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Los Angeles • What follows up a loss? Tossing a few chairs? Giving your team tough words?
Larry Krystkowiak let his players do the talking.
Utah reviewed about 45 video segments of its 69-59 loss to UCLA before Friday's practice. Krystkowiak gave Jakob Poeltl the control. For each clip, he didn't offer criticism — he just asked, "What's wrong in this one?"
As he anticipated, his team knew the answers.
"Guys are fessing up to what they're doing, taking some ownership," Krystkowiak said. "This is not a group that isn't going to realize what it did wrong and point fingers."
The No. 11 Runnin' Utes (16-4, 6-2) have a lot of mistakes to digest after their latest defeat. While it isn't cause for panic, it is a lesson: If Utah wants to keep being a ranked team, in conversations for a Pac-12 title and high seeding in the NCAA Tournament, it has to play like it. The discipline and energy that have carried it this far was lacking, to say the least, on Thursday.
The lethargic spirit of the team cost the Utes against a revenge-minded UCLA squad: Bruins coach Steve Alford posted the 71-39 final score of the last meeting on his team's board just so it burned into their brains.
"They played tougher, they played harder," Jordan Loveridge said. "It showed. There were some plays where they were the aggressor all the way around."
UCLA outscored Utah in the paint, had more points off turnovers and scored more on second chances. The Bruins also made twice as many free throws (18 for 24) as the Utes took (6 for 9), highlighting their aggressiveness.
Krystkowiak acknowledged there is a cold going around the team, which limited Utah's practice intensity slightly on Friday. But he was discouraged by some in-game mental mistakes that were costly, as well as missed open looks. The first 7:20 of the second half, in which Utah went scoreless with seven misses and four turnovers, was the ultimate bad combination for the Utes.
"Part of it is us needing to be better, and then when we get an open shot, we have to make it," he said. "With the turnovers, you see four or five passes that guys are embarrassed, how do you work on that? It's mental. There were just some things functionally that guys weren't putting themselves in position to make plays."
The main question: Will it bother Utah in the future?
Krystkowiak has seen some encouraging signs, particularly with players admitting mistakes. When someone didn't make the right pass, took a bad shot, or forgot a defensive note in the scouting report, he took responsibility, Krystkowiak said.
Utah has until Sunday to make the necessary fixes and make sure the mental cobwebs are cleared. Loveridge said the team sees it mostly as an aberration — one off night in a season of so many good ones.
But he understands the Utes will have to prove it as well.
"We've got to come out play hard," he said. "Show that we are tough."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
No. 11 Utah at USC
O Sunday, 12:30 p.m. MST
TV • ESPNU