Utes plagued by same problems

PROVO — A day after the announcement that coach Ray Giacoletti would be done as Utah coach after the season, the Ute players hoped they could win one for their coach against a team that owned the longest home winning streak in the nation.

It didn't come close to happening Saturday as the Utes suffered their worst loss in Provo in 25 years to BYU, which clinched the Mountain West Conference outright title with the victory.

To a man, the Ute players said Friday's surprising news about their coach didn't make a difference in Saturday's outcome.

"It wasn't a distraction," said Shaun Green, who had one of his toughest shooting games on the season in going 3-for-12 and 0-for-5 from 3-point range.

"We wanted to go out and play hard. I knew they weren't going to change their minds about our coach or anything, but it would have been nice to get a win for him."

Johnnie Bryant, who led all scorers with 18 points said he didn't believe the news of Giacoletti's resignation affected the outcome but did say it wasn't easy.

"It was tough," said Bryant. "It's been a rough 24 hours, and it's especially hard to lose like this on the road."

In the end, the Ute problems Saturday night were the same ones that had plagued them all season and were a reason Giacoletti lost his job.

The Utes had long scoring droughts, had trouble executing offensive plays at key times and of course, couldn't stop the Cougars defensively.

Utah allowed the Cougars to shoot 59.3 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from 3-point range, while only managing 34.7 and 26.7 percent, respectively, themselves.

"Another night of 60 percent shooting — you can't do that," said Giacoletti. "We've got to get stops defensively."

Ute center Luke Nevill, who had 29- and 26-point nights in his previous two games against the Cougars, managed just seven points and four rebounds in limited action.

Nevill picked up two fouls midway through the first half but played most of the half as the Utes trailed by 11. However in the second half, he got two quick fouls in the first two minutes and spent most of the half on the bench.

"That really broke my momentum," he said.

A 15-0 run by the Cougars in the second half broke the game open for good, and Nevill sat out the final 12 minutes in favor of freshman Daniel Deane, who finished with 10 points.

Despite the loss, the Utes still feel they can make a good showing this week at the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas, even though they meet the Rebels in the first round Thursday at 6 p.m.

"There's nothing to lose," said Green.

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