HOOPS: Utah 71, SUU 47
Posted By: Gilly <vandamanfan@yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, 18 December 2001, at 9:54 p.m.
The first half was great. Utah was carving up the matchup zone, Spivey was throwing alley oops to Burgess, they were shutting down Beus, Caton was hitting bombs. I think it was 39 - 15 at the break.
The second half was almost unwatchable. Wow. I don't know if Utah was trying a different way of attacking the zone or what, but the offense (and everything else) bogged down.
Jason Baker from Bingham High is a player. He looked really good, and ended up in double figures.
Burgess had his way inside early, and rebounded very tough.
Britton didn't score much, but drew at least three charges, made some nice passes, and kept flashing to the foul line to help carve up the zone.
Spivey had a great first half. Ran the offense great, made great passes.
Jacobson was off until late in the game, but hit the boards and played D.
Jeff Johnson had a very nice game, setting up Burgess's first two layups and playing solid.
Osmundson played well, I thought. ONly hit one shot, had 2 or three turnovers, but ran the offense well and had some great passes similar to the one to Burgess at Weber. Also plays solid D and had a great rebound in traffic.
Osimani got a minute in the first half, made the wrong pass, and got yanked.
Caton was hitting his outside shot.
Cullen played ok.
Allred did ok.
Koford came in at the end for mop up duty, and Caton fed him for two dunks.I guess Utah hammered an opponent they should hammer, so that's good. Not sure what happened in half #2, but it was nice to see the subs get some minutes and Os and Os get to play through some mistakes.
If Rick said Osmundson was too casual, that could be a good sign for Osmundson. Rick usually doesn't criticize anyone but the best players.
More details? In the first half, the Utes were diving on the floor and playing pretty hard. Cullen got his head banged up diving for a defensive rebound. Britton got hit in the chops. Britton did take 3 charges, and just missed a 4th when someone else fouled his guy.
Jacobson did look like he had the flu or something. He airballed a three, missed a foul shot, and threw a really bad pass to Burgess for a turnover.
In the second half, Utah's big men did not finish inside when they got fouled, even when it looked like they should without too much trouble.
Cullen and Britton get shoved around alot under the boards, and the refs don't call anything. This could be very troublesome in conference play.
SUU isn't very good. Without Monaco and House, they aren't even a shadow of last year's team.
Not to look past Idaho State, but I can't wait for Texas. A superquick point guard, and a quick/strong inside man like Owens should really test the Utes.
I wish they had called tonight's game after the first half.
HOOPS: Utes looked solid last night...
Posted By: U-Ute
(Official bandwagon gas-pumper)
Date: Wednesday, 19 December 2001, at 7:52 a.m.
At least until the game was over with 15:00 to play in the first half. After that, the Utes were sloppy.
Still, the Utes came out with the same energy and intensity they started the Weber State game with. The help defense was there to stop penetration and they rotated well to challenge every shot.
Offensively, they didn't have an answer for Burgess and Caton. Burgess got 3 dunks in a row, so they tightened up the zone. Then Caton bombs 5-5 from outside. Every time they tightened up, we hit an outside shot. They extended the zone, and we shredded them inside.
Osmundson continues to impress me. He has great passing skills. The no-look to Burgess on the baseline was a thing of beauty. You can see the forward running away from Burgess to the corner as he bites on Oz's eyes.
It was nice to see Caton have a good game finally. Coincidentally enough, it comes at a time when the team starts playing as a team. That's how Caton plays. The rest of the team has to play well for him to play well.
Burgess's free throws are looking better. His shot is much more consistent at the line and his mechanics are good. He just needs to shoot them with a bit more confidence. Diehard noticed that the shots he misses, he's falling away a bit. That's a sign of someone who's shooting with anxiety, not confidence.
Britton had a quiet game, but it was fundamentally good. When the zone loosened up, he made cuts to the FT line that netted him some open shots. With his size and leaping ability, he can shoot that one all day. Defensively his help defense was there and he took some charges.
Jeff Johnson has continued his steady play. He's improved a ton over last year in which he seemed to be out of control. Probably from trying to do to much. He's playing great basketball right now.
I'm really looking forward to the Texas game now...
U-Ute
HOOPS: Last night and what is our problem...
Posted By: UteStar
Date: Wednesday, 19 December 2001, at 9:31 a.m.
Nice effort and nice game. That first half was terrific. Southern Utah could not do a thing (15 points in the first half, now that was not pretty)...Burgess was very tough underneath and Britton had to pull himself off the floor after taking about 25 charges during the game.
It was nice to see Caton shoot so well. Burgess really controlled the paint. The two alley-oop dunks were terrific (the one where Burgess caught it about 2 feet to the side of the basket and brought it down hard was pretty great). One problem that I have with the offense...they aren't looking inside too much. There is a lot of movement on the outside and the Utes get good looks outside, but they need to work it in more often to Burgess, Allred, Britton, etc.
Phil looked a little better, but still fades away slightly when shooting. Burgess' free throws are an adeventure. His form looked good on 8 of them last night, but 3 of them had a serious hitch in his shot and three of them had no chance to go in. If he can smooth his shot out so that there isn't a herky jerky motion to it, he should be fine. 14 boards though...terrific.
I am feeling good about this team. Go Utes!