Utah’s men’s basketball team could use more than a day to prep for No. 4 Oregon, but the Ducks fly into town Saturday

The University of Utah had one day to prepare between Thursday’s win over Oregon State and Saturday’s visit from No. 4 Oregon.

How much one can get done in that amount of time, and how they get it all in, is a topic of debate. Larry Krystkowiak has been at this coaching thing for a while now, so the Utes head coach didn’t hesitate when asked what his plan was with such a quick turnaround.

Assistant coach Andy Hill had the Oregon State scouting duties ahead of Thursday’s 81-69 win over the Beavers, but assistant Tommy Connor had been working on an Oregon scout for about a week. When Thursday’s game ended, Krystkowiak had an extensive video edit on the Ducks at his disposal.

“There’s certain teams in the league where you might have a new coach, new styles, but [Oregon head coach] Dana [Altman] has been doing it an awful long time,” Krystkowiak said. “They don’t change a whole lot, it’s a lot of similar stuff; but we’ve struggled with Oregon in certain capacities, dealing with pressure.”

On Friday afternoon, the Utes met at the practice facility for what Krystkowiak terms an “after-action review,” which is essentially decompressing and going over Thursday’s game, and a “before-action review,” which is a look ahead to Saturday.

In terms of actual practice, no coach worth his salary puts his kids through a full workout on a one-day turnaround. Instead, the Utes were slated to go over a few key Oregon-related items, then watch more film. Utah will shootaround Saturday morning ahead of the 3 p.m. tip-off.

“It’s going to be a lot of what’s between the ears,” said Krystkowiak, who pointed out the team’s fall GPA of 3.2 as a factor in them being locked in mentally on the quick turnaround. “This brings in all the different facets of getting ready for a game, and this is one where you have to be really sharp and you have to absorb the instructions. We can’t have any daydreaming.

“We’re not asking you to do a whole lot in the physical sense, but you better bring your brain.”

With a No. 4 ranking and the Pac-12’s best resume to this point, Oregon’s trip to Utah already held plenty of intrigue. Then, the Ducks’ lifetime losing streak at Colorado continued on Thursday via a 74-65 loss to the Buffaloes in Boulder.

The possibility of the Ducks starting 0-2 in league play once felt unrealistic, even with the struggles at Colorado, but now that feels very real if Utah comes out and plays at a high level. At 10-3 with a NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) of 50 through Thursday, that has been the case more times than not this season.

“They’re a high-octane group, I think on both ends of the floor,” Krystkowiak said. “They put pressure on you with different full-court-type of presses. Offensively, it really starts with [Payton] Pritchard, and they have a bunch of stars in the recruiting circle. High-flying guys, high-energy guys.”

“It’s going to come down to a lot of 1-on-1 defense. You have to guard your guy.”