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SALT LAKE CITY — After a slow start to the beginning of conference play, Utah has won four straight games and made its way to the top half of the conference standings. The winning streak is due in large part to Utah's improved defensive performance and buy-in from the players.
In Wednesday's 73-64 win over Cal, Utah tempered the many scoring runs of the Golden Bears and locked down defensively late in the game to negate much of Cal's ability to cut into Utah's lead. Utah played a hybrid zone-man defense and smothered Cal's ability to get good looks for much of the second half. Utah held Cal to 2-of-12 shooting in the last 6:40 of the game.
"What I think that they (Utah) were doing was, after our fourth pass, they would go from a zone to a man," Cal head coach Cuonzo Martin said. "I told the guys to treat it like a man-to-man defense and execute what we were trying to do."
Cal, though, couldn't overcome Utah's defense and ultimately fell short. Utah has been one of the worst teams in the Pac-12 this season at defending the perimeter but has made strides lately. Although not perfect throughout the duration of Wednesday night's game, Utah's perimeter defense kept Cal from scoring a 3-pointer in the second half, despite making six amid a 16-5 run to close out the first half.
"Getting stops and getting out and running in our building, I think, is important and making teams earn some things," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Our guys like playing defense, and we are taking a lot of pride in doing so right now."
That defensive effort has been all the difference in Utah's four-game winning streak. Even when the team hasn't been able to generate offense at times, the defensive buy-in from players has kept Utah in games.
"Maybe our offense hasn't been there consistently and regularly enough over the course of the year, but maybe it doesn't have to be if you are committed to playing some defense," Krystkowiak said.
Since Utah's blowout loss to Oregon at home, where the energy level and overall effort was lackluster, the team has regrouped and had a rejuvenated effort on both sides of the ball. Sophomore Jakob Poeltl credits that to players being more "dialed in" and having more focus.
"We found our confidence and we're making good plays," Poeltl said.
Since the Oregon game, Utah has jumped from the near bottom of the conference standings to being tied for second place in a competitive league. In Pac-12 play, Utah is leading the conference in defensive points allowed per possession, at 0.99, when not taking tempo into account.
Additionally, Utah is the second best team in the conference in defending 2-point shots at 42.2 percent shooting for opposing teams. Utah held Cal to 39.5 percent shooting 2-pointers, which is far under Cal's average of 52.7 percent.
Similarly, Utah's defense has held its last three opponents to under or at their shooting averages inside the arc (Washington +0.3 percent, Washington State -7.5 percent, and Oregon State -11.1 percent), which has been a major aspect in Utah's ability to stop teams in close games.
With the added confidence of the team and ability to shut down teams inside the arc, Utah has the makeup to contend for a Pac-12 championship and return for a decent run in the NCAA Tournament.
Utah's defense still has areas to improve upon, particularly its 3-point defense, but it is starting to resemble the strong defense of last year.
