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Utah basketball's dwindling front court depth may be pushing Larry Krystkowiak to reach to the redshirt deck, possibly as soon as Friday's game against Colorado.

After Kyle Kuzma fell against Cal and did not return, Krystkowiak said Utah's medical staff confirmed he doesn't have any fractures or long-term injuries. But with Kuzma's status still considered "day-to-day" with his sore tailbone and Utah having only three healthy players at power forward and center, he acknowledged he's considering playing mid-year addition Jayce Johnson.

"Maybe Jayce, I don't know," Krystkowiak said on Tuesday. "That's a situation where I'm going to sit down and visit with him this afternoon. He had a great practice."

Krystkowiak has been consistently slowing down expectations for the 6-foot-11 freshman, who was a four-star and consensus top-100 recruit before joining the Utes in December. The original plan ­— and really, still the plan for the time being — was to redshirt him.

But this week against Colorado will probably test that course as much as any: Colorado boasts a top post man in Josh Scott, and is one of the top two rebounding teams in the conference. Without 6-foot-9 Kuzma (averaging 11.6 ppg and 6.1 rpg), the Utes would be left with 7-foot Jakob Poeltl, 6-8 Brekkott Chapman and 6-7 Chris Reyes as true posts. While 6-6 Jordan Loveridge has played the 4 position in the past, he's more suited to a perimeter role as Utah's top outside shooter.

Krystkowiak said authoritatively that Utah will redshirt 6-9 Makol Mawien this year. Johnson is more of a wild card, but the coaching staff is still reluctant to burn a year of eligibility for two months of playing time.

Johnson is competitive in practice, which pushes his case. Johnson sat on the bench at Cal, which was a finalist in his recruiting, while home crowd fans chanted "Burn that redshirt."

But Krystkowiak still compared the decision to walking on a tightrope.

"The easy decision for me would be, 'Yeah let's do it,' but then he's going to be a sophomore next year," Krystkowiak said. "It's going to be March in no time. Are we doing the right thing by him to burn an entire year?"

Krystkowiak said he'd continue to discuss the situation with the Johnson family this week.

The Utes stressed that they're not pressured by an 0-2 start to conference play. Panicking and viewing Friday's game at Colorado as a must-win is "probably the worst thing you can do," Krystkowiak said.

"I'm encouraged by the fact that there's a lot of basketball left to play, and we don't have anybody on our squad giving up," he said. "Today was as good a practice as we've had in a long time.

"We addressed some of our deficiencies. I'll take our chances with this group that we'll be playing our best basketball at the right time of year, and hope that starts Friday."