Gach Scores 22 Points, but Utes Fall to #19 Kentucky

Saturday, December 15

Lexington, Ky.

3:00 PM

University of Utah

4-5

Kentucky

8-2

Utah

Kentucky

Gach Scores 22 Points, but Utes Fall to #19 Kentucky

12/15/2018 5:42 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Utah's Both Gach scored a season-high 22 points and Jayce Johnson chipped with 11 points, but it wasn't enough as the Utah Runnin' Utes fell to the No. 19/18 Kentucky Wildcats, 88-61 Saturday evening at Rupp Arena. With the loss, Utah drops to 4-5 overall on the season, while Kentucky moved to 8-2.

Utah led early in the game, but the Wildcats used first half runs of 12-2 and 15-5 to take a 41-27 lead into halftime. Despite missing its first three shots of the second half and allowing UK to take a 19-point lead with a little more than 17 to play in the game.

Utah clawed its way back and following a three-pointer from Gach and a fastbreak dunk from Timmy Allen, and the Utes managed to get the game back to within nine points, down 56-47. Allen's dunk came at the 11:52 mark though and Kentucky would put the game out of reach after going on a 14-0 run. The Utes would go a little more than five minutes without a bucket and UK would close out the second half outscoring the Utes 47-34, on the way to the 27-point victory.

Saturday's contest marked the first game Utah has played Kentucky since 2005 and the first time the Utes have played inside Rupp Arena since 1999. Utah dropped to 1-3 all-time when facing the Wildcats in Lexington.

Gach led the way with his 22 points for the Utes – just two points behind UK's Keldon Johnson who had a game-high 24 points – going 8-for-10 from the field overall and 4-for-6 from three-point range. Johnson tallied 11 points on the day – his second-largest scoring output of the season, going 5-for-6 from the field.

Utah won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding the Wildcats 31-23. It marked the first time the Wildcats have been beat out on the glass since the season-opener to Duke back on Nov. 6. It is the first time the Wildcats have been out-rebounded at home since falling to Tennessee at Rupp Arena last season (02/16/18).

The Utes will have a very quick turnaround as the team is back in action on Monday, Dec. 17, hosting the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Huntsman Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT and the contest will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak

On how good Kentucky was shooting from the perimeter …
"You kind of have to pick your poison, make a decision on how you're going to try to guard them. Numbers wise I think the 3-point shot hadn't been their strength. They've been pounding people on the glass, pounding people inside. So we had a pretty good plan overall and certainly (Keldon) Johnson in the first half hitting five 3's I thought was a big storyline with the game. Our inability with some of the mindless turnovers in the first half, I think there were 12 points scored off of our turnovers, which was virtually the difference in the game. That was probably the big key. Give them credit for knocking down shots, knew that it'd be a point of emphasis and we played zone pretty much the entire game, and that's maybe what you're going to have to give up. I was really proud of our guys' ability to rebound. Maybe there weren't as many offensive rebounds for Kentucky because they made enough of their perimeter shots. Regardless, that's been a focal point for us and to out rebound them by eight on the game, I thought was something that we can hang our hat on. We just have a lot of different areas to improve."

On what the biggest take away of the game is …
"I think I just mentioned it. Unlike football where you can send 11 guys out there and get stops and take a lot of pride on defense, and defense never really has much to do with offense when you send your 11 offensive guys out there, it's kind of like reset. Well for us, turning the ball over puts a lot of pressure on your defense. You've got an offensive and a defensive issue. It's hard to guard this team in transition. You can't defend turnovers and you certainly can't defend the free throw line. We did a decent job at not fouling, but our turnovers were a little bit crazy. So give them credit for that. That's a scenario we have to improve in. As I mentioned I think the rebounding and the 3-point shots were the big - we have a lot of internal things we need to work on. There are a lot of different facets and we've got a couple games here, we play again Monday, play Friday then we've got a little Christmas break. We have to get ready for obviously a really good Nevada team and then our conference play."

On how much different Johnson was today …
"I think again, we took away some of the interior presence with our zone. We didn't do a great job when we doubled. When we doubled the big guy we let them skip opposite and that's where a couple of his 3's came from just too much in rhythm. We did have some breakdowns within our zone. Those guys stepped up and made some big 3's. Those things add up fast. We can do a better job, but I think we took away one of the facets of the game and we were willing to live with some of those 3's, and we made some adjustments. Credit for shooting. No doubt. By the numbers he's certainly getting to the free throw line, getting to the rim kind of guy more then he is an open 3. When you play a team like Kentucky I think with enough different weapons, certainly those guys have it in them do to some different things. We were trying to play the numbers and it didn't work out in our favor."

On how helpful Both Gach was today …
"Both Gach, talented freshman. Seemed like he was ready for the occasion. I think he's got a super bright future. We're playing a number of freshmen - (Riley) Battin, Timmy Allen I'm proud of those guys. We just at the end of the day you've got to have some of your players step up. We've got too many one-for-sevens and one-for-sixes and one-for-fours on the stat sheet. When you play a team of this level, anytime you play a top-20 team, players need to make plays and I thought we made good progress sharing the ball, but shooting air balls and different things with wide open drawn kick shots is not going to get you very far. I know we've got that concept of sharing it a little bit more, now we've got to get the reps and feel comfortable with knocking down some of those shots."

