Utah Utes basketball: Team bounces back to blast Air Force

SALT LAKE CITY — Because it was Air Force, owners of a 20-game conference losing streak coming into the game, Utah may have won anyway. However, a 6:30 a.m. practice following Wednesday night's home loss to San Diego State certainly got the Utes' attention for Saturday's game.

The Utes (10-9, 3-2) led by as many as 25 in cruising to a 71-54 win over the Falcons (8-10, 0-5) behind freshman Marshall Henderson's 22 points before a season-high crowd of 10,011 fans at the Huntsman Center.

Nobody in Uteville was happy after dropping their first home league game in two seasons against San Diego State, especially coach Jim Boylen, who ordered his players to practice bright and early Thursday morning.

"That was interesting, to be honest," said senior guard Luka Drca. "I did not expect it. We just came out and practiced hard and grinded, as coach says, and got better."

Boylen said his players "bought in" and improved in several areas, most notably passing and sharing the ball in the Thursday and Friday practices.

Of the Utes' 19 baskets Saturday, 15 came off of assists, a 79 percent ratio, well above the Utes' season average of 51 percent and better than Wednesday's 50 percent.

"I thought today more than any other game this year, we shared the ball and were looking to create for our teammates," said Boylen. "We were looking to make somebody else better. We were looking to raise somebody else up and to me that's what the game is."

"The biggest difference today was that we shared the ball on offense," echoed Drca.

Utah also rebounded better, outboarding the Falcons 29-19 and had one of its better shooting nights of the year, making 50 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range.

"I thought we took care of business at home," Boylen said. "I'm proud of my team."

Despite the good practices the previous two days, Boylen was unhappy with this team's start as the Utes missed a layup to start the game and trailed 17-16 with 8:22 left in the first half.

But Jason Washburn scored four straight to ignite the Utes on an 13-1 run and by halftime Utah led 34-25.

"I did not like our start to the game. But we snapped out of it and our defense was really solid, said Boylen.

The second half was more of the same as the Utes sprinted from a 39-29 lead to go up 58-34 with 8:24 left. The lead reached 62-37 before the Utes emptied their bench against the overmatched Falcons.