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Three Key Takeaways.

Larry Krystkowiak’s Group Headed to Its First Sweet Sixteen in a Decade (USA Today Images)

1. Efficient and Balanced Basketball. Utah was in for quite the battle but the Utes were able to eventually pull away from Georgetown behind its multiple offensive options, nearly every one of whom understands the difference between a good shot, a better shot and the best shot (see Larry Krystkowiak’s quotes below for more on this). Against a Hoyas’ defense that shuts down the interior at the expense of giving up open looks from the perimeter, Krystkowiak’s bunch capitalized on its opportunities in both ways. The Utes connected on 14-of-24 shots from within the arc (58%) and 8-of-14 shots from behind it (57%). Their 38 shot attempts marked the second consecutive game where Utah had taken that relatively low number, but it is making up for that lost offense in spades with trips to the foul line (53 attempts over two games). Furthermore, six players scored between nine and 14 points tonight. A highly efficient offensive attacked that is diversified by multiple scoring options is a tough unit to beat, and Utah is playing like it has no interest in heading home just yet.
2. Georgetown’s Hot Start Was Fool’s Gold. The Hoyas came burning out of the gates with five threes in the first seven minutes of action. As head coach John Thompson, III, said after the game, the hot start probably made his team a little too reliant on jump shots moving forward. A 35 percent shooting team from distance on the season, the Hoyas only made four more for the rest of the game, with three coming in the second half (and one of those when the game was all but over). Utah probably wasn’t going to be beaten tonight, but the early run allowed Georgetown — a team that can often go through long offensive funks — to stay essentially even with Utah until the final four minutes of the game.
3. Utah’s Program Turnaround. Utah is a proud basketball program with a long history of success, but the rebuild that Krystkowiak has enabled in Salt Lake City over the past four seasons has been phenonemal. His first team, a complete laughingstock in its first season in the Pac-12, won a total of six games. But the next season his Utes were competitive, winning 15 and making a mini-run in the Pac-12 Tournament. Last season was the breakthrough year, with Utah notching 21 wins and a trip to the NIT. In year four, a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. It’s unlikely that the Utes are headed beyond Houston this year, but given the preparation and efficiency with which Utah plays, it’s not easy to count the team out.

Player of the Game. Brandon Taylor, Utah. There was no single player who stood out above the rest tonight, but Taylor’s 14 points and five assists seem as good as any. In particular, he hit a couple of second half threes that gave Utah breathing room twice as Georgetown was pushing forward, so his timeliness more than anything else was worthy of this award.

Quotable.

• “Your fear as a coach is that you show up at practice and they’re all playing grabass and losing focus.” — Larry Krystkowiak, on keeping his team engaged after they became a Top 10 team in the midseason.
• “It’s nice to hear that. I look at it as 1,300 or 1,500 days.” Krystkowia, on whether the four-year rebuild of the Utah program to this point felt quick.
• “Efficiency is the key… we grade every one of our shots.” — Krystkowiak, explaining how they grade every one of their offensive and defensive sets. He said that his team typically takes shots that rate as fives or fours (on a five-point scale).
• “We want to play San Diego State so BAD…” Krystkowiak, playfully mocking a question from a reporter about providing bulletin board material. He would not allow his three players at the dais to answer that question.
• “We had some untimely mixups on defense.” — John Thompson, III, on how Utah was able to make its closing run to finish off the Hoyas.

Sights and Sounds. With an energized fan base that has waited a long time for a team like this, the Utah faithful were prevalent and loud throughout this game. Expect a fairly big contingent in Houston next week as well.

What’s Next. Utah moves on to the South Regional in Houston where it will face the winner of Duke and San Diego State. Georgetown can take solace in finally getting the opening round bugaboo off its back, but the Hoyas had a winnable game in front of them today and couldn’t make a run.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2015 at 9:50 pm by rtmsf and is filed under 2015 ncaa tournament, rushed reactions, Uncategorized. Tagged: georgetown, john thompson III, larry krystkowiak, utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.