Both Utah and BYU had great opportunities to get good RPI improving road wins Saturday in college basketball. But neither team could manage to play consistently,with the Utes falling at Wichita State and the Cougars dropping a roadie to Colorado. Here’s a wrap-up of the day:
Wichita State 67, No. 25 Utah 50
In Wichita, Utah coach Larry Krystowiak looked at the postgame stat sheet with both surprise and resignation.
The 25th-ranked Utes lost 67-50 at Wichita State on Saturday, so Krystowiak knew he would not like the numbers on that piece of paper.
And while he thought ”it was absolutely crazy they had twice as many field goal attempts as us in the first half,” he knew many of the stats would look poor for good reason.
”(The Shockers’) defense is good, and they don’t beat themselves,” Krystowiak said. ”But there was only about 8 minutes in the game when I was happy with our offense.”
Zach Brown scored 14 points and Markis McDuffie had 13 for Wichita State (5-4). Fred VanVleet scored 10 points for the Shockers, who were 10 of 25 from beyond the 3-point line.
Jakob Poeltl had 11 points for Utah (7-2), which had 19 turnovers and five assists. Wichita State had 15 assists and three turnovers.
”That’s a huge difference and has to drive (Utah) crazy,” Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. ”To have 25 more field goal attempts in the game is a big stat.”
Ten of Utah’s turnovers came in the game’s first 15 minutes, leading to long scoring droughts.
When Brown hit a 3-pointer for a 28-17 lead with 5:27 to play in the half, the Shockers had more baskets (11) than Utah did shots (10).
The Shockers made seven 3-pointers – matching their season average – in taking a 33-20 halftime lead.
Krystowiak said the Utes’ game plan focused around stopping ”the head of the snake” in guards VanVleet and Ron Baker.
”Some other people stepped up and hit 3s,” he said. ”We had a couple breakdowns in our zone defense.”
Stats: Wichita State 67, Utah 50
Colorado 92, BYU 83
In Boulder, a late-second half comeback fell short for BYU basketball as it lost 92-83 against Colorado on the road Saturday night at the Coors Events Center.
“The guys fought hard and competed,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said. “We found a combination that worked well, but there was no consistency. We are still trying to figure out how to be a better team. There is a lot of fight in these guys and I have a good feeling we will find ourselves, but we don’t have it right now.”
BYU (6-3) never led in this game as Colorado (8-1) held on to the large lead it built late in the first and early in the second half. The Buffaloes outshot the Cougars 46 percent to 39 percent in the game.
Two freshmen guards led the effort for BYU. Nick Emery and Zac Seljaas scored 23 and 18, respectively. For Seljaas, the 18 points and four 3-pointers are career highs. Kyle Collinsworth added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. Kyle Davis had his fifth double-double in the game with 10 points and 11 boards.
The Cougars return home Friday to face Central Michigan. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. MST and will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
Stats: cu_vs_byu_final_box
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