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The most stunning sequence of Utah's season-opening basketball game came early in the first half Friday night, when the No. 16 Utes responded to a Southern Utah basket by scoring three seconds after in-bounding the ball, with Kyle Kuzma turning Isaiah Wright's pass into a layup.

The Utes never ran like that last season. They also never had to take the ball out of the hoop as frequently. Southern Utah made this game more interesting than anticipated, making outside shots and creating concerns about the state of Utah's defense — the very thing that made the Utes so good last season.

Utah needed about 37 minutes to shake SUU, eventually taking an 82-71 victory at the Huntsman Center.

So maybe they really are the Runnin' Utes again, but coach Larry Krystkowiak's program established itself by stopping people. And the Utes didn't do much defending for long stretches of Friday's game. That point was driven home in the second half when SUU's Juwan Major drove into the heart of Utah's defense and dunked. His celebration resulted in a technical foul, but could you blame him? Nobody did anything like that to the Utes in 2014-15.

"We didn't have that defensive edge that we had last year," said sophomore center Jakob Poeltl, citing "a mindset issue."

Krystkowiak credited SUU's efficiency with a small lineup for causing problems, but acknowledged "some things that were out of character" from Utah's defense, allowing dribble drives and back cuts.

Those who spent the summer wishing for a more entertaining product in the Huntsman Center were rewarded. But in the eight months since their Sweet 16 appearance, the Utes seemingly forgot what got them there. Or maybe guard Delon Wright, an NBA first-round pick, meant more to Utah's defense than he was credited.

Utah's current guards made Wright seem irreplaceable, that's for sure. The Utes starters stayed on the court until the end, so the scoreboard listed their scoring totals, long after the final buzzer. The numbers next to the names were shocking in multiple ways: Poeltl 26, Jordan Loveridge 24, Kuzma 23, Brandon Taylor 0, Wright 0.

Do the math, and that's 73 of 82 points from three players. Even so, the more surprising statistic in this game was SUU's 50-percent shooting.

In the first half, Utah showed no resemblance to its former status as one of the top 10 defensive teams in the country. The Utes allowed a middle-tier Big Sky Conference team to make 9 of its first 11 shots as SUU built a 23-17 lead in the first eight-plus minutes.

In the end, SUU settled for making half of its shots and the Utes pulled away in the last three minutes. The final score was ultimately acceptable. Yet the weird thing about this game, other than the Utes' absence of defense, was their offensive extremes. With a significant advantage in height and talent, Utah frontcourt starters Kuzma, Poeltl and Loveridge combined for those 73 points on 28-of-38 shooting. Everybody else was 2 of 26.

Kuzma looks like a totally different player as a sophomore, showing signs of his athletic ability and the results of a productive summer. "I wanted more from myself," he said. Poeltl displayed more aggressiveness inside and mixed in some new moves, while committing only one foul in 33 minutes. Loveridge shot the ball confidently, making 6 of 11 attempts from 3-point range.

As for the starting guards, though, Taylor and Wright missed a combined 16 shots in going scoreless. That's not what anyone had in mind for Taylor's senior year or Wright's starting debut as a sophomore.

In contrast, SUU's backcourt starters in a three-guard lineup — Travon Langston, Trey Kennedy and Race Parsons — totaled 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting. The Thunderbirds generally looked like a team that could finish in the top half of the Big Sky. Krystkowiak insisted that the visitors get some credit, while promising, "We're going to fix the things we didn't do well."

The Utes will have to play much better Monday against San Diego State, the Mountain West favorite. The Aztecs made Utah struggle for every point in SDSU's victory in San Diego last November, and "they're definitely going to punish us for our mistakes on defense," Poeltl said.

Twitter: @tribkurt