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Are they at the trailhead or the summit?

That's the fundamental question of Utah's string of recent performances: Is this the best the Utes can be? Or is there more still to discover?

http://bit.ly/2jwBVQy";>Pushing UCLA to the limit gave Utah (12-5, 3-2) confidence that it can compete with the best teams in the country, but the measure of any team is consistency. The Utes' games against USC, Arizona State and UCLA comprised three of the five best shooting performances of the season. Is that sustainable? And can Utah maintain the solid defense it has produced since conference play began?

Larry Krystkowiak said after the last game that he's been proud that his team has prepared the same way for each opponent, whether a top-5 team like the Bruins, or a no-name squad like Prairie View A&M.http://bit.ly/2jlnQW8";> But this road trip, against two teams struggling in Pac-12 play, will be a test of that mentality. Maybe Utah threw all the punches it had against UCLA. Maybe the Utes have more meshing left to do and can elevate even further.

On Wednesday, they'll start letting the rest of the league know what to expect.

Time, Place and [radio waves in] Space • Utah is headed to Beasley Coliseum for the tilt with the Cougars, which tips off at 7 p.m. MST. The Utes are 4-2 all-time in Pullman. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network, or carried on the radio by ESPN 700 AM.

The Line • As of Wednesday morning, Utah is favored by 9 points according to Vegas Insider. Utah is 8-6-1 against the spread with four wins and a push in its last five games, including the buzzer-beater against UCLA that didn't win the game but beat the spread.

Pregame Quotable • Kyle Kuzma on playing WSU after UCLA: "You know you're going to get up for a game with 16,000 fans — if you don't, then you shouldn't be playing basketball. But for this, you kind of just gotta stay even-keeled but confident enough to do what you did in the past."

Opposing coach • Ernie Kent has had a tough go at Washington State, which could've been expected. The Cougars brought in some significant talent last year, and then lost a lot of it to transfers after many of the additions didn't work out. While he's recently passed the 350 career win mark, Kent is a bit on edge at Wazzu in his third seeason, even though it's a notoriously difficult place to win. But the Cougars don't look like the worst team in the league — Oregon State is sinking fast — and they just topped in-state rival Washington on the road. That'll give anybody some breathing room. Kent is 0-4 against the Utes since being hired at Washington State.

Telling Stat • There's a lot of ways to show how well Utah is shooting right now, but let's try this one: There are two teams in the Pac-12 with three players among the nation's leaders in effective field goal percentage, a shooting metric which adds weight to 3-point shooting. The first is UCLA. The second is Utah: No. 26 Devon Daniels (64.9), No. 37 Lorenzo Bonam (63.5) and No. 95 JoJo Zamora (60.5). If David Collette (64.2) and Jayce Johnson (61.1) had taken more shots this season, they would be in the top 100 as well.

Cougars Roster Overview • It's only right to begin with Josh Hawkinson, the 6-foot-10 forward who has been toiling in futility for the last few years to make Wazzu competitive. He'll probably leave as the program's all-time leader in double-doubles, currently with 49, and he's second in the Pac-12 in rebounds (10.4 rpg), fifth in made free throws (68) and fourth in minutes (34:14). Probably the second-biggest concern for the Utes is freshman point guard Malachi Flynn, who has given the backcourt a burst of life with his 3-point shooting (44.6 percent) and was last seen dropping 20 points against Cal. Both Flynn and Conor Clifford, a soft-handed 7-footer who was once a Utah recruit, have statistically improved in Pac-12 play from their season start. The other double-digit scorer is also familiar: The fleet-footed Ike Iroegbu rounds out the biggest threats, and he can make Utah look bad in transition. WSU is among the Pac-12's bottom half in many key statistics: FG percentage defense (43.3 percent, 10th), rebound margin (minus-2.7, 11th), turnover margin (minus-1.9, 11th) and many, many others. It hasn't been a great season thus far.

Behind Enemy Lines • The Spokesman-Review'shttp://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jan/14/cougars-come-close-but-fall-at-cal/";> Jacob Thorpe analyzes the Cougars' last loss, a tight one at Cal in which Washington State showed toughness but couldn't seal the deal. Sound familiar?

Something's Gotta Give • Bigs versus bigs. Between David Collette and Kyle Kuzma, Utah has gotten a lot of offense in the post, and Hawkinson and Clifford aren't exactly defensive stalwarts. But they also are some of the better, craftier finishers in the game, and they possess bulk that Utah's bigs don't. Kuzma is only listed as five pounds lighter than the 230-pound Hawkinson, but that doesn't hold up to the eye test. Clifford is 7 feet tall and 260 pounds, which is two inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Collette. The Utes will have to muscle down (and perhaps get some good minutes out of Jayce Johnson) to make sure Hawkinson and Clifford don't have an easy shooting night at the rim.

Wazzu's Edge • Don't expect Washington State to give much up at the foul line — whether the Cougars are standing on it or not. Wazzu averages fewer fouls (15.6) than any other Pac-12 team, the 18th-lowest mark in the country. The Cougars also shoot the 7th-best percentage from the line in the nation at 78.5 percent. Krystkowiak underlined not fouling as one of the keys to the game.

Utah's Edge • This is Utah's chance to shine in the turnover department. The Utes are averaging only 10.4 turnovers per game in Pac-12 play, and last time out tied a season low of eight against UCLA. Among Washington State's less compelling defensive statistics is that the Cougars force fewer turnovers per possession (15.2 percent) than any other Pac-12 team.

Injury Watch • Aside from some seasonal illness, all key players are expected to be in good shape for the game.

Watch Out For • The youth movement.http://bit.ly/2jKNfM8";> Devon Daniels and http://bit.ly/2itfPwc";>Sedrick Barefield have strung a handful of strong games together now, and could really give Utah a big edge in the backcourt when they're playing at their best. Daniels has pretty much been on since Pac-12 play began, while Barefield had a good week against the LA schools. There's other players in critical roles on this trip, but one wonders how this dynamic duo — which figures to be Utah's long-term foundation — will respond against a lighter crowd, a less heralded team, and grinding halfway through January.

kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon