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SALT LAKE CITY — Last December, Timmy Allen and Rylan Jones led Utah with a combined 52 points in a come-from-behind upset victory over a talented BYU team that would later qualify for the NCAA Tournament before the pandemic shut down the season.
On Saturday night, the pair were mostly silent and combined for only 16 points as BYU got its revenge a year later in an 82-64 win over its rival at the Marriott Center.
Allen, Utah's leading scorer last season, finished with 9 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field, and Jones added 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting as Utah shot only 36% from the field in a loss. For the two, the shots just didn't fall despite a fair amount of open looks.
"They struggled because it's a pretty good game plan from the other team," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Those guys missed open shots. Rylan didn't take any bad shots that I remember. And at the end of the day, again, when you're presented with an open shot, they have to go in. It's not from a lack of attempts or practice or working.
"I watched BYU play eight games on tape," he added. "The teams that have beat them made a bunch of open shots. And when we don't, you're gonna put a little bit of pressure on yourself. Not to sound simplistic, but that's a big part of it; I trust those guys. They did a good job on Timmy, they were physical with him down inside, didn't get a lot of opportunities. But Rylan with the open looks, I think he'll bounce back."
It's college basketball, Krystkowiak said, and it's not easy to replicate double figures on a nightly basis even as the team's veteran players. But the two have yet to noticeably take over a game this season; however, other players like Alfonso Plummer, who has the green light to shoot, and freshman Pelle Larsson have stepped in to lead the team early this season.
BYU's defense deserves plenty of credit for Allen and Jones' limited night, as Krystkowiak said, as Brandon Averette locked up Allen and Alex Barcello limited Jones. But the Utah players did the same to Averette and Barcello, who finished with a combined 10 points. The difference is BYU got scoring from its bench — the Cougars outshot the Utes 41-16 in their secondary unit on the court.
Utah got 14 points off the bench from an experienced forward in Riley Battin, but failed to combat a BYU unit that outrebounded and outworked Utah inside the paint for much of the game. And without Utah's two best assets generating points, there was little the team could do to combat the Cougars on their home court.
"That's kind of the way the season rolls is you're presented with different things, different challenges, scouting reports and we've got a ways to go," Krystkowiak. "It's our third game; it was their eighth or ninth game. I'm not ready to head overboard, jump overboard with this thing.
"That's the same way a regular season is, you go through a period you're trying to find your way — the things you do well — and you address as a coaching staff the things that aren't going so well and you need to get improved. And that's the way it is moving forward."
The most concerning thing for Utah, according to Krystkowiak, and the stats bear it out, is the lack of fight under the rim from Utah in the last two games. Utah has been outrebounded by large margins and lack a physical presence under the basket. Against BYU, it was a noticeable impact to a game that started close until the Cougars took over in the post.
"But at the end of the day, what really hurt us was being outrebounded by 16," Krystkowiak said. "We got a number of stops; our defense wasn't that poor. I thought we did a really good job on Barcello and the big fella in Haarms. Those are two guys that were scoring a lot of points for them, and we did a good job; and credit to some of the supporting staff for BYU, they had some guys that stepped up and knocked down some points.
"But the rebounding was so deficient, I thought they just pounded us inside. We've got to be much improved — the level of physicality — than we were tonight."
One-time Utah signee Caleb Lohner finished with 10 rebounds and center Richard Harward added seven rebounds off the bench to lead the Cougars in a win. Utes center Branden Carlson had eight rebounds and Mikael Jantunen added six, but it wasn't enough to combat a well-rounded rebounding approach from the Cougars.
"We cut the lead to 7 in the second half. We got killed on the boards for the next five minutes, and that was kind of a killer for us — defensively for them," Battin said.
Utah will get an opportunity to bounce back Tuesday as they welcome Utah Valley University at 5 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
