Utah vs. Ball State Game Recap: Delon Wright is a Basketball Player

Delon Wright is an excellent basketball player.  He is smart on and off the ball, he is efficient, he involves his teammates, and he has worked hard to develop his skills and athleticism. He played an incredible game against the Cardinals:  38 minutes, 23 points on 11 shots (wow!), 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and only one turnover.  I don't like to single out individual players.  But Delon Wright dominated that game.  He made his teammates better.  Utah was the better team and Delon Wright was a big reason why.  

I liked Utah's offensive performance.  Almost half of Utah's points came in the paint.  Utah outscored BSU 18-2 in fast break points (20% of its offense off the fast break).  And the Utes shot 32 for 57 (56.1% overall).  Utah's offense works off its best players.  It starts with Delon Wright.  But the Utes also got good offensive contributions from Brandon Taylor and Princeton Onwas.  And Tucker and Bachynski gave Utah excellent efforts off the bench.  And while Jordan Loveridge did not have his best game shooting the ball, he still contributed 4 assists and rebounded the ball well.  His presence, as always, opened up lanes for his teammates to drive and score or drive and pass.

Utah went through a few tough minutes to open the second half where it took some bad shots and got caught playing too much one-on-one basketball.  And we still need to see an improvement at the free throw line and in post play.  But overall, Utah is right on schedule offensively.

Utah also played solid man-to-man defense.  The Runnin' Utes only gave up two fast break points.  One thing I always preached is that good defense starts with balance on offense. If you take good shots and spread the floor, then you will be in a good position to get back on defense.  And Coach Krystko does an excellent job of coaching that vital (and often underrated) principle.  Brandon Taylor did an excellent job on Ball State's excellent young point guard.  And Renan Lens did a nice job helping out his teammates.  His four blocks all came off solid help side defense. 

The Utes continue to struggle on close outs.  Two or three times players got caught jumping up instead of closing out on the outside shot.  And Utah almost let Ball State back in the game midway through the second half when it fouled on consecutive three point shots.

Coach Krystko is doing an excellent job in playing to his team's strengths.  Utah has an array of long and athletic guards and forwards.  And the offense is designed to accentuate those strengths.  I believe that a strong offense relies on strong post play.  This was likely more true in my day when there was no three point line and no shot clock.  But I would still love to see the Utes continue to work through the post inside out and side to side.  Renan Lens and Dallin Bachynski are coming along well.  Renan did a great job pulling his man outside and hitting some shots.  And Dallin put himself in excellent position to receive on the drive and dish.  I think Kovacevic will really help Utah with its depth in the post when he comes back off of his injury. 

So a tip of the milk jug to Coach Krystko and the Utes.  They are playing excellent basketball and the rebuild is, in my estimation, ahead of schedule.  Ball State is a good team and Utah beat the Cardinals from start to finish.  Now let's see how they play on the road against a solid Boise State team.