Season Efficiency 2015-2016

[The Thrill]

Welcome everyone to the 2015-2016 season of Running Utes basketball.
Below are the exhibition numbers for the game vs the Otters



PLAYER
EFFICIENCY
Eff/Per/Min


Jordan Loveridge
20
1.11


Lorenzo Bonam
20
0.80


Jokab Poeltl
19
0.95


Kyle Kuzma
19
1.46


Brandon Taylor
18
0.78


Gabe Bealer
15
1.15


Isaiah Wright
12
0.55


Brekkott Chapman
10
0.63


Dakarai Tucker
7
0.44


Makol Mawien
4
0.67


Austin Eastman
4
1.00


Chris Reyes
3
0.25


Jake Connor
1
0.17


Austin Montgomery
0
0.00


Kenneth Ogbe
DNP



Brandon Miller
DNP





I know it was an exhibition but just an FYI the Otters beat Utah State last night. I'm going to incorporate a new statistic into the format, Efficiency Per Minute, you can see it listed above. I think this will really fine tune the efficiency stat since limited time and high numbers truly show an efficient player.

If there are any other stats, besides the +/- on the floor stat, I just don't have time to do that. I'll see if I can find an online site that incorporates that number then I'll use it.

Go Utes!

[Mormon Red Death]

What about Brandon miller?

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[Diehard Ute]

What about Brandon miller?

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He's yet to participate (not even at NWTRU). He was nursing a sprained foot at some point. Not sure if that's still the case or if he's being held out for some other reason.


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[The Thrill]

SOUTHERN UTAH



PLAYER
EFFICIENCY
E/MIN


Jakob Poeltl
33
1.00


Kyle Kuzma
27
1.08


Jordan Loveridge
23
0.70


Dakarai Tucker
3
0.33


Chris Reyes
1
0.20


Brekkott Chapman
1
0.06


Brandon Taylor
0
0.00


Gabe Bealer
0
0.00


Lorenzo Bonam
0
0.00


Isaiah Wright
-2
-0.07


Jake Connor
DNP



Austin Eastman
DNP



Makol Mawien
DNP



Brandon Miller
DNP



Kenneth Ogbe
DNP



Austin Montgomery
DNP




Well....game one is over and Utah is 1-0. Three players showed up, hopefully more will be able to make show up for the next game, San Diego State is good. Game one is always rough but 2-26 from your role players just isn't going to win a lot of games. 1-17 is terrible from deep, if it weren't for Loveridge 6/11 and Kuzma 1/1 Utah shoots 5.8% from deep. Yikes.

Give Southern Utah credit, they are well coached and shoot great. They just can't compete versus Utah's size. Travon Langston efficiency was 16, Race Parsons 15, Trey Kennedy 13. Utah made less three pointers 10-8 and had 1 less steal 3-2. Field Goal percentage was dominated by SUU. 50.0%-46.9% on field goals, 52.6%-27.6% on three's and 71.4%-56.0% on free throws. 14/25 from the charity stripe is just awful. Can't blame this on Poeltl, he shot 60%. Kuzma at 40% and JL at 50%. They were only 4/9 but those add up by the end of the game.

San Diego State on big Monday up next...

[The Thrill]

SAN DIEGO STATE



Player
Efficiency
+/-
E/M


Jordan Loveridge
22
+1.3
0.61


Jakob Poeltl
22
-2.0
0.69


Lorenzo Bonam
19
+5.0
0.58


Brekkott Chapman
12
+7.0
0.71


Brandon Taylor
11
+5.0
0.31


Kyle Kuzma
10
-3.3
0.37


Isaiah Wright
-1
-0.3
-0.11


Chris Reyes
-1
-3.0
-0.25


Dakarai Tucker
-3
-3.3
-0.50


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Brandon Miller
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP





Utes put up a season high in 3's made 10, free throw attempts 36, steals 9, efficiency 91, 3pt % 37.0% 10/27.
Not a whole lot to compare at this point but Utah put up a lot of points versus a very good defense.
The largest number in Utah's advantage was their assists to shots percentage. San Diego State only had 6 assists to 61 shot attempts, 9.8%. That's a big example of Utah's defense. Utah on the other hand had 12 assists on 55 shots for 21.8%. You want to be around 25%, that's a very efficient offense. The number of possessions is getting less as Utah plays better teams and slows the game down. 74 vs SUtah, 69 vs SDSt.

On to Puerto Rico...

[The Thrill]

TEXAS TECH



Player
Efficiency
+/-
E/M


Lorenzo Bonam
23
+9.0
0.70


Jakob Poeltl
17
-7.0
0.68


Jordan Loveridge
17
-3.7
0.52


Brandon Taylor
7
+1.0
0.20


Chris Reyes
6
+4.0
0.67


Gabe Bealer
3
+1.5
1.00


Kyle Kuzma
3
-10.3
0.13


Brekkott Chapman
2
-3.0
0.11


Isaiah Wright
1
+1.7
0.17


Dakarai Tucker
1
+0.7
0.09


Brandon Miller
0
---



Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP





Reminder, the +/- field represents their game efficiency against their average. i.e. Bonam had a 23 efficiency which was +9 over his 14 efficiency average.

Bonam played great. He attacked the basket and broke down the defense, something Utah's needed for a long time. Delon was good at that last year but a hair slow. Zo breaks to the basket faster and shifts the defense, I only wish he'd make a little better decisions once the defense collapses...he'll get there. Jakob got in foul trouble but give him credit, he didn't get that 5th foul. Nobody has fouled out yet, 4 times a player was close (Kuzma twice, Loveridge and Poeltl). Bonam had the 3rd highest efficiency score of the year with 23. Gabe Bealer broke the 1 efficiency per minute barrier, that appears to be a difficult task. Something to keep an eye on. He had a 3 efficiency in 3 minutes.

Texas Tech played good. They committed a season low 9 turnovers for a Utah opponent, their problem was they can't shoot. 39% from the field, 16% from deep and 56% from the line? Awful. Utah held them to a three point make a season low 4.4% of the game and Texas Tech only scored on 43.4% of their possessions. Utah did allow a season high in shot attempts 64 and rebounds 38.

