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Saturday, January 25
Salt Lake City, UT
5:00 PM
University of Utah
12-7,3-4Pac-12
76
vs
64
Washington State
12-9,3-5Pac-12
1
2
F
Washington St.
25
39
64
Utah
37
39
76
Photo by: Rob Gray
Runnin' Utes Find Rhythm on Offense in Win Over Cougars
1/25/2020 8:39 PM | Men's Basketball
The Utah men’s basketball got back on the win-streak train Saturday with a 76-64 win over Washington State.
SALT LAKE CITY – Backed by an offensive night from Rylan Jones and Mikael Jantunen, the University of Utah men's basketball team get back on the win-streak train with a 76-64 victory over Washington State inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center Saturday evening.
The win extends the win-streak for Utah to 12-straight against Washington State and 8-0 at home in Pac-12 play. Since joining the league in 2011-12, this is the sixth time the Utes have swept the Washington schools at home in eight tries.
Utah (12-7, 3-4 Pac-12) had a slow start to the game, but it was able to keep within striking distance for most of the first half. The Utes then tied it up at 19-19 before Aljaz Kunc fouled Jones with a clear path to the basket heading into the 5:45 media break.
The two free throws from Jones jump-started a 12-0 run for the Utes as they closed the half with a 37-25 edge over the Cougars. Jantunen led the U in the first half with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while Branden Carlson and Timmy Allen had nine points apiece.
Washington State (12-9, 3-5 Pac-12) came out of the break a much different team and roared back to take a 43-42 lead thanks to an 18-5 run, which included a trio of 3-pointers from CJ Elleby. However, back-to-back baskets from Jantunen and Both Gach put the Utes back on top 46-43 with 13:09 left in the game.
Utah continued its run after going down 43-42 and reeled off a 14-3 run of its own, which forced a WSU timeout with the Runnin' Utes leading 56-46 after a triple from Jaxon Brenchley a 10-footer from Riley Battin with 9:24 left to play.
From there, it was all Jones as the freshman point guard scored 13 of the final 20 points for Utah and seal the 76-64 victory.
Jones finished with a game-high 24 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals on 8-of-10 shooting. Like Jones, Jantunen was just shy of a new career-high and finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five boards and three assists. Carlson had one of his better offensive nights and recorded 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting with three blocks. Allen rounded this out for Utah, filling up the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah moves to 26-4 all-time against Washington State with the win and 13-2 in Pac-12 play … the Utes continue their dominance at home against the Cougars, moving to 18-1 all-time … the Utes turned 13 WSU turnovers into 19 points while the Cougs managed to get just seven points from 14 Utah turnovers … the 19 assists by Utah Saturday night is the third-most assists its dished out this season behind the 20 against Central Arkansas (12/7) and 41 versus Mississippi Valley State (11/8) … the .630 shooting clip as a team is just the second time it's shot above 60-percent, and just shy of the season-high (.633) set against MVSU on Nov. 8.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak…
Opening Statement…
"You know at the end of the day that might be the most enjoyable part of the game when you see shots go in. I think it energizes you and I give our guys a lot of credit from the other night when we were shooting as miserably as we did and we managed to defend and get enough stops. It's fun when you get on a little roll and see the ball go in and we maintained our effort defensively at the same time, with the exception of one little rough stretch. But, I think more importantly, I really witnessed our guys making the extra pass. We were kind of almost to a fault. I thought Timmy had a couple of opportunities around the rim with the option being to shoot and he tried to pass and they were turnovers but we really shared the basketball... I think what happens is when you are missing shots you kind of change the way you're playing and guys start pressing a little bit and we just need to keep making the play the game presents to us. Which involves a lot of the time sharing it, and then you have to have confidence that the shots are going in. We've shot a lot, put the time in, and it was miserably the other night but it was nice tonight for a number of guys, between Rylan and Mickey. Those guys were super solid giving us a performance and Timmy was kind of his usual self so it was good."
Coach K on turning the corner from a losing streak to a winning streak and taking that on the road...
