This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
None of Utah's mistakes in a 76-66 loss to Oregon will make as much of a ripple as the foul at the end of Thursday's loss against Oregon State did. But they'll surely be dissected as such.
When Lorenzo Bonam cheated off his man in transition trying to go for a steal, leading to an easy Ducks dunk: bad decision.
When Brandon Taylor tested Oregon sophomore Jordan Bell off the dribble, didn't kick out to a teammate and instead tried a layup against one of the best shot-blockers in the conference: bad decision.
When Utah's posts lost track of Oregon's baseline players, opening the backdoor to easy layups and slams: bad decision.
The sum of these mental errors, coach Larry Krystkowiak said, is what Utah has to be concerned about going forward. And unless the Runnin' Utes (17-7, 6-5 Pac-12) can clean up the misjudgments they've made — errors that were made glaring on an 0-2 road trip — it could be a challenging finish to the season.
"We've got guys on our team who play really hard, but they don't play smart. And we've got really intelligent players that maybe don't play hard enough," he said. "You've got to put it all together."
Sunday's game was not an all-together-type effort, which Krystkowiak said was more concerning from the "play smart" side.
For the fifth straight game, the Utes had double-digit turnovers. For the third straight game, they had more turnovers than their opponent. Utah's 14 turnovers translated into 19 Oregon points on Sunday.
The nature of Utah's turnovers continues to vex the coaching staff. Oregon was credited with six steals — meaning offensive fouls, violations, travels and carelessness contributed to Utah's eight other turnovers. On the second possession of the game, the Utes couldn't get the ball over the half-court mark in 10 seconds while facing Oregon's pressure, an unsettling omen.
When Utah did have its moments, it couldn't sustain them. What started out as a solid zone that kept the Ducks in check started to crack as foul trouble put Jakob Poeltl and Kyle Kuzma on their heels — "more apprehensive," Krystkowiak said.
Dillon Brooks began to play so well that the Utes collapsed on him, leaving Bell, Chris Boucher and Elgin Cook open for easy dish-and-dunks.
Adding the Oregon game to the letdown against the Beavers, memorably punctuated by Taylor's costly last-second foul, the Utes acknowledged they didn't put forth their smartest games. While they didn't give up against the Ducks and made it a single-digit game toward the finish, which Krystkowiak was proud of, their earlier mistakes made it so their effort wasn't enough.
"We had a couple turnovers in the first half that were just throwing the ball around, traveling or my charge [foul]," Kuzma said. "It was a lot of things."
There's some hope for a turnaround, as Utah finishes Pac-12 play with five of their last seven games at home. Krystkowiak said the team had spent 18 of the past 38 days in hotels while being one of two Pac-12 teams to play on the road in seven of their first 11 league contests.
The finishing stretch offers more time for school, game prep, practice and sleep in one's own bed.
The team is hopeful wiping away some road fatigue will help clear their heads to play smart as well as hard.
"At least we get home, have a lot more home games and have the fans on our side," Kuzma said. "It's gonna be great for us."
Twitter: @kylegoon