U. can only wonder 'What if?' after loss to Kentucky

It's small consolation to the Utah basketball team that it played Kentucky pretty close in its sixth NCAA tournament game against the Wildcats over the past 12 years in losing by 10 points Friday night in Austin, Texas.

Because this was one for the taking.

As good as No. 5-ranked Kentucky is, many observers felt that the Wildcats weren't any better than other Ute opponents this year, including the two teams Utah beat in the first two rounds, UTEP and Oklahoma.

In fact, if you'd told the Utes before the game that they'd shoot 28 free throws, that Andrew Bogut would get 19 field goal attempts, that they would only have 12 turnovers, that Kentucky starting center Randolph Morris would play just five minutes due to foul trouble, that Kentucky 3-point shooter Patrick Sparks would make just one shot all night and that UK leading scorer Kelenna Azubuike would make just two baskets, they'd be doing cartwheels all the way to the next round.

But unfortunately for the Utes, all of that didn't add up to a victory because of one key aspect of the game — shooting.

Utah couldn't hit its shots. Kentucky did.

The Utes came into the game as the No. 2 field-goal shooting team in the entire nation, but ended up shooting just 41.5 percent, tying their second-worst percentage of the season.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats had their best shooting night of the season, sinking 24 of 39 for 61.5 percent.

Neither team shot free throws very well, but Utah had a lot more tries and its 50 percent total on 14 of 28 was its worst of the year. Bogut's 4 of 11 total was his worst of the year.

You could blame it on fatigue, since the Utes were basically a five-man squad with a few minutes from reserves Richard Chaney and Jonas Langvad. Once again Andrew Bogut and Marc Jackson, until he fouled out in the final minute, played the whole way and Bryant Markson (37), Justin Hawkins (30) and Tim Drisdom (27) played a lot of minutes.

When Bogut and Jackson were asked in the postgame interview if fatigue played a part in the abysmal free throw shooting, Ute coach Ray Giacoletti interjected, "I'll take the blame for playing those guys too many minutes."

However, the Utes only made six of 13 free throw attempts in the first half when they were fresh. Only Markson's two misses late in the game — an airball and one off the front rim — appeared to be a result of fatigue.