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The foundational themes of Utah's program are painted in huge letters on the walls of the practice court in the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Facility, reminding the players what to do.

Play hard. Play smart. Play together.

Those mantras are not original and the instructions are not complicated, but they're not always easily carried over to the arena next door.

The first element of those buzzwords has been an issue for junior college transfer Lorenzo Bonam, by coach Larry Krystkowiak's account. Wednesday night's game was another story, though. Sometime between Sunday's loss at Oregon and the tipoff of an eventual 90-82 win over Washington, Bonam got the message.

Whether the biggest inspirational moment was Krystkowiak's calling out Bonam (among other players) in front of his teammates, a Wednesday morning film session with assistant coach Demarlo Slocum or the words of unnamed, influential people who were brought into the conversation, Bonam responded. His aggressiveness resulted in 18 points and four assists, contributing to the best game of the season for Utah's backcourt.

Afterward, Krystkowiak endorsed what staff member Phil Cullen told him in the locker room about the coaches somehow needing to keep Bonam's "switch flipped."

If only coaching were that simple.

"You can see when those bursts come, he's really hard to defend and he gives us a great weapon," Krystkowiak said. "I'd certainly like to see it more. He has some physical skills, talent that [nobody] on our team has. We've got to get him caught up in terms of some effort and some focus."

That happened against Huskies. "I don't like losing," Bonam explained of his different approach to this game.

He does like playing, obviously. Krystkowiak's dissatisfaction with Bonam's effort at Oregon limited his playing time to 14 minutes as he went scoreless. Bonam took full advantage of his 27 minutes against Washington, falling just short of his season high of 20 points. "I basically wanted to attack every time," he said.

And so he did, becoming a force in Utah's offense and looking like the player the Utes thought they were getting from Gillette (Wyo.) College. Bonam's 7-of-9 shooting performance came mostly via drives. In one first-half sequence, he penetrated for a dunk, then produced a three-point play via Brandon Taylor's assist and came back with another successful drive.

In between, Bonam lost the ball, leading to a Washington 3-pointer. That sequence pretty much illustrated the first half for the Utes, who committed 12 turnovers but still ended up with a 43-40 lead after Bonam's dunk of a Taylor pass at the buzzer.

When they managed to hold onto the ball long enough to shoot it, the Utes thrived. They finished the game with 67.3 percent shooting, just missing the high mark of Krystkowiak's five seasons. And they had just five turnovers in the half, when Bonam hit a key 3-pointer and later added a steal and layup, enabling them to stay in control.

With nice contributions from a bunch of players, this was a heartening effort from the Utes, who were coming off losses at Oregon State and Oregon State that dropped them into a tie for fifth place in the Pac-12. They're now tied for fourth with Washington at 7-5, with a presumptive winning opportunity coming via Washington State's visit on Sunday.

Poeltl's 23 points on 11-of-12 shooting reflected good passing from Kyle Kuzma, Taylor and others. Chris Reyes responded to Poeltl's foul trouble with 10 points in 13 minutes, missing a jump shot that would have tied his career high of 12 points. Taylor scored 15 after matching Bonam's scoreless showing at Oregon.

The Pac-12's increased talent and depth have skewed the comparisons of last year's Utah team to the current model. After the Utes went 13-5 in the conference last year to tie for second place, they're facing a fight this season to earn a top-four spot and a first-round bye in the conference tournament in Las Vegas.

Winning a healthy percentage of the remaining six regular-season games will require more responses like the one the Utes delivered Wednesday.

Twitter: @tribkurt