Ute defense bails out late-starting offense in win

The Utah Utes played well enough on defense to defeat Idaho State 68-51 on Thursday night, well enough to bail out their cold shooting, and well enough to continue to show marked improvement from last year.

But not well enough to satisfy the players or coach Jim Boylen.

Utah started Thursday's game in somewhat of a funk, allowing the Bengals to race to a 9-3 lead on 4-for-4 shooting from the field. Idaho State made the hustle plays, collected the loose balls, and appeared to be more motivated — at least in the early minutes of the contest.

"It was not what we expect from our program," Boylen said. "I don't want to insult what they (the Bengals) did. They did a good job. They played well. We don't get loose balls, we don't cut out, we don't play physical."

Still, how they played defensively was a big key in helping the Utes avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss to a two-win Big Sky team.

Utah went ice cold from the field during a significant stretch of Thursday's game, and scored just 38 points in the game's first 32 minutes. The Utes scored nine points and made just three field goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half, allowing Idaho State to trail by one with less than 11 minutes left in the game.

A stretch like that would have spelled disaster for Utah last season, but the Utes were able to fight through the funk with solid defensive play.

"Last year, when this team didn't score, it didn't win," Boylen said. "This year, we've been able to not score, go through droughts and win games. Tonight was a night when we didn't score like we'd like to, we didn't shoot the ball like we'd like to, and we won. I just kept talking about stops, stops, rebounds, stops, and you hope the offense comes around and it kind of did."

The points Utah allowed also represented a huge improvement from last year's team. It was the fifth time this season that the Utes held their opponent to less than 55 points. That's something Utah didn't do all last season.

Junior forward Shaun Green played a key role in Utah's defensive effort, as he had three steals and a blocked shot. Green, however, was just as satisfied with the Utes' play on defense as Boylen.

"We just didn't come out playing the type of defense we've been playing," Green said. "We came out soft, getting beat to everything."

Boylen considered Green's defensive play to be one of few highlights for the Utes in their 17-point win.

"I thought Shaun Green was pretty good down there, anchoring our defense and just being smart," Boylen said. "He's a solid, winning player."

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