As for Utah, they had a season high in rebounds at 40 and a season low in turnovers 7. Utah shot a season high from the line 21/27 for 77.8% bringing their season average up to 70.5%. Utah had a turnover on only 10.5% of their possessions, that's pretty good but they only scored on 49.3% of their possessions, a season low. With this game Utah is still shooting worse than their opponents 43.6% to 41.9%, most of which is the bad three point shooting 38.2% for Utah opponents and 30.0% for Utah 24/80 on the year. The reason Utah is 3-0 is mainly because of turnovers and free throws. -7 on turnovers and +13 on free throws made. Utah's 25% from deep 6/24 was a season low, this was also the first game Utah didn't reach 80 points. Season average of 78.7 ppg. 9 assists was also a season low to go with 3 blocks, been averaging 12.0 assists and 5.0 blocks.

Bring on the fake U...

[U-Ute]

Hey, season high for Reyes, right?

He has a better average than Tucker right now.

[The Thrill]

Over his 1 vs Southern Utah? Yes


Hey, season high for Reyes, right?

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Jordan Loveridge
17
-2.5
0.53


Jakob Poeltl
17
-5.3
0.68


Isaiah Wright
9
+7.3
0.56


Lorenzo Bonam
7
-5.3
0.24


Chris Reyes
5
+2.3
0.42


Brekkott Chapman
5
+0.0
0.26


Brandon Taylor
1
-3.8
0.03


Austin Montgomery
1
+0.0
0.50


Kenneth Ogbe
1
+0.0
0.33


Gabe Bealer
0
-1.0
0.00


Dakarai Tucker
-2
-1.8
-0.22


Kyle Kuzma
-6
-14.5
-0.40


Jake Connor
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Brandon Miller
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP





Kuzma must have been enjoying that nice Puerto Rican weather, he forgot to show up. Poeltl and Loveridge continue to show up. Out of the top ten efficiency performances of the year, they own all but three of them...in four games. Jekiri and McClellan put up 31 and 29 efficiency against the Utes, 60 between two players is unheard of. They might be at the top all year.

There wasn't a lot of good from this game. Utah did shoot a season high 50% from the field but on a season low 48 attempts. They also shot a season high in threes at 38.1%...but on a season low 21 attempts. You might say, "Thrill, was this because the game was slowed?" I'd answer you "NO". Utah had 68 possessions, they average 69.5. The problem? Turnovers. Season high of 16 which is 6 over their average. Miami? Season low for Utah opponent of 7, 3 under the average. Miami only had 1 steal (the steal at the end of the 1st half), this tells me one thing...sloppy play. 15 unforced turnovers will not win many games.

The biggest concern at this point of the season is defense. Utah has been out blocked 40-16 on the year. Some of this could be due to Poeltl not reaching to avoid foul trouble, but the Utes have no interior threat. Field Goal percentage. Utah has yet to shoot better than their opponent, all four games they've shot a worse % from the field. Miami being the worst at -3.4% worse. Where Utah makes it up is at the line. The Utes average 8 more attempts and 5.5 more makes. +11 in both San Diego State and Texas Tech won those games, the Utes were -9 vs Miami on FT makes. Utah was -13 on rebounds, +9 on turnovers, -7 on shots made....all of that adds up to -24 in points.

Next up....Temple.

Watch out for Ernest Aflakpui...6-10 Freshman from Ghana. He's a big guy with a lot to prove and he will be all over Poeltl.

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
42
+19.8
1.17


Jordan Loveridge
9
-10.8
0.26


Dakarai Tucker
8
+3.3
0.36


Brandon Taylor
8
+8.3
0.22


Lorenzo Bonam
6
-6.3
0.30


Kyle Kuzma
5
-3.5
0.31


Kenneth Ogbe
3
+2.0
0.27


Brekkott Chapman
2
-3.0
0.40


Chris Reyes
1
-1.8
0.25


Isaiah Wright
-3
-4.8
-0.20


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Brandon Miller
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP





Jakob has arrived. 1.17 efficiency per minute is astounding for 36 minutes played. 42 efficiency is the highest in three years for a Ute. We're all still waiting for a full team effort. It's still early, hopefully they will gel when it counts.

Temple put up a season high 66 shots versus Utah and 29 shots from deep. Utah held Temple to a season low for a Utah opponent only 24.1% of their possessions ended up as a two point shots made, average is 28.3%. But a season high of 15.1% of all possessions were a three point make, opponents average 11.8%. Utah is forcing less turnovers every game (13, 11, 9, 7, 6 respectfully) but on the flip side of that Utah only committed 13 fouls, 3 under their average and a difference of -14 (27 to 13 for the Utes).

As for the Utes the turnover advantage gave them a 26/34 +20 made from the charity stripe. Utes had a season high 28 defensive rebounds. If you analyze the defensive rebounding opportunity (take opponent offensive rebounds from Utah defensive rebounds) Utah was +18, 5 over their average. Utah was +4 on blocks and assisted on 21.2% of all shots. Averaging 20.8% i.e 1 in every 5 shot attempts receives an assist. Let's face it, Jakob is a beast. 1 foul in 36 minutes when he's the target of the opponent is incredible, add to that he's now shooting 64.7% from the line. 25/40 after going 12/14 vs Temple. It probably helped that nobody matched up with him.

Next up....Idaho State.

[The Thrill]

As of right now the team leader across the board is Jordan Loveridge. He ranks in the top 5 in 19 of 24 categories
Below are the leaders in each category (per game)

Minutes: Taylor 34.8
Shots Made: Poeltl 7.0
Shots Attempted: Loveridge 11.0
3 Points Made: Loveridge 3.8
3 Points Attempts: Loveridge 8.2
Free Throws Made: Poeltl 6.8
Free Throw Attempts: Poeltl 9.6
Offensive Rebounds: Poeltl 3.6
Defensive Rebounds: Poeltl 6.2
Rebounds: Poeltl 9.8
Assists: Taylor 3.0
Steals: Taylor 1.2
Blocks: Poeltl 2.0
Turnovers (Min 10mpg): Tucker 0.0
Fouls (Min 10mpg): Bonam 1.2
Points : Poeltl 20.8
Efficiency : Poeltl 26.2
Field Goal %: Poeltl 67.3%
Three Point %: Bonam 50.0% 3/6
Free Throw %: Tucker 100% 4/4
Assist/Turnover: Chapman 3.0
Points per Minutes: Poeltl 0.69

[The Thrill]

