Utah Utes basketball: Quality wins, tough losses for Runnin' Utes

If you'd tried to figure before the season what the Utah basketball team's record would have been at this point, you'd probably have guessed 4-2 or 3-3. You'd figure the Utes would have lost one or perhaps two games at the Las Vegas Invitational and perhaps to Utah State.

The Utes are sitting at 3-3, but two of their wins came against 20th-ranked Illinois and Utah State while two of their losses were to Idaho and Seattle.

"We've had some quality wins and we've had some tough losses," said coach Jim Boylen in evaluating the season to this point. "We have to get better with consistency at both ends. At times we've been very good defensively and at times we've been very good offensively. We have to get better in both areas."

Boylen says the Utes' schedule is making them "battle-hardened," and it's only going to get tougher.

The Utes must play at Weber State against a team he calls "the best 1-4 team in America," followed by a home game against Idaho State, a team that beat Utah last year. Then next week come two games against teams that have been ranked in the top 20 this year, Michigan and Oklahoma. The week after that, the Utes play Illinois State, which tops the Missouri Valley Conference with a 6-0 record.

"Our schedule is shaping up the way we thought," said Boylen. "It's a very competitive schedule."

SHOOTING WOES: Over the years, Utah has been a good-shooting basketball team, no matter what its record was. Eleven times in the past 17 years, the Utes have ranked in the top 30 in the nation in field-goal percentage.

Even in 2006-07, when the Utes went 11-19, they ranked 17th in the nation in field goal percentage. Last year, the Utes were 26th. However, this year's team is one of the worst-shooting Ute teams in the past two decades.

The Utes are shooting just 42.7 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from 3-point range.

"Our poor shooting is a direct correlation to trust," said Boylen. "When our guys are open, we're not getting them the ball. We're taking guarded shots; we're taking early clock shots. We either shoot poor shots early in the clock or guarded shots late in the clock. In that middle ground, we've missed opportunities to share the ball and move it. We're inconsistent in our decisionmaking to an open man, and I don't like that."

The Utes' inside players are shooting well with Jason Washburn at 71.4 percent, David Foster at 65.2, Jay Watkins at 50 and Kim Tillie at 47.5.

However, the outside players are struggling with Luka Drca at 35.1 percent, Jordan Cyphers at 34.8, Marshall Henderson at 34.7 and Carlon Brown at 34.2.

UTE NOTES: Boylen said Watkins will continue to come off the bench and that he expects him to be a 20- to 24-minute a night player. … Utah's centers Washburn and Foster are combining for 13 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, comparable to Luke Nevill's 17, 9 and 2 at the same point last year. … Utah is averaging 35.7 rebounds per game, the same as its opponents.

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