Utah Utes, Weber State basketball: Wildcats' comeback falls short

It didn't take a genius to figure that Weber State's defensive strategy wasn't working against the Utah Utes Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats were playing some zone, sagging off certain players, and helping on others in the first half of their 74-64 loss to the Utes at the Huntsman Center. The results weren't pretty, as Utah shot a whopping 61 percent from the field while building a 12-point halftime lead.

During the break, coach Randy Rahe essentially threw his game plan in the garbage can and told his players to get in the faces of the Utes, be aggressive and play them man-to-man.

It worked.

Weber State held Utah to just two shot attempts in the first 3:30 of the second half, and got going on offense. The Wildcats opened the second half on a 15-2 run and took a 44-43 lead when freshman Damian Lillard converted a three-point play with 15:49 left in the game.

Weber State's rally started with defense, and it enabled the team to remain in Saturday's game until the final minutes. It also provided a lesson for Rahe, who realized he doesn't need to be too fancy with how his team will defend opponents.

"That's something I won't do again because we've got to be aggressive," Rahe said. "I told them to forget everything we told you and go out there and get in someone's tail. I challenged the kids and they really did a great job of that. We've got to be aggressive, and that was something on my end that I'll never do again."

It also looks like the days of the Wildcats failing to respond to adversity and not fighting back when they're down will never happen again. Weber State came out of its locker room at halftime ready to prove it could play with a team of the Utes' caliber.

"We were fired up," center Steve Panos said. "We knew we could play better. We knew we matched up with them easily, and we were ready to get back out there. We executed our plays, did everything right. We were clicking."

Lillard hit a 3-pointer to put Utah up 49-45, and the Wildcats hung in the game until Utah's Tyler Kepkay caught fire from 3-point range and helped the Utes pull away in the final five minutes.

The Wildcats had their three-game winning streak ended by the Utes, but they didn't feel like they took a step back as a team.

"I think it's something we can build off of," said forward Kyle Bullinger, who scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. "We've got to fight all the way through. You're never satisfied after a loss. We need to keep working and getting better."