For much of Thursday night's game against Idaho State, it looked like the Utah basketball team perhaps had a little too much figgy pudding for Christmas.

The Utes were making silly turnovers, getting beat to loose balls and were hanging on for dear life against a Bengal team that had won only two of 10 games this year and had lost its last three by an average of 34 points.

Then midway through the second half, the Utes suddenly came alive with 11 straight points over a two-minute stretch, which led to a closer-than-it-looks 68-51 victory at the Huntsman Center.

Usually after games, Ute coach Jim Boylen will give a rambling account of his team's performance to start the post-game interview.

After this one he said, "I'm thankful for (the) win and we're practicing at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning ... that's all I've got." Eventually Boylen warmed up, but he didn't hide the fact that he wasn't happy with his team's performance, four days after a stunning road victory over a 7-1 Cal team.

"Not making any excuses, but I don't think we came ready to play," Boylen said. "No disrespect to Idaho State, they did a nice job. I just don't think we came ready to play."

So what was the matter with the Utes Thursday night?

"I thought we got selfish, I thought we weren't tough, I thought we missed every loose ball," Boylen said. "I don't like a team that doesn't get loose balls, I don't like a team that doesn't battle and scrap. We didn't do that. Don't worry, we'll be getting some loose balls tomorrow morning."

Boylen said the Utes were getting beat to loose balls early in the game when the Bengals set the tone with a quick 9-3 lead.

Then the Utes suddenly warmed up with a barrage of 3-pointers and seemed to be cruising at 18-13. But like Johnnie Bryant said later, "It was fool's gold. We kept on shooting."

For the next 20 minutes of the game, the Utes missed 12 straight 3-pointers. With 10:30 left, they found themselves with a tenuous one-point lead at 38-37 and a restless holiday crowd that expected to see the walk-ons play a good portion of the second half.

Then Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to break the 3-point drought, Luka Drca made a steal and layup and Lawrence Borha and Shaun Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers and just like that it was 49-37.

The biggest lead of the game was the 17-point final margin when Chris Grant scored in the final half minute.

"In the second half, I thought Johnnie Bryant was great, Shaun Green was great and Luka Drca, when he settled down, was good," Boylen said.