Utah falls to #6 San Diego State

Utah (7-9, 0-2 MWC) lost yesterday afternoon to #6 San Diego State (17-0, 2-0 MWC) by a score of 71-62 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The Runnin' Utes have now lost 6 straight. Kawhi Leonard led the Aztecs with 20 points, D.J. Gay had 18, and Malcolm Thomas had 17. Josh Watkins of the led all scorers with 24 and Will Clyburn had 17 for the Utes.

I'm actually not surprised that Utah kept the game close because they match up well with San Diego State and played basically the same roster of players close in two games last year. I'm also not surprised that the Runnin' Utes weren't able to pull out a victory as they once again faltered down the stretch and didn't make enough plays to win. As you may remember, I picked SDSU by about 10 and I was pretty much right on with that prediction as the Aztecs won by 9.

Utah led by 1 at halftime and looked like they would have a shot at an upset. However, San Diego State showcased its athleticism and explosive offense during a couple of key stretches in the second half. It looked like Utah lost a little bit of its edge and focus and the Aztecs pounced on that. Utah coach Jim Boylen put it really well when he stated that the Runnin' Utes got absolutely manhandled on the boards the last 7 or 8 minutes of the year. You have to get those rebounds if you are going to win close games. That just hasn't happened a lot this year for Utah where rebounding has been a big issue throughout games, but especially in crunch time. Nowhere was this more evident than when San Diego State was able to get 3 offensive rebounds on one possession late in the game and take about 1:30 off the clock in the process.

Utah played pretty well all things considered and I'm not too disheartened by the way they played. If they had played like that all year I don't think they would be 7-9 and on a 6 game losing streak right now. I liked that the Runnin' Utes were playing with heart and grit and I thought the perfect example of this was 7-foot-3 David Foster diving on the floor to get a loose ball and putting in extra effort to get an offensive rebound at one point. The focus needs to be on the rest of the season and trying to salvage it. This game can be a building block for some prolonged success. The next opportunity comes Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. MT at home on the Mtn. against rival #15 BYU (16-1, 2-0 MWC).