Utes Dominate Cougars

Despite shooting only 41%, Utah shut down BYU's fast break attack and held BYU 25 points below its per game average to beat the Cougars. I thought Utah could win this game. I didn't expect the Utes to dominate the Cougars. But dominate Utah did.

On offense, Jordan Loveridge immediately and aggressively attacked BYU's defense. He did it within the flow of the offense. Jordan's aggressive play got the Utes going and put BYU on its heels. By the time Jordan cooled off a bit, Utah had a big lead and took BYU out of its game plan. When BYU tried to zone, Utah attacked baseline and got several open shots from the corners and wings. Utah has struggled against the zone in recent games. But Utah shot well enough against the zone to force BYU back into man-to-man where Utah could exploit the Y with its superior athleticism and depth.

Utah proved to be deeper than the Y. Utah got a nice contribution from its bench. When Renan Lenz left the game early with foul trouble, Bachynski and Olsen came in and neutralized BYU's big men. Onwas and Van Dyke also gave the Utes important minutes off the bench to keep the Cougars at bay.

Utah's transition defense and half court defense was outstanding. BYU only scored a handful of points in transition, only had 10 assists and shot a frigid 33%. BYU is a good team, but the Utes completely took the Cougars off their game. It was an excellent defensive performance.

And finally, I cannot emphasize enough the amazing atmosphere at the Huntsman Center. The student section was almost full an hour before the game. The crowd was pumped and the Cougars played scared. The Utes fed off the crowd and punched BYU in the face from the get go. BYU had no response. Will the crowd show up when it matters in January and February?

While this was an important game for the Utes -- a statement game in many respects -- this game is not nearly as important as the conference games coming up. The conference opener against Oregon is shaping up to be a key conference match up for the Utes. If the Utes can get by its next two opponents and the Oregon teams on the opening weekend of Pac 12 play, it can get some momentum and make some noise in conference play. If the fans show up in January and February the way they did last night, the Huntsman Center will be a very difficult place to play.