Utah 76, SDSU 71

HOOPS: Utah 76, SDSU 70

Posted By: Gilly <vandamanfan@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, 14 January 2002, at 10:11 p.m.

A very exciting game. Very rough game. Very intense game.

Utah came out strong unlike Saturday, but then SDSU fought back, unlike UNLV. The refs didn't call much, unlike Saturday, and Holcomb and Mickael are very physical, unlike UNLV.

Utah had to overcome a 5 point deficit in the second half. A couple of key sequences were:
--Britton grabbed an offensive rebound, and scored over two guys, then hit a three on the next possession to tie the game
--Jacobson hit a three, set up Caton for a three, hit a three and set up Jeff for a layup

Jacobson was, I believe, 7-9 from three point land. 25 points.
Britton may have only had 10 points, but he had double digit rebounds, and in the last couple minutes stripped Mickael and then blocked somebody from behind. Two great plays when Utah really needed stops. He got a couple OOOOOffensive boards to keep alive key possessions.

Cullen was off -- maybe only hit one shot -- but he helped the team. A little defense, a little rebounding, a little helping the offense.
SPivey played a solid game, running the offense and helping out on the defensive boards. He got two fouls in the first half with about 4 to go, but Utah did ok with Oso at the point.

Lance struggled.

Jeff wasn't hitting after his first three, but he played very hard. Late in the game he had a crucial turnover after Britton's steal, and missed a layup when an Aztec whacked him in the face, but he played a good overall game.

Osmundson came in, and let a pass go through his hands. But then he took an opening on the baseline and drove in and finished the layup. He sure seems fearless inside.

Caton played very hard all night, hit a couple big three's, hit a big layup, missed a couple open shots when Utah was trying to finally take the lead late, and played as hard as he could on defense. He was shorter and slower than Holcomb, but really fought him, and stole an entry bounce pass late in the game that was huge.

Koford only played the final couple seconds of the first half.

Osimani did ok. He made a few foul shots, ran the offense ok, not great, and played pretty good defense.

SDSU is much better and much more physical than they used to be. They manhandled the Utes, and absolutely killed them on the glass in the second half. They hit alot of tough shots, which I guess they didn't do Saturday. Britton was theonly one who could stay with them on the glass. Again, the refs weren't calling anything, so it was rough and ugly.

Jacobson and Britton are the gifted players on this team and they are playing like it. Both had great games.

I'll add a few comments ...

I thought SDSU's starting 5 might actually be better than Utah's. They had no bench, and their key guys (Holcomb, Mackell and Bland) seemed to run out of gas the last 5 minutes. Ute bench outscored SDSU bench 20-2!!

POSITIVES:
Utes only had 10 turnovers against a very physical defensive team that pressed at times. Way to go!!

Spivey 6 assists to one turnover!! JJ 5 assists to 2 turnovers.

Everyone saw JJ make that ghastly turnover, but let's not forget that key, late, one-handed rebound.

Clutch free throw shooting!! Close games are often decided at the free throw line, and the Utes look GOOD at the line this year.

NEGATIVES:
Not much inside offense. Allred got the ball in good position a few times but missed the shots.

Outrebounded again (32-27). Gave up another offensive rebound off a missed foul shot.

Missed 3 or 4 easy layups.

Biggest concern was how the defense seemed to get lost for 6 or 7 minutes in the second half. SDSU scored on 7(?) consecutive possesions, all on close-in shots or offensive rebounds. Can't afford many lapses like that.

SUMMARY:
ALL IN ALL a good scrappy effort against a physical team. Utes will be hard pressed to win in San Diego.

HOOPS: View from Row 4...

Posted By: Wakara <redrock60@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, 14 January 2002, at 10:30 p.m.

What a great College Game that was. It reminded me of why college ball is so superior to Pro ball: Kids leaving it all on the floor, playing as a team.

First, I need to say that this is not your standard San Diego St. team. They have a group of very talented athletes, with, Bland, Fake (faux), and Holcomb all being serious talents. But they aren't UNLV or New Mexico either. There was a little chest bumping and some one-on-one play, but for the most part, they played a team concept, with a lot of concentration. Fisher is a better coach than I gave him credit for. Their only major lapse was to let NJ open a couple of times in the second half for wide open 3's and it cost them the game. For the most part, they are a team with class athletes. The major shortcomings are their lack of depth, and I believe, lack of time in the system to make it work right...probably due to being Juco's and transfers.

Now...on to the Utes:

The Good:

(newsflash) NJ is one of the best shooters around. The nice thing is he does it during crunch time as well as at the beginning. 7 threes tonite and good defense against whomever. He may be AA material by the time he's a senior. He reminds me of Jeff Hornacek, with his quick, wristy release, and his deadly accuracy.

BJ is really benefitting from Majerus' tutelage and growing in Burgess' absence. He had 11 boards, played great D and didn't force shots, but hit a huge 3 in the second half. All he needs to do now is take his newfound basketball smarts and start shooting more. He's got a great stroke from deep, not NJ good, but better than most.

Caton is a warrior/prototypical Majerus player. In the Lord of the Rings, he would be a Dwarf king. Not too big, but strong of body and mind, and doesn't back down from anyone. He was hitting his 3's tonite as well. Shot when he should have and played the Glue role. Came up with the steal of the night during crunch time.

JJ had the night's worst play and the night's best play. All is all I thought he made the difference at the end of the game. The biggest play was a rebound bucket with 1 hand while falling down, then dribbling between 3 defenders as he got up, then passing the ball to Spivey with about a minute to go. The worst play was after he made a steal, he took it the length of the court, jumped in the air with nowhere to go, and threw it away. One turnover vs. hustle and grit the rest of the game. I'll take that. We had a 3 shot posession at the two minute mark, ending in a critical basket by NJ, and it was mostly due to his hustle. He makes more "big" non-shooting plays than the rest of the team combined.

Spivey has become the team player he wasn't last year. Great defense, and smart offense. Nothing spectacular, but I feel comfortable with him at the point. He's no andre miller, but then again, who is?

Osimani played well enough while in, and Allred played better than last game. He's still got to learn when to shoot and when to pass back out.

The Bad

We had one bad stretch in the first half where we had jumped to an 18-4 lead, and I thought we were going to blow SDSU out. We stopped hustling on defense and offense, and let them back in the game. We need a killer mentality when the other team is on the ropes, not just at the end of a tight game.

Cullen wasn't bad, but when he's not shooting well, he doesn't do much of anything else,

Small ball is working for the Utes, at least at home. Cullen wasn't shooting well tonite, but we still ended up with 14 threes. I prefer the small ball, launching threes rather than feeding Allred underneath. If Burgess comes back, we will be very good, as we will have the inside and outside game.

SDSU played much better d than UNLV. In the second half they adjusted and extended their tight man-to-man past the arc. It gave us trouble for a while until T spivey and others started penetrating the open space.

Great game. The crowd was into it tonite. It's games like these when I feel sorry for those who can't make it to the HC, and feel the energy.

Congrats Utes.

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