"The message to our guys, when we ran into four losses is the same message that we have right now. It truly is about the next opponent and we even break it down further into four minute segments of a game. You know, keep it simple, don't let your mind get confused or polluted with things. Everybody is in control of a certain aspect of their game. You know us as coaches, we're in control of certain things. We have a really good understanding of what our guys can do, you don't ask people to do things they can't do. Players should not do things they can't do and if everybody starts accepting those roles I think you win more possessions and at the end of the day I think that's what it's about. You know we look back at the Washington game we managed to win one more possession and whether we win or lose you are never as good as you think you are and you are never as bad as you think you are. I knew we were a lot better team than having lost four games in a row. That is some tough competition when you head out on the road after a tough Oregon game and our guys had a really good week of practice so we stayed in it."
Coach K on the defense having a Jerry Sloan mentality…
"Well, maybe we struggled a little bit offensively in that little streak of losing some games and trying to find an identity running up against some elite teams and sometimes you have to sit back and try to not spend as much time trying to fix what's going on offensively. Let's get back to some of the basic shell drills that we do... and Jerry Sloan is something that gets written on our board every game 'GYFG'. Jerry's mentality for a number of years throughout his career wasn't about some fancy scheme, it was just the guy that's standing in front of you. Guard that flipping guy, you know, and there isn't a bunch of coverages kind like back in the playground days. I think we've had a little bit of a renewed sense of that with our guys where they are getting down and taking some pride and staying between the basket and our guy so we don't have to help as much. We've gone back to some of those basics and I've always said that defense wins championships...I think the defense at the end of the day will win you a lot of games so we kind of went back to that a little bit."
Freshman Forward #20 Mikael Jantunen
On how satisfying the last two games have been after going on a four-game losing streak…
"We just have to start from the defensive end and get our stuff together. When we play good defense it relates to offense and I feel like that was the focus point this week. Just get back on track."
UP NEXT
Utah now hits the road to the City of Angels for a pair of games against USC (Jan. 30) and UCLA (Feb. 2). Both games are set to air on FS1.
The win extends the win-streak for Utah to 12-straight against Washington State and 8-0 at home in Pac-12 play. Since joining the league in 2011-12, this is the sixth time the Utes have swept the Washington schools at home in eight tries.
Utah (12-7, 3-4 Pac-12) had a slow start to the game, but it was able to keep within striking distance for most of the first half. The Utes then tied it up at 19-19 before Aljaz Kunc fouled Jones with a clear path to the basket heading into the 5:45 media break.
The two free throws from Jones jump-started a 12-0 run for the Utes as they closed the half with a 37-25 edge over the Cougars. Jantunen led the U in the first half with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while Branden Carlson and Timmy Allen had nine points apiece.
?????? @ballerbranden35
— Utah Basketball?? (@UtahMBB) January 26, 2020
??@Pac12Network#GoUtes???? pic.twitter.com/EjmDrlncTK
Washington State (12-9, 3-5 Pac-12) came out of the break a much different team and roared back to take a 43-42 lead thanks to an 18-5 run, which included a trio of 3-pointers from CJ Elleby. However, back-to-back baskets from Jantunen and Both Gach put the Utes back on top 46-43 with 13:09 left in the game.
Utah continued its run after going down 43-42 and reeled off a 14-3 run of its own, which forced a WSU timeout with the Runnin' Utes leading 56-46 after a triple from Jaxon Brenchley a 10-footer from Riley Battin with 9:24 left to play.
From there, it was all Jones as the freshman point guard scored 13 of the final 20 points for Utah and seal the 76-64 victory.
