Utah Utes basketball: Team doing best to stay positive

As bad as the four-game losing streak is, on top of the four-game winning streak, the Utah basketball team is staying positive with two regular-season games as well as the Mountain West Conference Tournament yet to come.

The Utes, who were forced to stop at Little America in Wyoming because of a snowstorm on their bus ride home Saturday night, play two more games — Tuesday night at home against Colorado State and Saturday at UNLV — before the league tournament.

The Utes still have a good chance to finish with the No. 5 seed in the MWC tourney, which begins March 12 in Las Vegas. Currently the Utes are tied for fifth with Air Force and TCU at 6-8, and each team has two regular-season games remaining.

The good news for the Utes is that they hold the tiebreak edge over both schools because of their two wins over Air Force and a win over UNLV (although TCU would gain the edge if it defeats BYU Saturday night).

Coach Jim Boylen said his team is staying positive and, though he doesn't like losing, he feels his team needs to learn to make more plays at the end of games to get some victories.

Unlike nearly every other team in the league, Utah still hasn't been blown out of a MWC game, with its worse loss being a 10-point defeat in overtime. In every loss, including Saturday's, the Utes were in the game until the final minute. However, they can't make the big play, whether it's a defensive stop or a key basket.

Saturday afternoon in Laramie, the Utes switched their starting lineup for the first time in 22 games, inserting Kim Tillie for Luke Nevill and Luka Drca for Tyler Kepkay. Boylen said he did it to give the Utes a better defensive presence at the start and to keep Nevill from getting into early foul trouble.

"I get disappointed every time I look over at the 15-minute mark and Luke's sitting by me," Boylen said. "I think some of it's been tough luck and some of it's been (a lack of) sense of urgency at the defensive end of the floor."

As for Drca, Boylen said he likes his overall game and calls him, "a competitive, tough kid and a developing player."

Drca said it doesn't matter to him if he starts or not but feels like the change helped the Utes Saturday.

"I thought we saw some positive energy in the team, but we also need to get better," said Drca.

"Losing is hard, but I think we are going to work our way out of it. Nobody is down, everybody is positive, so we have a good chance to get out of the losing streak."

Boylen said for now, the Utes will likely stay with the same starting lineup.

"What I like is that we start two sophomores, a freshman and two juniors," he said. "That's a very good thing for our program."

Tuesday's game with Colorado State begins at 7 p.m., and Ute seniors Johnnie Bryant and Chris Grant will be honored in their final home game.

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