This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
A midnight landing in Salt Lake City does not an easy Monday morning make.
Unfortunately for the Runnin' Utes, looking back at their Pac-12 opening weekend doesn't help much, either.
It's early in the Pac-12 season, and Utah (11-4, 0-2) began on the road, but already there's urgency for the program after not finishing a winnable game at Stanford, then not measuring up at Cal. Booted from the AP Top 25 for the third time this season with a looming Friday date at Colorado, it's liable to get worse unless Utah fixes its biggest problem.
The 28 turnovers in two games hurt. The free-throw shooting against Stanford will make Utah wince for a while. But most prominently, the Utes haven't found enough consistency around Jakob Poeltl to get Pac-12 wins.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak started off the year saying he was looking for "three or four guys" to have solid contributing efforts in each game. In two conference losses, it's been more like two.
"You're going to have to come in here and beat this team," he said following the 71-58 loss to the Golden Bears. "We didn't have enough consistent performances by everybody to do that."
While Poeltl had a difficult time scoring on Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion, facing down big men and a crowd eager to see him miss, the sophomore center still had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Around him, there were scant options — particularly once Kyle Kuzma was lost after taking a hard fall. Senior guard Brandon Taylor was the one firecracker for Utah in the second half, contributing 15 points and 5 assists while bouncing back from the disappointing Stanford defeat. Of the rest of the Utes, none of the five other players who scored had more than Chris Reyes' 8 points.
Aside from Poeltl and Taylor, the rest of the team was only 9 for 30. Second-leading scorer Jordan Loveridge had 6 points. Kuzma and Lorenzo Bonam were a combined 2 for 14.
In the first half when the Utes shot only 29.6 percent, the Golden Bears were able to double and trap Poeltl, either turning him over or forcing him to pass out. When the big man was cut off, there were possessions where Utah didn't seem to have a strong Plan B.
It's a trend that any opponent can start picking up on, particularly in conference play. It's easier for opponents to force eight misses from Poeltl when he's the only consistent performer.
While the defeat at Stanford saw Utah succumb to glaring turnover and free throw issues, those were somewhat addressed at Cal. The Utes had nine turnovers to Cal's seven, which was respectable against one of the conference's better defenses. The Utes were also 16 for 19 from the line, better than their season average.
Beyond the scoring distribution, one other factor that stood out was 3-pointers: The Utes were only 2 for 12, not helping spread the floor much against the top 2-point defense in the nation. For the weekend, Utah hit only 22.5 percent on threes — the third time in the last five games Utah has shot below 30 percent from deep.
The imbalance won't cut it. Not in a league where home teams were 7-3 in the opening weekend (No. 25 UCLA also went 0-2).
ESPN and CBS bracketology experts still have Utah making the NCAA tournament field as an at-large, and a lot of that has to do with the signature win over Duke. If the Utes manage to bounce back in conference play, they can still finish in the upper half of the league and go dancing.
But it doesn't happen by accident. And this week will see the Utes mulling over how to get more standout nights from more players.
Next Monday will get easier only with a win.
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Plodding in Pac-12
• Utes shoot 22.5 percent from the 3-point line in the losses.
• Utes are outrebounded by 11 in the two games.
• Utes minus-14 in turnovers.
• Only Jakob Poeltl, Brandon Taylor averaged double figures. —
Utah at Colorado
P Saturday, 7 p.m.
TV • Fox Sports 1