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SALT LAKE CITY — Craig Smith was quick to welcome the characterization of his team's play last week against the two Arizona schools, both losses.
"You can say historically, it's been a bad trip," Smith said.
If anything, he was the first to point out how different his team looked in comparison to an undefeated December and an overall resume that had Utah on the fringe of being included in the Associated Press Top 25 by the select voting members.
And though Arizona was a scheduled loss simply based on the Wildcats' overall play, rankings and a nearly 40-year winning streak against Utah in Tucson, it was the Arizona State game that had the Utah coach most disappointed with his team.
"I thought we did some things very well, specifically in the Arizona game, and then some things that were just glaringly bad," Smith said. "We were not good defensively, quite frankly, in any way, shape, or form all weekend. I was just really, really disappointed in how we guarded consistently."
Smith said much of his team's mistakes, especially with its turnovers and overall play on the defensive end, was that the Runnin' Utes players didn't "communicate well enough" on the floor against two teams that get out and run in transition.
Both Arizona and Arizona State used a high-tempo offense to decimate the Utes in the post and from behind the 3-point line — really, anywhere on the court.
While that was more understandable against a ranked Arizona team with a multi-faceted and dynamic offense, it was a different story against Arizona State. The Sun Devils came into the game shooting one of the worst percentages from 3-point range in the Pac-12, and Utah's defense gave Arizona State all the room it needed to hit from deep.
And Arizona State was more than happy to oblige — to the tune of 12 made 3-pointers on 43% shooting from behind the arc.
"I didn't think our effort was good enough," Smith said. "And, obviously, our execution wasn't where it needed to be. Too many turnovers against Arizona State. The Arizona State game, specifically, we didn't eliminate losing. Just too many self-inflicted errors, and that's hard to overcome on the road."
Turnovers and Utah's overall defensive effort are just two points to a multitude of issues Smith said his team needs to work on after back-to-back losses. It's an overall "slippage" in effort, Smith said, to what Utah had been doing so well on its eight-game win streak.
The Runnin' Utes weren't perfect over their December winning streak, but there was more accountability to the game then, Smith said. The offense had a rhythm to it, and the team passed the ball around to facilitate assists and better looks for shots. That effort carried over to the defensive side of the ball, where Utah players sold out and limited easy looks to opponents.
"We've all got to be able to look in the mirror and take accountability to be better," he said. "Starting with me, to our coaching staff, and then, of course, our players. There was just too much slippage last week. I just saw too much slippage, mainly on the defensive end, but some things on the offensive end, as well, where we're — I just feel like we're too sticky (with the ball).
"Basketball is a humbling game, sports is humbling, life is humbling, and you've got to be able to take a step back and have perspective and look yourself in the mirror and have some accountability to what's going on and make yourself better, which obviously makes your team better."
As Utah prepares for a rare home-road split for the week's games against UCLA and Stanford, Smith said his team will go back to some fundamentals as the team continues "redefining" who it is, especially with Wilguens Exacte Jr. officially out for the season as he pursues a redshirt season following an undisclosed medical procedure, and Deivon Smith continuing to acclimate to the team.
"We've gotta get back to the fundamentals, back to the basics, so to speak," Smith said. "I know it's a cliche, but we have to tighten up some things specifically on the defensive end. ... We're gonna do some things that, quite frankly, we haven't had to do much over the years, but we're gonna be doing them today in practice and until we get it figured out."
How long that takes will be up to his team.
