HOOPS: Utah 87, Men of Troy 56
Posted By: Gilly <vandamanfan@yahoo.com>
Date: Saturday, 8 December 2001, at 9:47 p.m.
Troy State came out with a great strategy: Nail three pointers and let Burgess score layups, thus gaining a point on each possession. Their first seven baskets were triples, they led at one point 18 - 11, and Burgess must have hit his first 5 shots, all within 18 inches of the basket. He was getting good position, and his teammates were getting him the ball, and it was lights out.
This guy Wilson from Troy State was dropping three pointers from way outside, even with a guy all over him. Wow. But, he went cold after 10 minutes, the score was tied 23-23, and that was the end of the ballgame.Over the next 20 minutes, the Men of Troy scored 16 points, and Utah scored about 40. Not a real fun game to watch, but here's what there was.
Britton put away the dipsy-do, and went straight to the basket. For his efforts, he went 0-3 to start the game, had two layups blocked, and was shut out in the first half. I was kinda laughing at myself for my Britton testimonial.
Jacobson passed up a couple open looks in the first half, but I think he had 11 at the half on 3 threes and a short jumper. I could be wrong. He also rebounded well.
Jeff Johnsen hit an early three, which is good for him and good for the team because Troy St was sitting in a zone.
Spivey didn't shoot all night, but he ran the offense and threw three lob passes inside for easy layups to Burgess. I'm guessing Burgess ended with 20 or 22 points.
The pleasant surprise of the evening was Osmundson. He came in as the backup point guard, and ran the zone offense smoothly, simply by making crisp, assertive passes. it was nice to see, and slightly reminiscent of Marc Jackson. Lil Oz even had a steal and layup, although I think he missed his other 4 shots. However, he does pose a threat from the top of the key, which is nice, and he had a great move to the hoop that just rolled out. He also hit Allred with a GREAT pass in the lane that Lance converted with a short turnaround jumper. The more I see of Osmondson, the more I like. He just looked like a solid ballplayer out there.
Trace came in and struggled again. He threw it away and was ineffective, until he got some open looks in the second half and drilled some three pointers.
Lance hit a foul line J, and the aforementioned turnaround jumper, but he missed a free throw for the first time this year. Anyway, he sure looks solid with his shot.
Cullen came in, hit a couple bombs, and went back out. I think in the tough games - and certainly the conference games- Utah will need Cullen badly in the offense. The catch and shoot ability works great in the motion. I will say this -- despite getting yanked, Cullen had a great attitude. He was the first guy to greet the players coming off the bench for timeouts. He was cheering on everyone, even though I felt(and I'm sure he did) that he should be playing more, especially in a game like this when he could get some big minutes to play himself into shape.
Koford played a little in the second half, got a couple boards, saved a ball going out of bounds, and hit a nice turnaround in the lane.
Osimani had a knee brace on, and didn't come in until there was 5:30 left. He took over the point, and Osmundson moved to shooting guard. There was a lienup of Os, Os, Britton, Lance and Koford --- shades of next year?
The defense rotated better. Guys were jumping out to help, and trying to rotate from the weak side to stop the drivers. I don't know how good Troy State is, but they didn't break down the Ute defenders off the dribble and get easy hoops.
The zone offense looked much better, with the ball zipping around and Utah finding some creases (especially with Osmundson - he didn't hold the ball at all). I saw a set I haven't seen before, with the 2 and 3 lining up at the foul line as the point brought it up, and then breaking and cutting off the 4 and 5. They only ran it once, so I didn't really see what they did, but Utah got a hoop from it.
I wouldn't get too excited about this game, as Troy State is not good. If the Utes play like this against Weber, SUU and Idaho State, I'll feel good going into the Texas game, but until they put together a string of good games, I'd say an Arizona State kinda performance is a real possibility.
My thoughts on game
Troy State came out bombing away from behind the arc. They jumped out to an 18-11 lead before the Utes stormed back to take the lead for good. Burgess and Jacobson owned the first half.
Burgess had a very good offensive game, but more importantly had 11 boards in about 20 minutes of action.
Jacobson made all of his attempts from behind the arc, finishing with 18 points. I counted about 4 or 5 assists as well as a couple steals.
Caton finally had a good offensive game, hitting a few threes to blow the game open.
Britton shot horrible from the field, but he had a nice steal and dunk. He made most of his free throws to get him into double digits.
Cullen hit a couple threes. Osmundson did a good job of backing up Spivey at the point. I think Spivey played about half the game and I don't remember him taking a shot, but had several assists and rebounds. Jeff also chipped in a few assists. Allred missed both his freethrows but had three field goals in about 15 min.
Nice to see the freethrows falling again, I think the Utes hit about 70% tonight.
GO UTES!
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