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Last week, it was Dr. Seuss. This week, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak will take the diagnosis into his own hands.
Symptoms: A swelling of turnovers. A reduction in rebounds. Slow feet resulting in an inability to guard one-on-one. An overall lack of urgency at a time when they need it most.
Prescription: A little more focus, and a little more elbow grease.
While a 1-1 road stretch through Washington State and Washington last week dented the No. 17-ranked Runnin' Utes' confidence, their coach doesn't think it's a complicated fix to bring the team back to form in this week's Pac-12 tournament. They've struggled to a 2-3 record through their last five games, but Krystkowiak offered a calm counterbalance to those who are leaping off the back of the Utah bandwagon.
"We don't need a shrink," Krystkowiak said. "We don't need a simplistic Yogi Berra definition of it either. Let's play harder. The reality is we are an average team, like many teams are, when we don't play harder than the opponent."
Utah probably would've liked to play "average" against the Huskies over the weekend — the 77-68 loss stands as the team's worst this year. Krystkowiak said the team won't even watch the film, opting instead to go off coaching notes.
It's not some mystical, unspeakable issues that plague Utah. Krystkowiak identified a few of the points he planned to cover in Monday's practice, including one-on-one defense. He felt many of his players pressed too hard on Washington, especially Nigel Williams-Goss, which allowed the Huskies to roll by them and to the hoop.
The other big headache is turnovers: Utah gave away 14 in Seattle, which served to deepen a growing hole. Turnovers played a role in how the Utes dried up in the post: After scoring 15 first-half points, Jakob Poeltl scored three in the second half and finished with a team-high 4 turnovers, and some teammates gave it away trying to pass it to him.
Krystkowiak was particularly displeased with those turnovers that seemed to sail nowhere in particular.
"Randomly throwing it into the bleachers — that's gotta hurt," he said. "You've got to be better."
Other words mentioned during Krystkowiak's press conference: Toughness. Competitiveness.
One of the troubling things Krystkowiak observed in the recent stretch was some of his players "looking scared" and some "not competing." He suggested maybe some of his team - although he didn't say which players - may have spent the last week "riding the coattails of one or two players."
Delon Wright looked the part of Pac-12 first-teamer at times — his second straight honor on Monday morning — combining for 39 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds in the two games, but also had some gaps against Washington. Jordan Loveridge helped Utah pull out of its slump at Wazzu, but didn't bring much inside presence that he has in previous seasons. Brandon Taylor didn't give Utah his scoring punch that he had in the middle of the year.
Down the roster, there were few others who made much of an impact at all. Krystkowiak said he attributed that to coaches as much as players.
For some, the dragging performances are easily explained by Utah's loss to Arizona on Feb. 28. Maybe there was a hangover effect from a home loss against the conference's top team?
Maybe, Krystkowiak said, but he doesn't much care for excuses.
"The reality is if we want to keep playing and want to reach some pretty cool goals that we've set for ourselves, excuses are right out the window," he said. "It's going to take some more toughness physically, it's going to take toughness mentally. The good teams aren't thinking about the team they played in front of a sold-out crowd at home last week and using it as an excuse for not playing well on the road."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
No. 17 Utah vs. Stanford or Washington
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