(#13) Utah vs. Washington
Sat, March 07 2015, 02:30 PM MST
Alaska Airlines Arena - Seattle, Washington
TV: TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: ESPN 700
Line: -13.5
Having just wrapped up a tougher than expected road win against Washington State on Thursday, the Utes now roll into Seattle to face the Huskies of Washington. Despite having loads of talent, the Huskies (15-14 overall, 4-13 conference) have lost three straight games and are just 10 of their last 11. They're coming off of a 67-47 loss against Colorado, where they failed to break the 50 point margin for the first time in over 8 years. Lorenzo Romar is simply just trying to keep the ship afloat in his 13th season at the helm for the Huskies, while questions doubting his future tenure are starting to surround him. The Huskies have just two NIT appearances and no NCAA tournament appearances in the last 4 seasons and fans are starting to get impatient.
Washington has had a series of bad decisions come back to haunt them this year. Romar and staff took a new approach in recruiting and started going after blue chip recruits with little success. They also had a number of players transfer in the offseason and talented big man Robert Upshaw was dismissed from the program for a violation of team rules. The loss was a huge one for the Huskies as he was considered by many to be a top 15 NBA draft pick. He also led the nation in blocked shots and was one half of a fantastic pick and roll offense with Nigel Williams-Goss. All of these losses have started to add up and have contributed to Washington's poor record and second to last place in the conference standings.
Utah is coming off of a road win against Washington State in which they had little to no presence in the paint. Jordan Railey and Josh Hawkinson were able to bully Utah's trio of big men, Olsen, Bachynski and Poeltl into a combined 3 points on 1-5 shooting and 6 rebounds. Since defenses have started focusing on Brandon Taylor's outside shooting, Poeltl has gone just 9-19 from the field and 1-10 from the charity stripe while pulling down just 24 rebounds (4.8 per game.) It's put a ton of pressure on the Utes shooters who have largely proven to be inconsistent. The Utes need to get him started in the worst way if they are going to do any damage in the conference tournament.
Utah was able to overcome their poor paint play against Wazzu with the steady hand of Delon Wright, a full game performance from Jordan Loveridge and hot shooting from Brandon Taylor down the stretch. However, they can't count on Taylor's shooting to win ball games. They can no longer get away with having no influence in the paint. Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews make up a fantastic backcourt and they will give Utah all they can handle on the wings. Shawn Kemp Jr. is a good presence in the paint, but if there is any game for Utah's bigs to wake up out of their slumber, it's this one.
Sat, March 07 2015, 02:30 PM MST
Alaska Airlines Arena - Seattle, Washington
TV: TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: ESPN 700
Line: -13.5
Having just wrapped up a tougher than expected road win against Washington State on Thursday, the Utes now roll into Seattle to face the Huskies of Washington. Despite having loads of talent, the Huskies (15-14 overall, 4-13 conference) have lost three straight games and are just 10 of their last 11. They're coming off of a 67-47 loss against Colorado, where they failed to break the 50 point margin for the first time in over 8 years. Lorenzo Romar is simply just trying to keep the ship afloat in his 13th season at the helm for the Huskies, while questions doubting his future tenure are starting to surround him. The Huskies have just two NIT appearances and no NCAA tournament appearances in the last 4 seasons and fans are starting to get impatient.
Washington has had a series of bad decisions come back to haunt them this year. Romar and staff took a new approach in recruiting and started going after blue chip recruits with little success. They also had a number of players transfer in the offseason and talented big man Robert Upshaw was dismissed from the program for a violation of team rules. The loss was a huge one for the Huskies as he was considered by many to be a top 15 NBA draft pick. He also led the nation in blocked shots and was one half of a fantastic pick and roll offense with Nigel Williams-Goss. All of these losses have started to add up and have contributed to Washington's poor record and second to last place in the conference standings.
Utah is coming off of a road win against Washington State in which they had little to no presence in the paint. Jordan Railey and Josh Hawkinson were able to bully Utah's trio of big men, Olsen, Bachynski and Poeltl into a combined 3 points on 1-5 shooting and 6 rebounds. Since defenses have started focusing on Brandon Taylor's outside shooting, Poeltl has gone just 9-19 from the field and 1-10 from the charity stripe while pulling down just 24 rebounds (4.8 per game.) It's put a ton of pressure on the Utes shooters who have largely proven to be inconsistent. The Utes need to get him started in the worst way if they are going to do any damage in the conference tournament.
Utah was able to overcome their poor paint play against Wazzu with the steady hand of Delon Wright, a full game performance from Jordan Loveridge and hot shooting from Brandon Taylor down the stretch. However, they can't count on Taylor's shooting to win ball games. They can no longer get away with having no influence in the paint. Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews make up a fantastic backcourt and they will give Utah all they can handle on the wings. Shawn Kemp Jr. is a good presence in the paint, but if there is any game for Utah's bigs to wake up out of their slumber, it's this one.