.@rylanjones15 with 2??4??pts. 1??8?? of them came in the 2nd half. ????#GoUtes???? #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/hIKdnmEnAK
— Utah Basketball?? (@UtahMBB) January 26, 2020
Jones finished with a game-high 24 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals on 8-of-10 shooting. Like Jones, Jantunen was just shy of a new career-high and finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five boards and three assists. Carlson had one of his better offensive nights and recorded 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting with three blocks. Allen rounded this out for Utah, filling up the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah moves to 26-4 all-time against Washington State with the win and 13-2 in Pac-12 play … the Utes continue their dominance at home against the Cougars, moving to 18-1 all-time … the Utes turned 13 WSU turnovers into 19 points while the Cougs managed to get just seven points from 14 Utah turnovers … the 19 assists by Utah Saturday night is the third-most assists its dished out this season behind the 20 against Central Arkansas (12/7) and 41 versus Mississippi Valley State (11/8) … the .630 shooting clip as a team is just the second time it's shot above 60-percent, and just shy of the season-high (.633) set against MVSU on Nov. 8.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak…
Opening Statement…
"You know at the end of the day that might be the most enjoyable part of the game when you see shots go in. I think it energizes you and I give our guys a lot of credit from the other night when we were shooting as miserably as we did and we managed to defend and get enough stops. It's fun when you get on a little roll and see the ball go in and we maintained our effort defensively at the same time, with the exception of one little rough stretch. But, I think more importantly, I really witnessed our guys making the extra pass. We were kind of almost to a fault. I thought Timmy had a couple of opportunities around the rim with the option being to shoot and he tried to pass and they were turnovers but we really shared the basketball... I think what happens is when you are missing shots you kind of change the way you're playing and guys start pressing a little bit and we just need to keep making the play the game presents to us. Which involves a lot of the time sharing it, and then you have to have confidence that the shots are going in. We've shot a lot, put the time in, and it was miserably the other night but it was nice tonight for a number of guys, between Rylan and Mickey. Those guys were super solid giving us a performance and Timmy was kind of his usual self so it was good."
Coach K on turning the corner from a losing streak to a winning streak and taking that on the road...
"The message to our guys, when we ran into four losses is the same message that we have right now. It truly is about the next opponent and we even break it down further into four minute segments of a game. You know, keep it simple, don't let your mind get confused or polluted with things. Everybody is in control of a certain aspect of their game. You know us as coaches, we're in control of certain things. We have a really good understanding of what our guys can do, you don't ask people to do things they can't do. Players should not do things they can't do and if everybody starts accepting those roles I think you win more possessions and at the end of the day I think that's what it's about. You know we look back at the Washington game we managed to win one more possession and whether we win or lose you are never as good as you think you are and you are never as bad as you think you are. I knew we were a lot better team than having lost four games in a row. That is some tough competition when you head out on the road after a tough Oregon game and our guys had a really good week of practice so we stayed in it."
Coach K on the defense having a Jerry Sloan mentality…
"Well, maybe we struggled a little bit offensively in that little streak of losing some games and trying to find an identity running up against some elite teams and sometimes you have to sit back and try to not spend as much time trying to fix what's going on offensively. Let's get back to some of the basic shell drills that we do... and Jerry Sloan is something that gets written on our board every game 'GYFG'. Jerry's mentality for a number of years throughout his career wasn't about some fancy scheme, it was just the guy that's standing in front of you. Guard that flipping guy, you know, and there isn't a bunch of coverages kind like back in the playground days. I think we've had a little bit of a renewed sense of that with our guys where they are getting down and taking some pride and staying between the basket and our guy so we don't have to help as much. We've gone back to some of those basics and I've always said that defense wins championships...I think the defense at the end of the day will win you a lot of games so we kind of went back to that a little bit."
Freshman Forward #20 Mikael Jantunen
On how satisfying the last two games have been after going on a four-game losing streak…
"We just have to start from the defensive end and get our stuff together. When we play good defense it relates to offense and I feel like that was the focus point this week. Just get back on track."
UP NEXT
Utah now hits the road to the City of Angels for a pair of games against USC (Jan. 30) and UCLA (Feb. 2). Both games are set to air on FS1.
###
Team Stats
WSU
Utah
FG%
.464
.630
3FG%
.385
.400
FT%
.400
.737
RB
21
30
TO
13
14
STL
6
7
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
6
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballCrimson Corner with Bill Riley - Eric Weddle
Wednesday, October 01
Meet the Runnin’ Utes Staff: Martin Schiller
Monday, September 29
Meet the Runnin’ Utes Staff: Erick Schork
Thursday, August 28
Utah Basketball | Team Together - Episode 2
Thursday, August 21