Player
Team
FG
FT
3P
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Eff


1
Tonye Jekiri
Miami-Florida
8/10
4/5
0/0
12
1
1
1
1
20
31


2
Sheldon McClellan
Miami-Florida
10/12
4/4
3/5
4
0
1
0
1
27
29


3
Winston Shepard
San Diego State
6/9
5/6
2/3
7
0
2
2
3
19
23


4
Travon Langston
Southern Utah
5/6
3/3
0/0
4
1
0
0
1
13
16


5
Dakarai Allen
San Diego State
4/5
4/4
3/4
2
1
0
0
1
15
16


6
Toddrick Gotcher
Texas Tech
4/9
3/4
1/6
5
5
1
0
1
12
16


7
Race Parsons
Southern Utah
5/8
0/0
2/3
5
1
1
0
1
12
15


8
Angel Rodriquez
Miami-Florida
3/8
4/4
1/3
2
4
3
0
1
11
14


9
Trey Kennedy
Southern Utah
5/11
1/2
2/4
7
5
0
0
5
13
13


10
Quenton DeCosey
Temple
4/10
4/4
2/4
5
2
0
0
2
14
13


11
Aaron Ross
Texas Tech
4/5
2/2
0/1
5
0
0
0
2
10
12


12
Norense Odiase
Texas Tech
4/9
1/2
0/0
6
0
0
2
0
9
11


13
Daniel Dingle
Temple
2/4
0/2
1/3
4
5
1
0
0
5
11


14
Levan Shawn Alston Jr
Temple
3/5
0/0
3/4
3
1
0
0
0
9
11


15
Zylan Cheatham
San Diego State
2/4
0/0
0/0
7
1
0
0
0
4
10


16
Obi Enechionyia
Temple
5/11
2/3
1/3
1
1
2
0
0
13
10


17
Trey Kell
San Diego State
5/15
4/7
1/4
7
2
0
0
2
15
9


18
AJ Hess
Southern Utah
5/11
0/0
3/6
4
0
0
0
2
13
9


19
James Palmer
Miami-Florida
2/2
0/0
2/2
1
2
0
0
1
6
8


20
Zach Smith
Texas Tech
3/7
3/8
0/0
8
1
0
1
2
9
8


21
Skylar Spencer
San Diego State
2/5
0/0
0/0
4
1
0
2
0
4
8


22
James McGee
Southern Utah
3/6
1/2
3/6
2
0
0
0
1
10
7


23
Josh Brown
Temple
3/6
0/0
1/2
2
2
1
0
2
7
7


24
Mike Robinson
Miami-Florida
2/2
0/0
2/2
0
0
0
0
0
6
6


25
Ebuka Izundu
Miami-Florida
1/1
2/4
0/0
3
1
0
0
0
4
6

[The Thrill]

Player
Team
FG
FT
3P
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Eff


1
Poeltl, Jakob
Temple
10/12
12/14
0/0
11
1
2
3
3
32
42


2
Poeltl, Jakob
Southern Utah
10/13
6/10
0/0
11
2
0
4
3
26
33


3
Kuzma, Kyle
Southern Utah
10/12
2/5
1/1
12
0
0
0
3
23
27


4
Bonam, Lorenzo
Texas Tech
6/12
8/10
0/1
7
4
1
0
1
20
23


5
Loveridge, Jordan
Southern Utah
8/13
2/4
6/11
4
2
0
0
0
24
23


6
Poeltl, Jakob
San Diego State
4/7
7/11
0/0
12
2
1
1
2
15
22


7
Loveridge, Jordan
San Diego State
5/9
7/7
4/8
4
2
0
1
2
21
22


8
Bonam, Lorenzo
San Diego State
5/11
3/4
1/2
6
3
3
1
1
14
19


9
Poeltl, Jakob
Miami
7/11
2/4
0/0
6
1
0
1
1
16
17


10
Loveridge, Jordan
Miami
6/8
2/4
4/6
1
3
0
0
1
18
17


10
Poeltl, Jakob
Texas Tech
4/9
7/9
0/0
9
0
0
1
1
15
17


10
Loveridge, Jordan
Texas Tech
6/13
2/2
4/10
5
1
1
0
1
18
17

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
31
+4.0
1.29


Kyle Kuzma
22
+11.8
0.96


Gabe Bealer
14
+9.8
1.40


Kenneth Ogbe
10
+5.3
1.11


Isaiah Wright
10
+7.7



Dakarai Tucker
9
+6.3
0.82


Lorenzo Bonam
9
-1.7
0.41


Jordan Loveridge
7
-8.8
0.28


Brandon Taylor
7
+1.3
0.27


Austin Montgomery
7
+3.0
1.17


Brekkott Chapman
5
+0.5
1.25


Chris Reyes
4
+1.3
0.50


Jake Connor
3
---
0.60


Austin Eastman
1
---
0.33


Brandon Miller
0
+0.0
0.00


Makol Mawien
DNP





Poeltl broke 30 for the third time in 6 games. Currently averaging 27.0 efficiency per game. FYI, three years ago the top 3 players for Utah averaged 27.0 efficiency per game. Kuzma, Bealer, Wright, Tucker all had breakout games. Yes it was Idaho State but it's just nice to see that these guys can produce efficiently. We've always heard they could, it was finally nice to see.

Bengal Geno Luzcando put up a 15 efficiency, 8th best for a Ute opponent. Faruq-Bay finished with 12, good for 13th. Utah had a season high in 14 categories.

Shots made : 36 (avg 26.0)
Defensive rebounds : 30 (avg 24.8)
Assists : 20 (avg 13.0)
Assists per shot : 33.3% (avg 23.0%
Steals : 9 (avg 5.0)
Blocks : 10 (avg 5.0)
Points : 102 (avg 79.7)
Efficiency : 139 (avg 88.7)
FG% : 60.0% (avg 46.0%)
3PT% : 47.4% (avg 32.9%)
FT% : 87.5% (avg 73.9%)
Possessions : 76 (avg 70.6)
2pt shot made per possession : 35.3%
Score per possession : 60.2%

Yes you read that correctly, Utah scored on 60.2% of all their possessions. They average around 50.2%

On the flip side Idaho State had a season low for Utah opponent in 7 categories.

Shots made : 23 (avg 26.5)
Defensive rebounds : 17 (avg 23.7)
Total rebounds : 26 (avg 33.5)
Turnovers : 16 (avg 10.3)
FG% : 37.7% (avg 43.4%)
2pt shot made per possession : 16.9%
Score per possession : 39.7% (avg 46.4%)

Utah was +21 on defensive rebounding opportunities (season high) and -8 on offensive rebounding opportunities (season high). To put that into perspective Utah averages +15 on defensive opportunities and -14.2 on offensive. What this means is defensive opportunity is Utah is on defense they had 21 more defensive rebounds than Idaho State had offensive rebounds 30-9. Offensive rebounding opportunity is Utah is on offense and they had only 8 less more offensive rebounds than Idaho State had defensive rebounds 9-17. This stat should always go to the defense. Only one time since I've been tracking this did the offense win the battle, Utah vs Arizona last year.

