The Utah Runnin' Utes (6-3) beat Pepperdine (4-8) in Salt Lake City on Tuesday 67-60 and lost at Michigan (7-2) on Friday night 75-64. The Utes next host Boise State (6-2) on Friday night at 7 p.m. MT. I'm pleased that Utah was able to beat Pepperdine after the Waves led at halftime, but I'm disappointed that they didn't win by more. Pepperdine isn't a very good team and Utah didn't look that impressive in the win, but as they say: a win is a win.
Utah lost the game at Michigan in the first half, committing at least a dozen turnovers before intermission and trailing by 17 at the break. The Wolverines led by as many as 22 before Utah made a run late to lose by 11. The Utes looked bad most of the game and simply dug themselves too big of a hole with poor play. You just have to take care of the basketball or you're not going to be in a lot of games. Michigan played fine and may have won the game anyway, but Utah really hurt themselves. Without so many turnovers and missed free throws (7-13 from the line) I believe it would have been competitive and relatively close throughout. Jay Watkins scored 17 for the Runnin' Utes and Will Clyburn and Chris Hines each had 11.
I'm still cautiously optimistic about Utah's season. I don't consider the Michigan loss a bad loss, so hopefully it doesn't set the guys back. Boise State on Friday is what I consider a winnable game at home. Let's hope the Utes can pull off the basketball-football sweep by adding a win in the Las Vegas Bowl over the Broncos the following break.
Showing posts with label Pepperdine Waves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pepperdine Waves. Show all posts
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Utah tops Bradley, hosts Pepperdine Tuesday
The Utah Runnin' Utes (5-2) won their first road game of the season on Saturday night, beating Bradley (4-4) by a score of 68-60 in Peoria, Illinois. I'm frustrated with bradleybraves.com which said it would have all games it streamed live available on demand as well. This game was scheduled to be streamed live and yet it is curiously unavailable on demand. I was counting on the on demand feature as I was unable to watch live and the website has let me down. In fact, it seems that the only games available on demand are the games that Bradley has won this season.
Anyway, Josh Watkins scored 23 points for the Runnin' Utes and Will Clyburn had 19 as the Utes led throughout. One concerning facet of the game was that Utah went 24-44 from the free throw line. That has to change and I'm pretty confident it will as the Utes normally seem to me to be a pretty good free throw shooting team. I don't have the stats on that on me, but it seems to be the case.
Bradley is one of those teams you should beat, even in their building, so I'm pleased that Utah was able to take care of business. It's the fourth year in a row Utah has played a team from the competitive Missouri Valley Conference and the Utes have compiled a 3-1 record in that span. The Valley always seems to be a fun league, but I don't think Bradley is the class of it this year.
Utah returns home to face Pepperdine (3-6) Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center. Pepperdine is another one of those teams you should beat, but I would have said that last year when the Utes went to Malibu, California and lost to the Waves. Hopefully Utah won't overlook them and will be able to put them away rather early on. I feel confident in predicting a rather comfortable win for the Runnin' Utes. The game won't be televised but will have live audio available on kall700sports.com and on AM 700 here in the Salt Lake City area. As usual, I will be at the game and will be tweeting as well. You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/dpaysports.
Utah's 5-2 record looks nice, but it hasn't come against the greatest of schedules. The toughest game of the year to date was definitely at Utah State (5-2), a loss. I don't consider that a bad loss, it being a road game against a good team. USU's 5-2 record looks better than Utah's as its only two losses were to ranked opponents (although the Aggies don't have any of what I would consider big wins to this point either). What is a bad loss for the Utes, though, is losing at home to Oral Roberts (4-4). I wouldn't necessarily consider Oral Roberts a bad team, but I think they are probably a mediocre team at best and definitely not someone you should lose to at home. However, it looks like the Utes may have put that behind them with wins against Fresno State and the aforementioned Bradley. If they keep up the winning the bad loss may end up looking like a mere blip on the radar. We should know a little more after Friday's game at Michigan (6-2).
Anyway, Josh Watkins scored 23 points for the Runnin' Utes and Will Clyburn had 19 as the Utes led throughout. One concerning facet of the game was that Utah went 24-44 from the free throw line. That has to change and I'm pretty confident it will as the Utes normally seem to me to be a pretty good free throw shooting team. I don't have the stats on that on me, but it seems to be the case.
Bradley is one of those teams you should beat, even in their building, so I'm pleased that Utah was able to take care of business. It's the fourth year in a row Utah has played a team from the competitive Missouri Valley Conference and the Utes have compiled a 3-1 record in that span. The Valley always seems to be a fun league, but I don't think Bradley is the class of it this year.
Utah returns home to face Pepperdine (3-6) Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center. Pepperdine is another one of those teams you should beat, but I would have said that last year when the Utes went to Malibu, California and lost to the Waves. Hopefully Utah won't overlook them and will be able to put them away rather early on. I feel confident in predicting a rather comfortable win for the Runnin' Utes. The game won't be televised but will have live audio available on kall700sports.com and on AM 700 here in the Salt Lake City area. As usual, I will be at the game and will be tweeting as well. You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/dpaysports.
Utah's 5-2 record looks nice, but it hasn't come against the greatest of schedules. The toughest game of the year to date was definitely at Utah State (5-2), a loss. I don't consider that a bad loss, it being a road game against a good team. USU's 5-2 record looks better than Utah's as its only two losses were to ranked opponents (although the Aggies don't have any of what I would consider big wins to this point either). What is a bad loss for the Utes, though, is losing at home to Oral Roberts (4-4). I wouldn't necessarily consider Oral Roberts a bad team, but I think they are probably a mediocre team at best and definitely not someone you should lose to at home. However, it looks like the Utes may have put that behind them with wins against Fresno State and the aforementioned Bradley. If they keep up the winning the bad loss may end up looking like a mere blip on the radar. We should know a little more after Friday's game at Michigan (6-2).
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