Utah basketball team hopes to be recharged for Pac-12 play after long layoff

Utah Utes head coach Larry Krystkowiak, left, talks to forward Timmy Allen (1) during the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. With the team’s 73-69 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Krystkowiak joined the 200 win club. | Colter Peterson, Deseret News

Utes take on 10-2 Oregon State Thursday night

SALT LAKE CITY — When we last saw the Utah basketball team, it was getting run out of the Staples Center by San Diego State in a 28-point beatdown. That was just three days after the Utes had knocked off long-time nemesis and 6th-ranked Kentucky in front of a hostile crowd in Las Vegas.

Now after 11 days between games — the longest in-season Utah basketball break in more than 60 years — the Utes are back, ready to kick off the 2020 Pac-12 season against Oregon State Thursday night (6:30 p.m.) at the Huntsman Center.

So which team will we see Thursday night?

The one that shot so well and seemed so poised, playing in front of a bunch of Kentucky fans in Las Vegas, or the one that couldn’t shoot straight and looked overwhelmed against a Mountain West Conference school in L.A.?

Even though his team was “walloped,” as he put it, coach Larry Krystkowiak felt his team played good defense for the most part against the Aztecs and that the shots that were falling against Kentucky (54.8%) didn’t go in against a defensive-minded SDSU crew (31.3%).

“It was a good eye-opener going into Christmas break — sometimes it’s not bad to get punched in the mouth and get to go think about it for awhile,” Krystkowiak said.

The Ute coach also looks at the 11-day layoff between games as a positive because it’s given his banged-up squad a chance to get healthy for the first time this season.

“We’ve come back recharged and refocused,” he said. “We’ve had a team that’s been pretty beat up, so it’s been productive for us in terms of getting guys healthier. I would much prefer what we’ve gone through than to have to keep playing games, We’re at full strength and seem to be pretty good.”

Oregon State, which comes in with a 10-2 record, has a veteran team led by Tres Tinkle, son of OSU head coach Wayne Tinkle, who averages 20.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The senior forward is joined in the starting lineup by junior guard Ethan Thompson (15.8 ppg) and 7-foot center Kylor Kelley, who averages 11.7 ppg and is second in the nation in blocked shots at 4.33 per game.

While the Beavers have an experienced team with two senior and three junior starters, the Utes counter with a young lineup that starts three sophomores and two freshmen.

Sophomore forward Timmy Allen will be joined by fellow sophomores Riley Battin and Both Gach in the starting lineup, while freshmen Rylan Jones and Branden Carlson are also expected to start. Freshmen Mikael Jantunen, Jaxon Brenchley, Lahat Thioune and JC transfer Alfonso Plummer are the top reserves.

UTE NOTES: The Utes will take on No. 4 ranked Oregon Saturday at 3 p.m. . . . The 50th anniversary of the Huntsman Center, formerly known as the Special Events Center will be celebrated at Saturday’s game with several members of the 1969-70 team in attendance, including Mike Newlin, Kenny Gardner, Dan Cowan and Jim Mahler . . . After this week’s games, the Utes head out on the road for two weeks with games at Colorado Jan. 12 and at Arizona and Arizona State, Jan. 16 and 18 . . . Timmy Allen ranks first In the Pac-12 in scoring at 21.0 ppg and also ranks in a tie for 21st in the nation . . . Krystkowiak and Tinkle were teammates at Montana, and Tinkle was Krystkowiak’s assistant coach at Montana from 2004 to 2006.

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Utah (9-3) vs. Oregon State (10-2)

Huntsman Center

Thursday, 6:30 p.m.

TV: Pac-12 Network

Radio: ESPN-700

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