One stat that is getting really overlooked is the assist/shot percentage. Utah is doing well in that stat this year. 23% of all Utah shot attempts resulted in an assist. That's huge. The national average is around 18%. Utah has 78 assists on 339 shots, that's attempts not makes. Below are some other teams numbers.

Michigan St 41.5%
Kansas 31.2%
Iowa St 29.9%
North Carolina 29.2%
Gonzaga 27.7%
Villanova 25.9%
Oklahoma 25.7%
Maryland 24.2%
Kentucky 23.7%
Duke 19.9%

You can see where Utah needs to be to be a top ten team.

Bring on those smelly Cougars, it's time to remind them who runs this state.

[U-Ute]

We should make a 2015-16 efficiency thread.

[U-Ute]

New thread for a new season.

[The Thrill]

Good call. 6 pages can bury things rather quickly.

[U-Ute]

Good call. 6 pages can bury things rather quickly.

With the "View First Unread" button, the number of pages in a thread is somewhat irrelevant.

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
36
+7.8
1.09


Kyle Kuzma
14
+2.1
0.67


Brandon Taylor
13
+6.8
0.34


Jordan Loveridge
11
-4.5
0.31


Kenneth Ogbe
8
+3.4
0.31


Dakarai Tucker
6
+2.5
0.29


Brekkott Chapman
4
-1.1
0.57


Chris Reyes
3
+0.3
0.50


Lorenzo Bonam
1
-10.1
0.33


Isaiah Wright
-2
-3.5
-0.20


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Brandon Miller
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Poeltl now owns the top Efficiency in 5 out of 7 games.

Not much to say other than Utah dominated the first half then coasted to a victory. Utah did look lazy in the second half and BYU was the aggressor but it's difficult to keep it up when you're up 23 at halftime. BYU does a great job on assists per shots but not vs Utah. Only 15.6% of the shots received an assist. On the flip side Utah had a relatively low 23.3% of their shots assisted on. Compare that to the 33.3% vs Idaho State and 36.1% vs IPFW (shhh, that game hasn't happened yet).

Poeltl is now averaging 28.3 efficiency. Loveridge is 2nd at 15.5. Kuzma 3rd at 11.9 then Bonam at 11.1. When I first started this Utah had maybe two guys reach 10 efficiency per game on occasion. Obviously Utah is playing much better.

Chase Fischer (20) and Kyle Davis (19) reached the top 10 for a Utah opponent in efficiency. FYI, Nick Emery was held to a season low (1) efficiency, probably why he seemed a little frustrated there towards the end of the game.

Bring on IPFW....FYI, watch out for Mo Evans, he's due for a big game versus Utah. ;)

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
28
-0.3
0.88


Lorenzo Bonam
24
+12.9
1.14


Kyle Kuzma
20
+8.1
1.00


Jordan Loveridge
18
+2.5
0.55


Brekkott Chapman
10
+4.9
0.67


Dakarai Tucker
6
+2.5
0.67


Gabe Bealer
4
-0.2
0.36


Jake Connor
3
+0.0
1.50


Brandon Taylor
3
-3.3
0.11


Chris Reyes
3
+0.3
0.50


Kenneth Ogbe
1
-3.6
0.08


Isaiah Wright
0
-1.5
0.00


Austin Eastman
0
-0.5
0.00


Austin Montgomery
-1
-3.3
-1.00


Brandon Miller
-1
-0.7
-1.00


Makol Mawien
DNP





It really is kind of awesome that Poeltl can get 28 efficiency and a negative score off his average. Or how about the fact he's averaging almost an efficiency point per minute. To put that into perspective, Jake Connor and Austin Montgomery are just behind Poeltl for EPM on the season. Typically they come in during garbage time and put up a lot of number...Poeltl is doing it all game long.

Below is the current shooting graph as the season has progressed. You can see improvement on an upward progression. FG% started off hot then took a huge dip but has climbed back to a season high of 48.0%. Free Throw shooting took a hit vs IPFW 13/23 56.5% to bring the season average down a bit to 72.4% for the season. Utah has been over 70% since the Texas Tech game. Three point shooting is also at a season high of 33.7%, in fact they haven't dropped below 30% since Southern Utah, 63/187 on the season. FYI, IPFW made a season high for a Utah opponent with 13 three pointers made, previous high was 10 three times.

1705

One thing I've noticed is the discrepancy in free throw attempts between Utah and their opponents. Utah averages 26.3 free throw attempts per game and their opponents average 15.4 attempts. The foul discrepancy also tells this story. Utah is only at 16.9 fouls per game while opponents average 22.6 fouls per game. Call it discipline or call it being conservative it's working for now. The really strange thing both Utah and their opponents are shooting 72.4% from the line, getting those attempts really is the difference between being 7-1 and 3-5. To be precise Utah is shooting better at 72.381% to 72.358%

Bring on the Shockers!

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
EFF
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
12
-13.6
0.39


Jordan Loveridge
10
-4.1
0.33


Brekott Chapman
5
-0.5
0.38


Kyle Kuzma
4
-8.1
0.17


Isaiah Wright
4
+2.1
0.27


Dakarai Tucker
4
+0.1
0.25


Brandon Taylor
2
-4.8
0.05


Lorenzo Bonam
1
-10.8
0.04


Chris Reyes
0
-3.1
0.00


Jake Connor
0
-2.5
0.00


Austin Montgomery
0
-2.4
0.00


Austin Eastman
0
-0.8
0.00


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Brandon Miller
DMT





Two players had a positive game, not great. Poeltl went 4/5 but he needed a lot more touches than that. Loveridge, Kuzma, Bonam and Taylor went 6/25 from the field with 10 turnovers. Backcourt needs to do better than that.

The good...Wichita was only 5/10 from the charity stripe and they only had 59 possessions, well under the Utah average of 69.5. Those lack of possessions only allowed 27 rebounds to the Shockers and only 13 fouls for the Utes (4th time under 15 this season.) That's about it for the good.

