Posted By: Gilly
Date: Saturday, 1 December 2001, at 9:48 p.m.
Much better game tonight. The Utes were more aggressive right from the start. Nothing wrong with some charging fouls, as it shows people are going to the hoop.
It was great to see utah hit the 10 point plateau well before the 10 minute mark. Burgess himself might have been there. He played a great game. Posting up well, going after offensive and defensive boards, running the floor. He looked really good.
Jacobson's shot was back on, which really makes Utah a different team. I think he had 20, and only a couple misses late in the game will hurt an amazing shooting percentage. In addition to his three pointers, he had a great one-handed, extended arm 8 foot shot in the lane while getting fouled.
Jeff Johnsen did start, and he played a good game. His shot was on, and he was disruptive on defense. He had a couple turnovers, but made up for any of that with strong all-around play.
Majerus did use a 10 man rotation, at least in the first half. Osmundson made a mistake, then committed a charge, and was done for the night. Osimani kept coming in for 2 minute stints to give Spivey a rest, and although he struggled, he got better as the game went on. I think it's tough to come in for such short bursts -- it's hard to get a feel for the game.
Koford did not play. Lance "Hammer" Allred got all the backup center minutes. Lance plays tough. Plays tough and makes all his freebies.
Cullen hit a few shots. His minutes are weird too, sometimes in for very short stints, sometimes longer, but he looked more confident shooting the ball.
Spivey may not have scored. I can't remember -- I do remember him taking a three in the first half. But he was going to the glass and running the offense. Also sporting a shaved head. Pretty good defense too.
Britton had a good game. He even dove to intercept an entry pass, and tipped it away (unfortunately, Pepperdine got it back and scored though). He did have trouble finishing, and on one breakaway the ball slipped out of his hands when he went for the dunk. But he did a little of everything. Shot, passed, played defense (although #32 was burning him and everyone else out there) and brought the ball up.
Utah built a nice lead in the second half, and then REALLY struggled against the press. Two or three times in a row, they couldn't even inbound the ball. Wow, they looked overmatched. But credit to Majerus, he began having Britton throw over the press -- once to Spivey, once to Jeff, and although each pass was a heart attack special, they both worked and it loosened up the press considerably. Before that, I think Pedderdine had cut the lead by 11, down to 4 points.
Overall, it was a great game to watch, especially after the last two outings. The '10 man rotation' sometimes has Majerus taking guys out right after they score or seem to be playing well, but so be it. Pepperdine was quick, but not crazy-quick like Alabama. They also hit the wall with about 6 minutes to go. Colbert had a couple nice moves and hoops, and a couple turnovers. Westphall's son has a deadly shot with a quick release. A couple of their 6'7" forwards are serious offensive players.
Burgess really played well. His post moves actually got simpler and better as the game wore on, and when he missed a shot he stayed with it and sometimes got the putback.
Geottsche dressed for the game, DNP, Jackson didn't dress. Who knows?
Posted By: Gilly
Date: Sunday, 2 December 2001, at 9:59 a.m.
On defense, the Utes were doubling the Pepperdine guards when they got a high screen or came down the lane. This left a man open, and sometimes the defense rotated back in time and sometimes it didn't. But it did shut off the penetration.
Also, when a Pepperdine player had an open 10 or 15 footer, someone would go running at him like a crazy man -- even if it were too late. That was nice to see.Maybe the FUN is back. Both Britton and Burgess said they had fun playing last night. Kudos to this board for sending out the FUN karam to the Runnin Utes.
Burgess hit the floor 5 times in the first half (this was by our count, and the 5th time is in question). That's great hustle. I think it set a tone for the rest of the team. Also his offensive play helped open up the outside shots.
It was just one game. I agree with the poster below who said that if the three's hadn't been falling at a 71% clip, it might have been a different game. Also, the team struggled against the press.
But, on the other hand, I think the team can play better. There were some sloppy/careless turnovers, there were some wide open guys that the team missed, and some open shots and foul shots that didn't go in.
Hopefully, this isn't a one-game phenomenon. If the Utes can play the next 7 or 8 games like this, win or lose they will have improved a great deal.
Posted By: Ute_In_Texas
Date: Sunday, 2 December 2001, at 4:14 p.m.
You can't practice against quickness when there's none on the team. It's not like you can tell the gray squad to be quicker in practice!!
The Alabama game did the Utes a world of good. The Utes were clearly NOT prepared to play against Alabama's quickness and were knocked out of their offense for 10 minutes while they adjusted. Once they adjusted to the quicker pace of the game the Utes played Alabama even.
Hopefully, the Pepperdine game is evidence the Utes learned from the Alabama game and now know how to get good shots out of the offense against quicker teams. We all have our fingers crossed.
Of course, it's also possible the Utes just had "one of those nights" where they couldn't miss. Let's hope that's not the case.
We should know in a few more games.
My short thoughts on the game...
Posted By: U-Ute (Official bandwagon gas-pumper)
Date: Monday, 3 December 2001, at 8:09 a.m.Due to a wedding reception, I only got to see the second half, and on TV at that. From what it sounded like though, the second half was a continuation of the first.
While this game was definately a positive, it also reminded me a lot of the Boise State game. We had a major letdown after that. This team needs to show some consistency now.
The defense and rebounding was fantastic. 16 offensive boards. Guys challenging every shot. You have to love that. Everyone was hustling. We probably set a team record for floor burns.
I knew this team had a lot of shooters on it and it shows how scary this team can be when everyone's shot is dropping. Baby steps. Baby steps. Let's just build on what we started here tomorrow night.
Go Utes!
U-Ute