after starting the season 3-0, including a pair of home victories. Instead they lost to two mid-major teams, Coastal Carolina and Tulane, and never got a chance to play a Power Five conference team that could have helped their resume for possible postseason play down the line.
Utah did come away with one victory, an 80-66 win over Ohio, but on the whole it was a disappointing weekend.
Now the Utes are back home for three games beginning Friday night against UC Davis, a Big West team that comes in with a 2-6 record.
The Aggies are coached by Jim Les, who played briefly for the Utah Jazz in the late 1980s, and are led by center Matt Neufeld (13.4 ppg) and guards Joe Mooney (13.3 ppg) and Ezra Manjon (13.1 ppg)
“Jim Les does a great job, they really execute as well as anybody we’ve played,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “They screen well and cut hard. They have a deep team, a number of guys who play 22 minutes a game. They have a heck of a post player (the 6-11, 240-pound Neufeld). He’s a load down in the post and they’ve got some good shooters around him. It’s going to be a tough out.”
The Utes have are expected to go with the same starting lineup of Timmy Allen (19.3 ppg), Both Gach (13.2 ppg), Rylan Jones (10.0 ppg), Riley Battin (9.3 ppg) and Branden Carlson (8.3 ppg).
Krystkowiak remains optimistic, despite losing two of three games last week.
“We just have to keep trudging forward and not get too high or too low,” he said. “It’s certainly fixable — we’re just going to get back at it, that’s all you can do.”
After Friday’s game, the Utes will stay home to play BYU Wednesday night, followed by a home game against Central Arkansas Saturday night.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2XYKRT3
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