The bad...Wichita converted 25.4% of all their shots off an assist. That means 1 out of every 4 shots they took was a made basket off an assist. They also converted 57.7% of all made shots off an assist, best of the season for a Ute opponent. Utah only forced 3 turnovers, averaging 10.3 and 17 fouls (both season lows). Wichita only turned the ball over on 5.1% of their possessions, that's an amazing number. The best vs Utah all year up to Wichita was Temple at 9.1% of possessions were turnovers. Wichita scored on 48.3% of their possessions, Utah was only at 37.4% (season low for Utah). Utah had a season low in many categories. Shots made (14), shots attempted (34), three's made (5), three's attempted (13), assists (5), assists per shot attempt 14.7%, steals (1), turnovers (19), points (50), possessions (59) and efficiency (42). The possessions stat really tells you Wichita owned this game. Utah had 59 possessions and averaging 71. Utah averages a score on 50.6% of all possessions.

I'm expecting a huge turnaround for Savannah State.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
EFF
+/-
EPM


Lorenzo Bonam
28
+16.2
1.17


Kyle Kuzma
22
+9.9
1.22


Jakob Poeltl
18
-7.6
0.90


Brandon Taylor
16
+9.2
0.67


Chris Reyes
9
+5.9
0.50


Brekkott Chapman
9
+3.5
0.60


Gabe Bealer
8
+3.2
0.57


Dakarai Tucker
7
+3.1
0.50


Jordan Loveridge
7
-7.1
0.39


Austin Montgomery
5
+2.6
0.83


Jake Connor
4
+1.5
0.67


Austin Eastman
4
+3.2
1.33


Isaiah Wright
3
+1.1
0.15


Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Jayce Johnson






That is what you call a tune up game and a confidence game. Sandwiched between Duke and Wichita State was the depressing Savannah State Tigers. Only two players didn't improve off their season average, the two leaders in efficiency who both played season lows for minutes.

The good...it's Savannah State so take it for what it's worth. Utah dominated at every category. 20.5% of all Savannah State possessions resulted in a turnover. Only 13.6% of their shots garnered an assist, this coming off the terrible Wichita game. 15 forced turnovers, 53 points, 32.2% field goal shooting, 19 shots made...all season lows for a Ute opponent. Utah on the other hand had 49.2% of their shots made off an assist. 30 assists, 32 defensive rebounds, 11 three's made, 52.4% from deep, 14.5% of all possessions ended in a three, +46 on points, +22 on assists and +26 on defensive rebounding opportunities (averaging 16).

The bad....not much. Maybe the 11 turnovers or the 74% from the line on 14/19 shots. Other than that it was really clean.

Next up....Super Utah Saturday or as I like to call it "Anti-Blue Day".

[The Thrill]

Below are the current season averages for the Duke team.

Amile Jefferson is hurt at the moment but Brandon Ingram has been awesome since Jefferson was hurt. It truly is a next man up situation.
Something tells me the score won't be 91-87 for Duke as these numbers suggest but this should be a good representation of leaders.




PLAYER
MIN
FG
FT
3P
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PTS
EFF


Grayson Allen
34
7/13
6/7
2/4
6
3
1
0
2
22
23


Amile Jefferson
30
5/7
2/4
0/0
10
1
1
1
2
12
19


Brandon Ingram
27
5/11
3/5
1/4
5
2
1
1
2
14
13


Marshall Plumlee
25
2/3
2/4
0/0
7
1
1
2
1
6
13


Matt Jones
31
5/11
1/2
3/6
3
2
1
0
1
14
12


Derryck Thornton
25
3/7
2/3
1/1
2
3
1
0
2
9
8


Luke Kennard
21
3/8
2/2
1/1
3
1
1
0
1
9
8


Chase Jeter
9
1/2
1/1
0/0
2
0
0
1
1
3
4


Antonio Vrankovic
3
1/1
0/0
0/0
2
0
0
0
1
2
3


Nick Pagliuca
1
0/0
0/0
0/0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1


Sean Obi
3
0/0
0/1
0/0
0
0
0
0
0
0
-1







PLAYER
MIN
FG
FT
3P
REB
AST
STL
BLK
TO
PTS
EFF


Poeltl, Jakob
29
7/10
5/7
0/0
10
2
1
2
2
19
26


Loveridge, Jordan
31
4/9
3/4
3/6
4
2
0
0
1
14
14


Kuzma, Kyle
21
4/8
3/4
1/2
7
1
0
0
1
10
12


Bonam, Lorenzo
22
3/6
2/2
1/1
3
2
1
1
1
10
12


Taylor, Brandon
33
3/8
1/2
1/5
2
4
1
0
3
8
7


Chapman, Brekkott
13
1/3
2/2
0/1
2
1
0
1
1
4
6


Bealer, Gabe
8
2/3
1/1
1/1
1
0
0
0
0
5
5


Ogbe, Kenneth
12
1/3
1/2
1/2
1
0
1
0
0
5
5


Tucker, Dakarai
12
1/4
1/1
1/3
2
0
1
1
0
4
4


Reyes, Chris
8
1/1
1/1
0/0
2
0
0
0
1
2
3


Connor, Jake
4
1/1
0/0
0/0
0
1
0
0
0
2
3


Wright, Isaiah
15
1/2
0/0
1/2
1
1
0
0
1
2
2


Montgomery, Austin
3
1/1
0/0
0/0
0
0
0
0
1
2
2


Eastman, Austin
3
0/0
0/0
0/0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1

[The Thrill]

Who guards Allen? He is their version of Collinsworth (more athletic, better scorer, worse rebounder and passer?).

Who guards a G/F like Ingram?

The mighty flu virus guards Allen. Works great unless it's Michael Jordan.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
EFF
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
30
+4.0
1.07


Lorenzo Bonam
20
+7.5
0.45


Kule Kuzma
15
+2.6
0.47


Chris Reyes
10
+6.3
0.63


Dakarai Tucker
8
+3.7
0.38


Jordan Loveridge
8
-5.5
0.22


Brekkott Chapman
3
-2.3
0.23


Brandon Taylor
1
-5.3
0.03


Isaiah Wright
DNP




Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP





In a game where the average player played 30 minutes (typical average is 25 or less) Utah's star played 28.
In a game where turnovers matter, Utah was -13... and still won
In a game where Utah has only had more fouls over their opponent once (Miami - loss) Utah was +7 on fouls.... and still won.

The efficiency for Utah was +27 over Duke. Chalk that up to defense. Duke shot -15.3% less from the field, fourth worst for the season for a Utah opponent behind (Idaho State, IPFW and Savannah State) not company Duke is used to sharing company with. Duke had 4 guys attempt over 13 shots and not one player made more than 6...that's not efficient. With that said, Luke Kennard scored a 28 efficiency (3rd best for Utah opponent) mainly because he was 12/13 from the line with 0 turnovers.

