By Jack Wang, Staff Writer
dailybreeze.com
Posted: 01/09/2013 10:22:46 PM PST
Updated: 01/09/2013 11:51:51 PM PST
Last year, Utah was one of the most abysmal teams in college basketball, a disorganized squad that slopped its way to six wins.
Larry Krystkowiak is trying to change that. The second-year head coach has already guided the Utes to an upset at Boise State, as well as close losses at Arizona State and No. 4 Arizona. The team isn't explosive, but it grinds opponents down with defense and rebounding.
In other words, he's built the Utes as the antithesis of this season's run-and-gun UCLA squad, one that will visit the Huntsman Center at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
"They get their players to play really hard, really tough, really physical. I have great respect for Larry," Bruins head coach Ben Howland said.
"They are the No. 1 team in field-goal percentage defense in our conference. They do a great job defensively. They very much pack it in."
In addition to holding opponents to 35.4 percent shooting from the field, Utah (8-6, 0-2) plays at a slower pace than any team in the Pac-12. UCLA players said they noticed both Cal and Stanford trying to slow the game down to counter the Bruins' fast-paced offense, but advanced statistician Ken Pomeroy rates both those teams in the country's top 100 in tempo.
He ranks Utah at 339th. UCLA (12-3, 2-0), which averages a conference-high 79.9 points per game, has been most successful when it forces turnovers to feed the fast break.
"It's tough. That's what we've been scoring on lately," freshman point forward Kyle Anderson said. "We've been thriving on transition.
"I think Utah's going to try and do that more at the offensive end, where they want to slow the game down. Less scoring, probably more use of the shot clock. It makes it a lot more difficult, just more energy expended on defense."
Higher ground?
Every time a team treks into the Rocky Mountains, it fields questions about how it will handle the thin air. That may hold particularly true for the Bruins, who have played all their games this season within 400 feet of sea level.
"From what I hear, you actually do feel it," junior forward Travis Wear said. "Hopefully, we can get up there and get a good walk-through and get up and down so we can get used to it (and not run out of breath)."
The potential effects of higher altitude may be overblown. Muhammad said he had no experience playing in altitude, but he did grow up in Las Vegas, which has an elevation of just over 2,000 feet. Salt Lake City sits at 4,226 feet, and Boulder, Colo., at 5,430.
Quiet ascension
Point guard Larry Drew II hasn't received as much attention as the Bruins' vaunted trio of freshmen, but the team's lone senior has been steady throughout the season. Drew averages just 5.9 points per game, but leads the team in minutes (34.6) and the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.57).
Considering his messy exit from North Carolina in February 2011 - one that came after he lost the starting job - the Encino product's final collegiate season has been a satisfactory if quiet redemption tour.
"A lot of people were like `Larry Drew, why are you taking him? What are you thinking about?"' Howland said. "I said this to the media recently that I screwed that up.
"If I had done a better job by being more patient recruiting him (out of Taft High), I would have had him here the last four years and it would have made my life a heck of a lot better."
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