About the dunk contest last night: Obviously Arizona has four or more NBA guys

[Ute Dub]

and they showed off a bit last night. But here’s what I liked on Utah’s side.

1) Jenkins showed he could drive the ball against Arizona and got 6 free throws out of it and some layups. If he can do that against Arizona, he can do that against other teams and Utah needs someone that can attack the rim consistently. 2) Battin is really good at fouling the opposition while they’re laying the ball through the net. 3) I’m glad Carlson got 12 shots up even though he didn’t shoot it as well as he normally does, but that’s his minimum quota, 12 shots a game, stay aggressive. 4) we played a good style of basketball, moved the ball, got shots, made a few dumb turnovers that led to fast break showtime dunks, but overall looked solid. 

Utah was out rebounded by 12, and generally were not the athletic match on the wing nor the strength match in the front court. I really like Utah’s style of basketball and effort on defense, I can’t complain about the effort and concentration. 

[chinngiskhaan]

Solid analysis

Its still hard for me to believe that Battin was actually a positive contributor as a freshman… I’ve honest to goodness seen at least 20 guys at the rec center that would hurt our team less than he does. They aren’t all his size, but let’s be real, he’d be the exact same player if he was 6 inches shorter. He does not use his stature well at all.

[utefansince79]

Utah really didn’t play that poorly last night.  Not the best game we’ve had, but far from the worst.  Arizona is just that powerful and could very well cut down the nets in New Orleans in a few weeks.  I liked it how we were down 8-0 very quickly, but we fought hard and got back in it and took a brief lead at about the 10 minute mark, but 3 straight treys ingnited a huge wildcat run. 

Crazy that near the end of the first half we hit a trey with a few seconds left which might have given us a tiny bit of momentum heading into the locker room and Krisa (who ended up with 7 treys and a triple double) bombs in a buzzer beating shot from the center jump circle.  

 

 

[EmersonUte]

After watching last night in person I have a few thoughts:

1) Arizona is constructed a lot like the Oregon teams of a few years ago.  Tons of rangy athletic wings.  Arizona’s man to man D was pretty suffocating.  They’re very athletic.  

2) Lahat had a nice game.  Battled.  Both Gach (outside of his ridiculous shot selection) was critical for us to try and match athleticism and get to the rim.  Same for Jenkins (as noted above)

3) Other than needing just better players, I’m disappointed in our players work on their bodies.  We need at least 10-15 more pounds of muscle on every single player on our team not named Marco Anthony.  Seriously.  Conditioning program in the offseason is not working.  That’s something aside from recruiting that we need to address this year.

4) Arizona fans are insufferable.  The AZ / ASU contingent is hands down the worst in the conference.  Oregon fans suck too, but the Oregon State fans are so awesome – even when they’re beating us – that I find them very hard to dislike.  But Arizona’s fans around me last night were obnoxious idiots.  See you all Nov. 5 in Rice Eccles.  Bring your highly paid, cheating-for-sure recruiting class with you and watch us beat your ass.