The good...Duke only had 13% of their shots made come off an assist. That's how they play, they are selfish. The 29.9% shooting was the best defensive effort of the season for Utah. Utah dominated the boards +10 and +23 on defensive rebounding opportunities (averaging +16.7). Utah did have a season high 82 possessions but that was inflated from OT. With that said Utah had the second lowest possession to score ratio at 0.94 points per possession (season average 1.11 points per possession). Utah also had a season 2nd high of 9 blocks, several key ones down the stretch.

The bad...turnovers. Two really stupid ones in overtime kept it close. On paper, Utah should have won this by 10+. +13 on turnovers typically means a loss. The top 5 worst turnover differences of the season are (-16 Wichita, -13 Duke, -9 Miami, -3 Temple, 0 BYU). Fouls, like I said above there has only been two games where Utah committed more fouls (Duke +7, Miami +3) averaging 5 less fouls per game. Those fouls led to a -6 on free throw attempts, again only the second time Utah didn't shoot more FT's than their opponent (Miami -10). Utah was -5 on steals and as well as the defensive rebounding was they were terrible on the offensive glass. Utah had 7 less offensive rebounds and a lot of that had to do with Duke shooting so poorly. Utah had a season low of 3 three point shots made which also led to a season low 16.7% from deep. All that being said, Utah still won.

There was a huge deep breath taken collectively amongst us once that game ended, let's just hope the Vegas Bowl doesn't come down to the wire. I just hope Utah gets up by a lot rather quickly and coasts to a victory over BYU.

One more pre season tune up and then bring on the Pac12.

[The Thrill]

Player
Efficiency
+/-
EPM


Kyle Kuzma
18
+5.2
0.86


Lorenzo Bonam
18
+5.0
0.86


Jakob Poeltl
16
-9.2
0.84


Chris Reyes
16
+11.3
1.00


Jordan Loveridge
15
+1.3
0.71


Isaiah Wright
13
+10.1
0.57


Brandon Taylor
13
+6.2
0.76


Dakarai Tucker
12
+7.1
0.71


Austin Montgomery
11
+7.2
1.00


Brekkott Chapman
9
+3.4
0.60


Gabe Bealer
9
+3.6
0.82


Jake Connor
5
+2.0
1.00


Austin Eastman
-1
-1.5
-0.33


Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP





9 players in double digit efficiency with 2 at 9? Never seen that before. Nice practice.

Obviously, Poeltl took the night off...and still put up 16 efficiency.

50.0% of all shot attempts were off an assist (season high), average is 28.8%. That's attempts...not makes. Makes was 81%
12 three point makes is also a season high, average 7.8
105 points, season high. Average 82.3
154 efficiency, season high. 97.9 average
65.4% of all possessions resulted in a score, season high. Average 51.2%
An unheard of 2.19 efficiency per possession, averaging 1.35
The magic number is 1. If Utah can get 1 efficiency per possession, they win the game. Below are their efficiency per possession totals so far:



Southern Utah
1.16


San Diego State
1.32


N- Texas Tech
1.20


N- Miami
0.81


N- Temple
1.17


Idaho State
1.82


BYU
1.26


IPFW
1.53


@Wichita State
0.71


Savannah State
1.84


N- Duke
1.16


Delaware State
2.19



You can see in the two losses Utah was sub 1 on efficiency per possession. To have over 2 efficiency per possession is unreal. I'll try to keep a close eye on this game as the season goes.

As for Delaware St, their highest player received 12 efficiency.... good enough for 27th best for a Ute opponent.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Lorenzo Bonam
16
+2.4
0.43


Jakob Poeltl
14
-10.3
0.67


Kyle Kuzma
13
+0.1
0.46


Brekkott Chapman
10
+3.6
0.50


Brandon Taylor
6
-1.5
0.14


Jordan Loveridge
6
-6.4
0.16


Chris Reyes
1
-3.9
0.07


Dakarai Tucker
0
-5.9
0.00


Isaiah Wright
-1
-4.8
-0.33


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP





This team is becoming very frustrating to watch. If the Utes are inbounding the ball with less than 30 seconds remaining...watch out.

Kuzma, Bonam and Chapman had good games. Loveridge, Taylor and Tucker had their typical road disappearing act. Poeltl was seriously robbed and needs to file a police report.

First, the good. Stanford only made 4 three pointers (season low for Ute opponent) and only attempted 17 from deep (also a season low). Stanford only had 7 assists and had an assist on only 10.6% of all shots. Plus Stanford only shot 56% from the line 14/25 and only 5.6% of their possessions ended with a 3 point shot. That's about it.

Now, the bad. Free throws!!! 45.8% for the game and 11/24 overall with 0-6 when it mattered? Horseshit! Utah had every chance to win that game and they didn't. Can't blame the refs for the terrible calls on Poeltl. Can't blame them for the season high 25 fouls, Stanford was aggressive and drove with Utes out of position and it worked every time. On offense Utah got stale and lazy and stopped attacking. Only one other game did the Utes make less than 12 free throws...vs Miami. Utah's efficiency per minute (remember the magic number is 1) was 0.86. The third time this season Utah didn't reach 1 efficiency per minute (Miami and Wichita were the others).

Utah averages 16.2 fouls, had 25 versus Stanford
Utah averages 12.8 turnovers, had 17 versus Stanford
Missing 13 free throws was also a season high, average game is 7.2.
Second game in a row, counting Albertsons, where Utah had 17 turnovers and missed +10 free throws. You can do that versus Fresh Market, not versus Stanford.

FYI - I didn't post the Utes for Albertsons Grocery from last week because quite frankly, it was a waste of time.

[LA Ute]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Lorenzo Bonam
16
+2.4
0.43


Jakob Poeltl
14
-10.3
0.67


Kyle Kuzma
13
+0.1
0.46


Brekkott Chapman
10
+3.6
0.50


Brandon Taylor
6
-1.5
0.14


Jordan Loveridge
6
-6.4
0.16


Chris Reyes
1
-3.9
0.07


Dakarai Tucker
0
-5.9
0.00


Isaiah Wright
-1
-4.8
-0.33


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP





This team is becoming very frustrating to watch. If the Utes are inbounding the ball with less than 30 seconds remaining...watch out.

Kuzma, Bonam and Chapman had good games. Loveridge, Taylor and Tucker had their typical road disappearing act. Poeltl was seriously robbed and needs to file a police report.

