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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Utah sustained its first loss of the season Friday, losing to Miami 90-66 in the semifinal round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament. The loss exposed several vulnerabilities in Utah's game as a program hoping to return to the NCAA Tournament.
While the score was not favorable for the No. 16 Runnin' Utes, it was the abundance of turnovers that had head coach Larry Krystkowiak frustrated with his team's performance. Utah finished with 17 turnovers that translated to 23 points for the Hurricanes.
"They're a physical team, they did a nice job defending us. Anytime you score 23 points off your turnovers, it's impossible to defend those," Krystkowiak told the media after the game. "I don't know if I've even heard of that many points off of turnovers. So when we throw the ball up they pick it off and go throw it in, that's really hard to overcome."
The sheer number of turnovers immobilized Utah and kept the team out of reach, particularly as the Hurricanes quickly took advantage and went on several runs throughout the game. Utah had cut Miami's lead down to nine points early in the second half, but a couple of quick turnovers and equally quick Miami baskets were all that was needed to handily beat Utah.
The turnovers, too, seeped into other facets of the game as Utah attempted to gain some momentum and stage a comeback. Utah got sloppy and careless and couldn't generate an effective offense and resorted to fouling to make up some ground. But a sloppy, careless effort only made the matters worse and showed that Utah is not yet capable of responding to adversity against a tournament-bound team early in the season.
Utah has played each of its opponents close this season, but mistakes and vulnerabilities were masked by a higher level of talent on the court for Utah. Against equally talented athletes who had the ability to strike when the iron was hot, Utah proved unworthy early in the season.
Much of the ability to battle through adversity comes from being physical and wielding a win away from the opposing team — simply wanting a win more — particularly when playing catchup. But Utah lacked a heightened level of physicality on offense and defense in the post and allowed Miami to dictate the style and level of play.
"Our team needs to get tougher collectively and individually," Krystkowiak said. "I've always thought the aggressor wins when it comes to the foul line, and we pretty much got punched in the mouth and we didn't do a very good job of responding.
"We didn't do a very good job of establishing the post. (Miami) played hard," Krystkowiak added. "I've said this for years: You have to play hard on offense, mentally tough and physically tough. It's a bit of a misnomer you only equate playing hard with playing defense. You have to be able to take it to the other. They basically played harder than we did when they were on defense.
Against Miami, Utah was outrebounded 34-25. Sophomore Jakob Poeltl was the team's leading rebounder, but finished the game with only six total rebounds after getting into early foul trouble. Additionally, the Hurricanes also managed 10 second-chance points, in comparison to Utah's five points.
With Poeltl out of the game as a result of early foul trouble, Utah was forced to address its lack of depth at center against a talented 7-foot Tonye Jekiri who finished the game with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Reyes fared well throughout the game, but had four fouls and was no match to the more physical Jekiri. The combo of Brekkott Chapman and Kyle Kuzma, too, were not enough to combat the pure size and depth of Miami's roster.
Utah will likely not play too many teams with the depth and size Miami had, but Utah needs to find a way to utilize its smaller lineup when Poeltl is not on the floor. Effective shooting from more than Jordan Loveridge will certainly help, but it's about limiting turnovers and playing an aggressive style of defense that will help negate opposing teams' depth.
"When you combine that with not playing very intelligently when you get out-physicaled and outplayed from a toughness point of view, then you shoot yourself in the foot with the turnovers; it's a deadly combination," Krystkowiak said.
Utah has plenty of time to regroup and move forward with its season, though. Similar to the loss to San Diego State last season, if Utah regroups and finds a good rhythm while correcting its flaws, the early season loss will be a blip on the radar on the way to another successful season. It's how the team responds to the loss that will determines future success.