On what caused turnovers tonight …
"It's impossible to quantify those types of things. It was obviously something. The thing I know that we can control is our execution. We had a couple of end out of bounds plays. We had a couple of plays that have a finishing action to them that when we decide were just going make it up on our own you kind of deserve to turn it over, and that's what happened. There were a few pick-sixes where you throw it to them and you can't defend a dunk in transition. I don't know if mindless is the right term. You've got to be disciplined to say, 'Okay, we didn't get that and how do we finish the play?' It's the play after the play. We didn't want to turn the ball over. We did and I think certainly our offense has a long way to go. We got in late to the shot clock far too many times. I had said it to our team I was hoping they wouldn't take me literally is, a lot of times a defense will break down if you make them guard for 28 seconds and you can still get a really good shot with two seconds to go. I said early in the week I'm okay with a shot clock violation because at least they have to take it out of bounds and I think our guys actually took that as coaching and we decided to do it about five or six times. At least they are coachable."

On id there any differences between Reid Travis last year and this year …
"No. I believe he's the same player as far as I can tell. In the games that we watched, scouting report, physical presence. He's a load. The new environment, playing with maybe a handful of freshmen having some leadership, some of those things I think are super valuable. He's been the same player that I can remember. We kind of knew that if he gets the ball in the post its gonna get near the rim pretty quick. I thought we did a decent job with our traps. He's certainly helpful."

#2, Sedrick Barefield, Sr., G

On Utah's team performance today …
"Obviously, we didn't get the outcome we wanted. I think we got better at some things offensively that we've been working on throughout the week. Ultimately, we just got to be better. We got to get better if we want to compete in games like that. I feel like we have the talent. We're just not putting it all together right now."

On what went right in certain moments and wrong in others …
"When we were scoring, we were executing, getting out and pushing the ball, being unselfish, getting in the paint and making plays for people. Other than that, when we weren't doing those things, it was us not executing and us not moving the ball."

On their turnover issues …
"It's a combination of things. Just got to be on the same page with guys. Ultimately, we just got to be on the same page with guys."

On the environment in Rupp Arena …
"I think it was awesome. Coming in Rupp and seeing the fans, seeing the atmosphere that these guys get to play at when they're playing at home. It was pretty cool. I've seen it on TV for years growing up, so it was an awesome experience."

On marking a trip to Rupp Arena on the calendar before the season …
"That's one of those games that you mark on the schedule. You want to come in here and have a great game. Obviously, it didn't go how we planned, but it's definitely an experience that we won't forget."

On learning from today's game for upcoming tough opponents …
"Just seeing what was working in this game and what wasn't working in this game as well and eliminating the things that we didn't do well and reinforcing what we did do well."

#11, Both Gach, Fr., F

On how he was feeling out on the court …
"It was a pretty good game as a team overall, but definitely for myself personally. I just felt really confident going out there and playing."

On his mindset during pregame warmups …
"I felt a little vibe coming to me during warmups. I was feeling really good today, so it was a pretty good game for me."

On having the best game of his season in Rupp Arena …
"It's pretty good because this arena has a lot of history. A lot of great players played here and come here to play games, so it was a good atmosphere to play in, and I was just looking forward to it."

On how Rupp Arena compares to other venues he has seen so far in college …
"This is nothing I've seen before. This is crazy. You have fans that all get here, seeing this loud arena, stuff like that. It was pretty interesting."

On how the volume of the crowd impacted his game today …
"I don't really pay attention to the stands. I really can't hear or anything like that. For me, it's just playing inside the court, so I really don't feed of stuff like that."

On their turnover issues …
"It's pretty much for us cutting some of our turnovers, so I noticed that we had 18 turnovers today. I would say if we had maybe between eight to 10, it would be a different story for the game. I just feel like we need to work on limiting turnovers to the eight-10 range."

On how today can help prepare them for the rest of their schedule …
"It was pretty good, because Nevada is also a ranked team, a top-10 team, so for us coming to Kentucky, it gives us a little view on how Nevada might be or how they might play, so it was a really good experience for us."

On what he and the team can take away from today's game …
"As a team, we just got to get better. We're going back home now, so I just feel like we've got to have a good week of practice because we have two games coming up. After the break, we have Nevada. For me personally, just getting better. It was a pretty good game and just know where you stand as a player."

Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
On if shots were simply falling or your guys doing something markedly better to create a better shot …
"There's both, but Jimmy (Dykes) said on the TV after, "They were clean passes." Like clean catches and clean shots, which means we had willing passers. Not, "I'm going to try to get a shot or make a play and then I'll throw you the ball." Not, "When I catch it, I'll then recognize what's there. When I catch it, I'm going to see who is open and move it to the open men. And second thing is our spacing was much better, and third thing is they played mostly zone, so you had a chance to get more. Look, I've been telling them I want to shoot between 20 and 23 threes a game. If we shoot 30, we will lose the game. Because historically, if you go back over my career of 30-some years, if we shoot 30, my team loses. We want to get to the foul line, we want two-point baskets and we want to offensive rebound. Hard to offensive rebound, miss threes, because they are bouncing everywhere. But you know, we shot the ball pretty well today."

On how much the defense was today …
"Well, you know, we had active hands. We were collapsing on drives. We were anticipating better. You know, the whole thing defensively, if you want to be -- you've got to be able to stop the drive so that you don't have to scramble all over the place and get full rotations, which usually gets you beat. And the second thing is, you've got to be an anticipating kind of team where just like a pass coming to you, you're looking like who is open. Before you catch it, you know what's going on. Defensively is no different. You're on the weak side; where is he trying to pass that ball, and I'm moving in that direction. We've got some guys doing it pretty well. I was happy with Immanuel Quickley today. Immanuel's got to make some shots, and he did today. And Ashton (Hagans) did what he was supposed to, got in that lane, got seven assists. We're kind of defining the roles a little bit better."