First, the good. Stanford only made 4 three pointers (season low for Ute opponent) and only attempted 17 from deep (also a season low). Stanford only had 7 assists and had an assist on only 10.6% of all shots. Plus Stanford only shot 56% from the line 14/25 and only 5.6% of their possessions ended with a 3 point shot. That's about it.

Now, the bad. Free throws!!! 45.8% for the game and 11/24 overall with 0-6 when it mattered? Horseshit! Utah had every chance to win that game and they didn't. Can't blame the refs for the terrible calls on Poeltl. Can't blame them for the season high 25 fouls, Stanford was aggressive and drove with Utes out of position and it worked every time. On offense Utah got stale and lazy and stopped attacking. Only one other game did the Utes make less than 12 free throws...vs Miami. Utah's efficiency per minute (remember the magic number is 1) was 0.86. The third time this season Utah didn't reach 1 efficiency per minute (Miami and Wichita were the others).

Utah averages 16.2 fouls, had 25 versus Stanford
Utah averages 12.8 turnovers, had 17 versus Stanford
Missing 13 free throws was also a season high, average game is 7.2.
Second game in a row, counting Albertsons, where Utah had 17 turnovers and missed +10 free throws. You can do that versus Fresh Market, not versus Stanford.

FYI - I didn't post the Utes for Albertsons Grocery from last week because quite frankly, it was a waste of time.

This is interesting and revealing stuff. Thanks, Thrill, for coming up with it and posting it.

[LA Ute]

Now, the bad. Free throws!!! 45.8% for the game and 11/24 overall with 0-6 when it mattered? Horseshit! Utah had every chance to win that game and they didn't.

Well said.

[The Thrill]

I apologize for the delay. I'm still catching up from the holidays. Today will be another 2-fer



PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
19
-4.9
0.53


Brandon Taylor
18
+9.8
0.55


Chris Reyes
8
+2.9
0.73


Brekkott Chapman
7
+0.5
0.64


Jordan Loveridge
5
-6.9
0.18


Lorenzo Bonam
5
-8.1
0.16


Dakarai Tucker
4
-1.7
0.17


Gabe Bealer
0
-5.0
0.00


Isaiah Wright
-2
-5.4
-0.17


Kyle Kuzma
-3
-14.8
-0.25


Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





You can tell right away that Taylor, Reyes and Chapman had pretty good games. Taylor had 15 points and 5 assists with only 1 turnover. Reyes was 4/6 from the field. Kuzma and Poeltl combined for 7/21, add Bonam's 1/7 and they are a whopping 8/28. Your three main players can't shoot 28% from the field, they just can't.

The good...84.2% from the free throw line, 16/19, 2nd best of the season (especially coming off the Stanford game). 9 turnovers is also a nice change after back to back 17 turnover games. On 64 possessions only 14.1% ended in a turnover for Utah, averaging 17.3%. Cal only attempted 12 three pointers which was a season low for a Utah opponent. The flip side of that is 33.6% of all possessions ended in a 2 point basket...more on that in a minute.

Now the bad...Cal had an assist on 25.4% of all their shot attempts. Utah opponent average is 17.7%. That means 1 out of every 4 shot attempts resulted in an assist...that's a big number. The 33.6% of all possessions ending in a 2 point basket was a season high for a Ute opponent. Meaning Cal got to the rim with ease. Watching the game you could say Poeltl was playing soft to avoid foul trouble and Cal took full advantage. Cal only had 63 possessions, which was a season low for Ute opponent (averaging 71) so their efficiency was really high. 89 was the second highest Utah gave up (Miami 106). Utah was only 2/12 from deep, both season lows for attempts and makes. Only 3.1% of their possessions ended in a three point make, average 10.3%. Clearly it was a Cal focus to stop the three. Utah has been living on exposing the Poeltl double for an open three...not this game. Offensive rebounding was awful. Utah was -21 in offensive rebounding opportunities. Meaning Cal had 21 more defensive rebounds over Utahs offensive rebounds. On the other side of the ball Utah only was +8 on defensive rebounding opportunities.

The Cal recipe for beating Utah was beat them on the boards and take away the three by not double teaming....it worked.

Next up...@ Colorado

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Lorenzo Bonam
22
+8.4
0.69


Jakob Poeltl
11
-12.1
0.32


Jordan Loveridge
7
-4.6
0.25


Kyle Kuzma
6
-5.4
0.26


Isaiah Wright
6
+2.4
0.46


Brandon Taylor
5
-3.0
0.15


Brekkott Chapman
4
-2.3
0.24


Dakarai Tucker
3
-2.6
0.20


Chris Reyes
0
-4.8
0.00


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Simply put, Zo won that game. Literally on the last shot, physically throughout the game and mentally as a leader. Very nice to see him step up.
There were two points in this game that really changed the momentum. About 5:50 Jakob plays solid D and gets a block at the rim, doesn't foul and gets a rebound off a putback. About 3:50 Bonam drives misses the shot, fights for the rebound, swings it out and Poeltl drives for a layup. Utah had all the momentum at that point.

The good...Colorado was 3/4 from the line. Only 4 attempts. Utah doesn't foul a lot and averages 10/15 so that's 7 points off the table. 11 fouls completes this story. That's the best performance against a "real" team (not Savannah, SUU, Delaware or Fresh Market). 54 points allowed is 16 under their average, granted a lot of that had to do with Colorado shooting only 31% but that's also on the U. For the second game in a row a Utah opponent barely reached 60 possessions. From Idaho State on it was high 70's. Utah has slowed down the tempo. For the second straight game Utah has shot high 80's from the line (88.9% vs Colorado 8/9). You could argue that the higher tempo was resulting in tired free throws, at least the stats say that. Utah also for the second game in a row has sub 10 turnovers. Less possessions = less opportunities to turn the ball over true but at least it's in the right direction. For the first time since Savannah State Utah had the advantage in turnovers per possession and less turnovers than their opponent, that's a 5 game stretch.

The bad...again Utah was dominated on the boards. They are -27 on rebounds in the last 3 games. That says a lot since they've only been out-rebounded 6 times all year including the last 3 in a row. Colorado also recorded more blocks than Utah. The last time that happened was game 3 vs Texas Tech. The only logical reason behind this is Utah has chosen to be less aggressive on rebounds on the road since they were getting a majority of fouls called on a rebound. Utah only recorded an assist on 15.4% of all shots, they are averaging for the season 28.4%. 8 assists is second lowest since Wichita (5). Colorado only recorded (11) personal fouls, Utah opponents average 20.6. The refs chose to swallow their whistles. 22 combined fouls is lower than Utah's total in three other games (BYU 22, Duke 26, Stanford 25).

