Utah Utes basketball: As Martin goes, so go the Utes

TEMPE, Ariz. — Perhaps more than anyone else, Cedric Martin mirrors Utah's road woes this season. The junior college transfer's numbers are dramatically better in the Huntsman Center than outside of it.

In Pac-12 play, Martin is averaging 12.3 points, 5 rebounds and 2.1 assists at home. On the road, his stats dip to 3.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists. His shooting percentage also declines, dropping from 51.1 percent to 22.7 percent.

The drastic differences correlate with the Utes' 5-7 record at home and their 0-11 mark at road and neutral sites this season.

The lack of consistency doesn't sit well with Utah coach Larry Kystkowiak.

"The good teams and the good players have everything dialed in to where they can take whatever it is they do and they're not affected by road play," he said as the Utes prepare for games at Arizona State on Thursday and Arizona on Saturday.

At 5-18 overall and 2-9 in conference play, Utah is obviously a work in progress in Krystkowiak's first season at the helm. As such, he's not getting overly excited about Martin's consistent showings last week against Oregon (15 points) and Oregon State (19 points).

"It's a start. Consistency is more than a weekend," Krystkowiak said while noting that it's an ongoing process. "You never really hit a point where you go 'you know what, you're consistent enough' because it's always about the next game."

That's what the Utes are striving for, he added.

Martin has gotten the message.

"Ced's put in the work," said teammate Jason Washburn. "He's put in the time. I'm real proud of him and happy for him."

Although Martin is the only player other than Washburn to start every game this season, his rise to prominence has taken a little time since transferring to Utah from Lee College in Baytown, Texas.

"At the beginning, I think Cedric kind of struggled as a player. He wasn't putting up the numbers he felt he could, wasn't putting up the numbers Coach thought he would," Washburn recalled. "I remember right before our two wins over Portland and Idaho State (in mid-December), he came in and was shooting just a ridiculous amount of shots before and after practice. As you can see the guy is a 3-point machine now."

Martin is shooting better than 40 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 48.4 percent (30 of 62) of his attempts at home.