With one game left, Utah can finish anywhere from 8th to 11th in Pac-12 depending on final week’s results

California forward D.J. Thorpe, middle, passes the ball while being defended by Utah forward Riley Battin, left, and forward Mikael Jantunen (20) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. | Jeff Chiu, AP

SALT LAKE CITY — At least the Utah basketball team has no chance of finishing in last place in the Pac-12 this season.

That became reality Friday night when Washington State defeated defending champion Washington, assuring the Huskies of finishing in last place and taking the No. 12 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament.

However, the Utes can finish anywhere from eighth place to 11th, depending on what happens this week in the final week of the regular season.

“It seemed like they wanted it a little more and played with a lot of energy we didn’t have.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak, on the loss to Cal

After losing to Cal in overtime Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, the Utes fell to 6-11 in Pac-12 play and currently stand in 10th place, a half-game behind Washington State and a half-game ahead of Oregon State.

The Utes will conclude the season Saturday when they take on Colorado at 12:30 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. A win would leave them at 7-11 in league play, a loss at 6-12. Either way, it’s their worst finish since the 2012-13 season when they were 5-13.

Cal must play at Oregon and Oregon State this weekend, while Washington State plays at Arizona and Arizona State. If all the home teams win, then Oregon State and Cal would also finish 7-11 and Washington State would be 6-12. If Utah and Washington State tie, the Utes would win a tiebreak for the league tournament because of their Jan. 25 win (the two teams only played once this year). Other tiebreaks will be determined on the order of finish at the top of the standings, which are jumbled right now, and how each team did against them this year.

The Utes had some positives come out of the most recent trip to the Bay Area. Against Stanford, the Utes came back from an 18-point deficit and twice had a chance to tie the game in the final two minutes before falling 70-62.

Then on Saturday, the Utes led for much of the game and again fought back, this time from a six-point deficit in the final minute of regulation with eight points in the final 51 seconds to force overtime. However, the Golden Bears took control in the extra period, scoring on nine of 10 possessions to take an 86-79 victory.

Once again, the Utes got off to slow starts in both halves against Cal, despite a change in the starting lineups, but they didn’t fall into a hole as they have in other road games.

Timmy Allen had perhaps his best game in Pac-12 play, scoring 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting and pulling down eight rebounds, while Both Gach had his best game in two months, scoring 19 points with six rebounds. That has to be encouraging for the Utes as they head into the regular-season finale and conference tournament that their two “veteran” players are playing well.

However, there are concerns. Will Rylan Jones be healthy after suffering a head injury early in Saturday’s game, coming off a shin injury two games before that? Can Riley Battin break out of a slump that has seen him go scoreless in three of his last four games and score only two points in the other? Was that just an off night for Branden Carlson, who had just two points and one rebound in 32 minutes Saturday after being Utah’s best player over the past month?

With Saturday’s loss, the Utes finished 0-9 in Pac-12 road games, just the second time that’s happened, along with the initial 2011-12 season. With just the one road win at Nevada in the season opener on Nov. 5, the Utes finished 1-10 overall in road games, only the second time since 1973 they won just one road game.

At this point, coach Larry Krystkowiak just wants his team to play as hard as possible.

“It seemed like they wanted it a little more and played with a lot of energy we didn’t have,” he said after the Cal loss. “I know they beat us to the floor on some loose balls that we weren’t even thinking of getting on the floor. We’ve got to play with a little more vigor than we did.”

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2VzbmPR