Seattle • The Utes decided to start off Thursday’s game by trying to beat Washington at its own game.
Utah stuck to its recent trend of relying on zone defense to stifle opponents. That adjustment in recent weeks has helped the Utes hold their previous three opponent to an average of 56.7 points per game.
“It’s not just our team, I think it’s kind of gotten crazy in the Pac-12, maybe [Mike] Hopkins is responsible,” Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak quipped earlier this week, referring to Washington’s first-year coach. “It’s contagious — bringing that zone from Syracuse.”
Krystkowiak pointed out that the Utes aren’t as committed to zone as the Huskies. Hopkins came from a Syracuse program that has played zone exclusively for years under Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim. The Utes have switched up their defenses at times depending on opponents and situations.
Krystkowiak also pointed to the zone as a having helped the Utes contain dribble penetration, an issue that has cropped up from time to time, such as the loss to Colorado and it’s highly-productive point guard McKinley Wright on Feb. 2.
“I think it’s a good weapon,” Krystkowiak said. “It can take teams out of things that they are really good at, assuming you can rebound out of it. That’s always a little bit of an Achilles heel when you play a zone — make sure you can rebound out of it. It slows the pace of the game down. I like what we’re doing. We’ve got different rules within our zone that we’ll follow so it’s not the same look all the time.”
Bealer is back
Senior wing Gabe Bealer sat out the Utes game against Cal on Saturday, but he got into Thursday night’s game with 12:23 left in the first half. He came off the bench as the Utes started junior guard Parker Van Dyke as the third guard alongside Justin Bibbins and Sedrick Barefield. Van Dyke has now started six games this season.
Bealer and freshman forward Donnie Tillman both came off the bench and were held scoreless in the first half. Tillman played seven minutes, while Bealer played five.
Resume building
The Huskies have wins over three ranked opponents this season, including back-to-back wins in Seattle against Arizona (ranked ninth at the time) and Arizona State (ranked 25th at the time). The wins over the Arizona schools marked the first time the Huskies beat back-to-back ranked opponents since 2006-07. The Huskies also entered the night rated 43rd in RPI.
The Utes also have games remaining against USC and UCLA, who were rated 47th and 52nd, respectively, in RPI entering Thursday.
Follow @LWorthySports