Having lost six of their last eight games, Utes will try to right the ship against the Buffaloes, who have soared up the Pac-12 standings with a 7-3 league record
Having lost six of their last eight basketball games, including Sunday’s 83-79 defeat at the hands of then-last place Washington, the Runnin’ Utes don’t have time to worry about last-minute tipoff time changes and the like.
Those were coach Larry Krystkowiak’s sentiments Wednesday as he met with reporters via Zoom and discussed what’s on the horizon for the struggling Utes, who are 6-7 overall and 3-6 in Pac-12 play.
Originally scheduled to be played at 7:30 p.m. MST, Saturday’s game at Colorado (13-4, 7-3) will now be played at 12:30 p.m. and will be televised by the Pac-12 Network, the league announced recently.
Saying he’s not a “morning person,” guard Alfonso Plummer isn’t thrilled with the time change, but said the Utes “will be ready to roll” at Coors Events Center because they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for the Buffaloes, who beat Washington State 70-59 in Pullman on Saturday and 70-58 in Boulder on Wednesday.
The Utes would love that kind of consistency in a season that has been marked by wild swings in their performances from half to half, let alone game to game. The only senior on the roster, Plummer said there is no better time to get this thing turned around, and no better group of guys to do it.
“I feel like this team is strong mentally,” he said. “We always find a way to be ready — it doesn’t matter the time, it doesn’t matter the place. So, I feel like we are going to be ready for any time they put us into.”
Saturday’s game, a rematch of the Jan. 11 game in Salt Lake City won 68-58 by Colorado after Utah had a 37-27 halftime lead, wraps up the first half of the expanded 20-game conference season for the Utes.
In May 2019, the Pac-12’s athletic directors voted to increase the league schedule to 20 games beginning with the 2020-21 schedule upon the recommendation from the league’s coaches.
In December 2019, the league announced that Utah’s two additional games would be at Arizona State and at home vs. Washington.
The ASU game was moved to Dec. 22, 2020, due to pandemic issues, then postponed again when the Sun Devils had to put their program on pause before Christmas. That game will now be played Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Tempe, Arizona.
So playing the Buffaloes seven hours earlier Saturday will give the Utes a little more time to prepare for last-place ASU, which had lost six straight games heading into Thursday night’s game against California.
Krystkowiak said the Utes were already scheduled to fly into Denver on Friday, so the tipoff change doesn’t affect them all that much.
“I have always been a fan of playing afternoon games,” he said. “When you are crunching some games in here in a short amount of time you might as well start it off earlier, or finish it off later. So both us and Colorado will be ready to rock.”
The rivalry game begins another rugged stretch for the Utes, who will play four games in eight days, culminating with a Feb. 7 home game against the same Sun Devils. Of course, the last 4-in-8 span the Utes played didn’t go so well. They went 1-3 in that homestand, losing to Oregon, Colorado and California, while upsetting Stanford.
“I don’t think college athletes are really wired to play four games in a week,” Krystkowiak said. “I can see it at a professional level where you get into a little bit of a routine. But that was a challenge for us, playing elite teams in that stretch, and we are certainly doing the same thing in this stretch.”
Colorado fits that description; the Buffaloes have lost just once since a 65-62 setback at UCLA on Jan. 2 (an 84-80 loss at Washington) and are one of the hottest teams in the country.
Plummer said the Utes will have revenge on their minds, after blowing the halftime lead at the Huntsman Center.
“I would say (Colorado) is a big rival, because they beat us at home. It was a tough loss. They are (almost) a ranked team. They are doing really good this year. We have to find a way to beat them and be 1-1 with them,” Plummer said.
The product of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, has been coming off the bench the last six games, after starting the first seven. He was averaging 14.7 points as a starter; now he’s averaging 12.9, but he’s keeping a team-first attitude.
“Sometimes coaches make decisions for the best of the team,” Plummer said. “And you have to stick to it. You have to find the best way to help the team, and I feel like it doesn’t matter if I come off the bench, or if I start, at the end of the day, I have to help my team the best way possible. … Every game I am going to be ready, and when they call my name be ready to roll.”
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2MA9Vy6
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