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There were plenty of milestones to be celebrated on Sunday after Utah's 77-56 win over Washington. Although Larry Krystkowiak got his 100th coaching win and got his Utah record to .500, he was most amped for Jordan Loveridge.
With an early 3-point basket, the junior forward crossed into four-digit territory, becoming the 37th member of Utah's 1,000-point club.
"It's awesome. It really is awesome," Krystkowiak said. "I don't know how many he's going to end up with. But it's neat anytime you can score 1,000 points. It says a lot about you."
What does it say about Loveridge exactly?
That he's carried a lot of the load over the years.
In each of his three seasons, Loveridge has been the second-leading scorer on the team. He has seen his shooting percentage rise each year. Though his scoring is down from last year's production (11.2 ppg), Utah's depth and balance have made the team less reliant on any individual performance, which is a welcome change.
This year, Loveridge has been arguably the top outside threat, hitting 49 percent of his 3-point shots. He spent the offseason training with former Ute sharpshooter Chris Fulton and has seen the benefits so far. Loveridge needs 12 more points to tie with Pace Mannion (1,018) and crack the top 35 all-time.
Loveridge is often seen as Utah's first "big" recruit who helped key a turnaround in the program's success.
"Jordan's one of the early believers in what we were trying to do," Krystkowiak said. "It wasn't easy in our recruiting process, but Jordan's been a pillar, one of those big foundation pieces. When you look back four years ago and he watched us, we weren't really good when he was a senior in high school. He believed in us, and we've slowly been making the climb back."
Strong turnout for Huntsman Strong
Utah's first-ever "Teddy Bear toss" garnered nearly 1,000 teddy bears for patients at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, Utah marketing officials said. At halftime during Sunday's game, the Utes invited fans to toss newly bought teddy bears — tied with ribbons whose colors represent different types of cancer — onto the Huntsman Center court. The team is planning to personally present the bears to patients next week.
The Utes have an annual "Power of Pink" game for breast cancer awareness, but the basketball team decided to expand the circle for Sunday's game to include other forms of cancer.
Cancer casts a long shadow over the program: Trainer Trevor Jameson has battled multiple myeloma for several years, and assistant Andy Hill's father, Rick Hill, is fighting a brain tumor. Krystkowiak's mother died of Hodgkin's disease when he was young, and he's passionate advocate for the American Cancer Society and other similar groups.
"It's absolutely a team thing," marketing director Jennifer White said. "Trevor has been going through such a life-changing event for some time now, and with Andy Hill's father battling cancer, those are people the team wanted to recognize. That's how we made the transition to recognize all types of cancer."
Utes rise in polls
Utah is ranked No. 11 in the AP poll this week, and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll after sweeping Washington State and Washington at home. Utah beat both by more than 20 points, and has now won six straight games by at least that margin. Utah leads the Pac-12 in scoring margin (plus-17.6) in conference play.
Arizona, atop the Pac-12 standings, was voted No. 6 in both polls. Stanford was the only other team to receive votes in either poll outside of the Wildcats and Utes. In the AP poll, voters picked the Runnin' Utes anywhere between No. 7 and No. 15. Utah has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the AP poll this year.
No. 12 Utah at UCLA
P Thursday, 8 p.m. TV • ESPN2