Utah (11-15, 4-8 MWC) defeated Wyoming (9-17, 2-10 MWC) by a score of 80-70 on Wednesday night at the Huntsman Center. The Runnin' Utes badly needed that win and were able to stop a 5 game losing streak. Chris Kupets led all scorers with 20 points off the bench and Will Clyburn and Josh Watkins each had 19 for the Runnin' Utes. Desmar Jackson led the Pokes with 17 points, but was pretty limited in the 2nd half before fouling out late in the game. Kupets has really come on in conference play and is really turning into a scorer; his emergence has come at about the same time as Chris Hines' minutes have sharply decreased. Freshman J.J. O'Brien continues to play well and had 10 points against the Cowboys. O'Brien gives me reason to believe the Utes could improve in the years to come. It wasn't a spectacular win, but it was much needed.
Utah visits New Mexico (17-9, 5-6 MWC) tonight at The Pit at 7:30 p.m. MT on The Mtn. The Pit is one of the toughest arenas to play in in the entire country and the Runnin' Utes certainly have their hands full in that regard. Utah beat the Lobos last month in Salt Lake City, but New Mexico has always been a much tougher team at home. Clyburn is questionable with a bruised heel he sustained in the Wyoming game. Hopefully he'll be able to go because it would be a rather difficult task trying to win without him.
The Utes really need this game as well if they want to get on the track to avoiding a 7 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, which would almost certainly mean a match-up with either #6 San Diego State (27-1, 12-1 MWC) or #7 BYU (24-2, 10-1 MWC). A win tonight would push the Utes a half-game ahead of Air Force (13-12, 4-8 MWC) for sixth place in the MWC and draw them within a half-game of the Lobos for fifth. A guy has to try and think positively, right? It'll be a tough environment and I think the Lobos will win, but I think the Utes are going to give them a game and you never know what could happen. I'll be tweeting during the game and back on here afterward for recap and analysis.
Showing posts with label Chris Kupets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Kupets. Show all posts
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Utes lose rivalry game
My Utah Runnin' Utes (10-15, 3-8 MWC) lost yesterday afternoon at #7 BYU (24-2, 10-1 MWC) by a score of 72-59. BYU's Jimmer Fredette led all scorers with 23 points and Charles Abouo added 22 for the Cougars. Will Clyburn led Utah with 18 points and Chris Kupets came off the bench to add 14.
I was proud of the Utes for playing so hard and thought they really executed their stuff well for most of the day. I was impressed with how well they got back on defense to prevent transition baskets for most of the game as well as with the way they slowed up the pace of the game and made it more of a grinder. Utah played really played good defense and showed a lot of energy on both ends of the floor. I thought freshman J.J. O'Brien did a really good job on Fredette.
However, the Utes ran out of gas after having the game tied with under 10 minutes to go and BYU came through with enough plays to win, which is what good teams do. I was happy the Utes played so hard, but at the end of the day, it's still a loss. It doesn't appear that Coach Jim Boylen has lost the team and they still seem to be playing hard. If they play this hard the rest of the year, I would probably be cool with having him back next year. It certainly was a much better effort yesterday, than it was earlier in the week when the Utes were pounded by 32 points at #6 San Diego State (25-1, 10-1 MWC). Utah has five games left in conference play and they really need to take the bull by the horns and compete in all of them -- they definitely have the talent to do so. The Runnin' Utes next host Wyoming (9-16, 2-9 MWC) on Wednesday night.
I was proud of the Utes for playing so hard and thought they really executed their stuff well for most of the day. I was impressed with how well they got back on defense to prevent transition baskets for most of the game as well as with the way they slowed up the pace of the game and made it more of a grinder. Utah played really played good defense and showed a lot of energy on both ends of the floor. I thought freshman J.J. O'Brien did a really good job on Fredette.
However, the Utes ran out of gas after having the game tied with under 10 minutes to go and BYU came through with enough plays to win, which is what good teams do. I was happy the Utes played so hard, but at the end of the day, it's still a loss. It doesn't appear that Coach Jim Boylen has lost the team and they still seem to be playing hard. If they play this hard the rest of the year, I would probably be cool with having him back next year. It certainly was a much better effort yesterday, than it was earlier in the week when the Utes were pounded by 32 points at #6 San Diego State (25-1, 10-1 MWC). Utah has five games left in conference play and they really need to take the bull by the horns and compete in all of them -- they definitely have the talent to do so. The Runnin' Utes next host Wyoming (9-16, 2-9 MWC) on Wednesday night.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Runnin' Utes drop MWC opener
Air Force (10-4, 1-0 MWC) defeated Utah (7-8, 0-1 MWC) tonight 77-69 in Colorado Springs. A big story tonight was the ineptitude of the Mtn. in failing to get me the game to watch. The channel was black the entire night, including for the preceding San Diego State-TCU game. I called my friends on a different cable system and it was blacked out for them as well. It's a good thing that this is the last season for the Runnin' Utes being on the Mtn.
From what I was able to glean from listening to the game, it was the same old story for the Utes. They had some good spurts, including going up by 9 in the first half. They once again fell behind in the 2nd half, but were able to take the lead with under 3 minutes left. However, Utah was significantly outplayed by the Falcons down the stretch and picked up another loss they probably shouldn't have. It seems like the Utes have hit the panic button late in games recently and not really played composed, putting up difficult shots and turning it over (again as well as I can tell from listening on the radio). I don't think Coach Jim Boylen is completely off the hook for this loss as it was still his players, system and assistant coaches at the game. I thought Chris Kupets played a really good game; he seems to be coming along and developing into a really nice player. However, it was the same old inconsistency for the Utes who have lost 5 straight. It looks very likely that the streak will extend to 7 as they have home games against #6 San Diego State (16-0, 1-0 MWC) Saturday and #15 BYU (15-1, 1-0 MWC) next Tuesday.
From what I was able to glean from listening to the game, it was the same old story for the Utes. They had some good spurts, including going up by 9 in the first half. They once again fell behind in the 2nd half, but were able to take the lead with under 3 minutes left. However, Utah was significantly outplayed by the Falcons down the stretch and picked up another loss they probably shouldn't have. It seems like the Utes have hit the panic button late in games recently and not really played composed, putting up difficult shots and turning it over (again as well as I can tell from listening on the radio). I don't think Coach Jim Boylen is completely off the hook for this loss as it was still his players, system and assistant coaches at the game. I thought Chris Kupets played a really good game; he seems to be coming along and developing into a really nice player. However, it was the same old inconsistency for the Utes who have lost 5 straight. It looks very likely that the streak will extend to 7 as they have home games against #6 San Diego State (16-0, 1-0 MWC) Saturday and #15 BYU (15-1, 1-0 MWC) next Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
