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It was a week for growing, and Utah may have gotten that from its players.

But the expectations are growing, and they revolve around two players on Utah's roster.

A very strong glimpse into what this team could be manifested in the middle of Utah's weekend tournament: The 90-53 wrecking of North Dakota, in which Delon Wright and Jakob Poeltl each scored more than 20 points.

Larry Krystkowiak later compared the dynamic to the one between Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar on the Showtime Lakers — not that he expects them to play to that level, but that this year the two could have the kind of mutually beneficial relationship that could win a lot of basketball games.

"When you have a post threat that you can establish, all of a sudden the rest of the game opens up for the perimeter guys," Krystkowiak said. "It's kind of like what Magic used to do with Kareem: Make sure the big guy gets engaged. And we're going to make sure we're going to try to do that."

The Utes are a team of many parts, to be sure: So far, Krystkowiak has seemed comfortable playing up to 11 men for considerable minutes in each game. The scoring load is mostly shared, as seven players are averaging seven points or more.

But it's also undeniable that good things happen on both ends when Wright and Poeltl share the floor.

Take this sequence from Saturday evening: Wright hit a layup, then Poeltl hit a jumper less than a minute later. Then Wright assisted a Poeltl layup, then got a defensive rebound that led to another layup for Poeltl.

It took less than two-and-a-half minutes, but keyed an 8-1 run that finished Alabama State.

Other sequences throughout the weekend also had an electric dynamic between the two, particularly when both were rolling against North Dakota. For the week, Wright averaged nearly 20 points and more than four assists in each game, while Poeltl averaged a 14-and-10 double-double. Meanwhile the big man leads in blocks (18) while Wright leads in steals (11).

Krystkowiak has reiterated several times how much bigger this team is than years' past, and Poeltl is the most effective length they have, checking in as one of the nation's leading rebounders (no. 16 in offensive rebounds, No. 36 in total) and shotblockers (No. 17) and shooting a blistering 75 percent from the field after only six games in the States. Meanwhile, Wright hasn't had to be the hero, but he has taken the reins of the offense to be shooting nearly 61 percent from the field and using his ability to penetrate for instant offense.

Consider that Utah has won its last two games by more than 30 against admittedly struggling teams, but also without Jordan Loveridge. It's hard to imagine the Utes able to weather Loveridge's absences quite that well in his first two seasons.

There's plenty of growing left to do, plenty of roles to be filled and plenty of questions to be answered as Utah prepares for its toughest stretch of perhaps the entire season. But Wright and Poeltl are the duo that has the fanbase buzzing and wondering how high this team can go. —

Big numbers

Delon Wright

• Averaging 15.3 ppg, 4.8 apg, 4.5 rpg

• Leading team with 11 steals

• Shooting 60.8 percent, 54.5 percent from deep

Jakob Poeltl

• Averaging 12.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.0 bpg

• No. 16 nationally in offensive rebounds

• Shooting 75 percent, top figure in the Pac-12