People in Utah don't seem to believe in Ute basketball coach Ray Giacoletti.

Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik did, long before Tuesday night's game in the Huntsman Center.

"They're (Utah) just a young basketball team that is so close to reversing their record," Bzdelik said. "I was aware of that as a coaching staff, but I certainly failed in my attempt to convey that to my team, and that falls on me."

The Falcons, riding a 13-game win streak that was tied for the longest in the country and with a 17-1 mark that is a school-record start and was tied for the best in the country, tempted fate once too often Tuesday.

It got off to its third straight slow start against a very hot-shooting Utah, and it simply couldn't overcome its sloth as the Utes broke their own six-game losing streak and whipped the Falcons 85-79, scoring 30 more points than Air Force usually surrenders thanks to 71 percent shooting for the game.

Falcon Matt McCraw, who scored 19 points, 15 in the second half, which the Air Force won 58-54, said his team wanted to play with urgency. "We definitely haven't been doing it the last few games," he said. "If you dig yourself a hole in a tough conference like this with any opponent, it definitely hurts."

Jacob Burtschi led Air Force with 21, and Dan Nwaelelel had 20.

Bzdelik said he'd been trying to convince his team that, with its lofty rankings of Nos. 11 and 13, they would get every opponent's best shot. "I've been trying to wake them up for three games now," said the former Denver Nuggets coach, again taking responsibility for not getting through.

But he also lauded the Utes. "They wanted this game more than us. They physically manhandled us," said Bzdelik. "They took the game to us. They were the aggressor. They controlled the game all 94 feet. They really did."

It was evident from the beginning when the Utes made their first two shots, both 3-pointers, while the nation's No. 2 shooting-percentage team missed its first two shots.

What's wrong with this picture?

From a Falcon standpoint, it stayed wrong the whole game.

They had trouble with Utah's size, unable to keep the ball from getting to 7-foot Luke Nevill and having some problems shooting around him and his big teammates.

"We didn't communicate as much as we should have on the defensive end. Things like that happen, and we took a hit. Hopefully it's a wakeup call," said McCraw, whose team heads home to host San Diego State Saturday.

Bzdelik was unhappy with the loss, but he was also incensed about Giacoletti's situation with fans upset about the Utes' terrible 6-12 start, 1-4 in the Mountain West.

"I want to say this publicly: The stuff that I've read in the newspaper about coach Ray, people need to wake up around here and understand that they've got themselves a heck of a basketball coach and a really good young team, and they need to support the team and support the coaching staff and get off his butt and let him do his thing. It's ridiculous," said Bzdelik.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com