It was a great win and a very needed win. 0-3 to start the season doesn't help anybody. Arizona also opened the season with 3 straight road games and went 1-2. It's not the easiest thing to do.

Bring on the Ducks!

[The Thrill]

Below are the top 25 performances by a Ute on the season.
3 have happened at a true road venue.
- (N) neutral floor



EFF
PLAYER
VERSUS


42
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Temple


36
Poeltl, Jakob
Brigham Young


33
Poeltl, Jakob
Southern Utah


31
Poeltl, Jakob
Idaho State


30
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Duke


28
Poeltl, Jakob
IPFW


28
Bonam, Lorenzo
Savannah State


27
Kuzma, Kyle
Southern Utah


24
Bonam, Lorenzo
IPFW


23
Bonam, Lorenzo
(N) Texas Tech


23
Loveridge, Jordan
Southern Utah


22
Kuzma, Kyle
Idaho State


22
Poeltl, Jakob
San Diego State


22
Loveridge, Jordan
San Diego State


22
Kuzma, Kyle
Savannah State


22
Bonam, Lorenzo
@Colorado


20
Kuzma, Kyle
IPFW


20
Bonam, Lorenzo
(N) Duke


19
Bonam, Lorenzo
San Diego State


19
Poeltl, Jakob
@California


18
Loveridge, Jordan
IPFW


18
Poeltl, Jakob
Savannah State


18
Taylor, Brandon
@California


18
Bonam, Lorenzo
Delaware State


18
Kuzma, Kyle
Delaware State

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
11
-11.4
0.44


Brandon Taylor
11
+2.8
0.41


Isaiah Wright
7
+3.2
0.44


Kyle Kuzma
5
-6.1
0.21


Lorenzo Bonam
4
-9.1
0.17


Austin Montgomery
4
+0.1
1.33


Chris Reyes
3
-1.7
0.33


Dakarai Tucker
2
-3.4
0.10


Brekkott Chapman
1
-5.0
0.07


Gabe Bealer
0
-4.5
0.00


Jordan Loveridge
-1
-11.9
-0.03


Austin Eastman
-1
-1.5
-0.33


Jake Connor
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





To their credit, Taylor and Wright actually had good games. Loveridge and Poeltl were -23.3 off their average. Oregon really isn't very bad, in fact they are rather good. Utah just played really bad.

Chalk this game up to the basketball gods punishment for what they did to BYU...I can accept that.

The good....Utah did have 14 offensive rebounds (season high) and 6 over their average. 8 steals for the second game in a row was also a huge plus for Utah. Oregon only had 51 shot attempts, well under the average for a Utah opponent...shooting a season high 54.9% will do that. For the fourth straight game Utah held their opponent to 5 makes or less from deep. To put that into context only Texas Tech had less than 5 makes from three on the season. Utah has been giving up 9.1 allowed before the last 4 games. The last four games Utah has allowed a three point possession 7.3% of the time...season average is 10.7%. Oregon did turn the ball over 15 times which was 5 over the average for a Utah opponent. Oregon turned the ball over on 22.9% of all possessions, a season high.

Now...the bad....54.9% shooting is just bad defense. 35.1% of all Oregon possessions were 2 point makes, season high for Utah opponent. 9 block shots was nearly double what Utah had allowed. Utah has been allowing 3.1 blocks per game. The really bad part of the 54.9% allowed is Utah shot a season low 33.9% 19/56. Utah only had 13 defensive rebounds (worst) and only shot 56% from the charity stripe (2nd worst). Utah scored a 2 point basket on 17.4% of all possessions, only game worse was Wichita 15.3%. Utah had 13 defensive rebounds and gave up 11 offensive rebounds, the +2 is the worst of the season by a long shot. Most games a team is +16 on defensive rebounding opportunities, +2 is just lazy rebounding. Utah only scored on 37.2% of all possessions, Oregon scored on 54.4% of all possessions. The -17.2% difference was the worst since the Miami game -17.6% difference.

In the 5 losses Utah's efficiency per minute was less than 1 (Miami 0.81, Wichita 0.71, Stanford 0.86, California 0.95 and Oregon 0.67). Using this reference it's obvious to see the Oregon game was their worst game of the season.
On the flip side, Utah's opponent efficiency per minute was (Miami 1.59, Wichita 1.33, Stanford 0.97, California 1.42 and Oregon 1.47). The -0.80 efficiency per minute was a season low versus Oregon. Needless to say, it was awful.

Short memories, bring on the Beavers.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
18
-4.2
0.50


Kyle Kuzma
14
+2.8
0.47


Lorenzo Bonam
11
-1.9
0.46


Dakarai Tucker
10
+4.4
0.43


Brandon Taylor
9
+0.8
0.25


Jordan Loveridge
7
-3.7
0.23


Brekkott Chapman
3
-2.8
0.30


Isaiah Wright
1
-2.6
0.25


Chris Reyes
-2
-6.3
-0.50


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Poeltl still appears to be off. He's missing easy shots in the lane and he's getting beat to his spot. Defensively he appears timid. This was the 6th game in a row Jakob scored below his season average for efficiency. Last positive game was Duke. Kuzma and Tucker had really good games. Kuzma 4/5 with 9 rebounds, Tucker was 2/4 with 4 rebounds. Utah needed this win just to stay relevant in the league. Reid made the biggest bonehead play I've ever seen. If there is any doubt he tripped the ref, just look at his eyes and the glare he gave Nunez before sticking his leg out. Obvious.

The good...This game was by far the slowest of the season. 58 possessions was 11 under the Utah average for an opponent. The last 4 games have been low 60's and this was the first game possession reached 50s. The Beavers were 50% from the line 5/10, only one other game did this happen, at Wichita. Utah only committed 10 fouls, 2nd highest for the season. Utah's defensive rebound opportunities jumped to +20 after that awful +2 vs Oregon. That means they kept the Beavers off the offensive glass. Should be around +16. The -14 discrepancy in fouls really helped Utah, especially on that silly foul with 10 seconds left that was not a bonus situation. Oregon State's shot attempts were some of the lowest on the season for a Utah opponent, 50 attempts, 8 three point attempts, 6 offensive rebounds were all season lows for an opponent, 58 possessions will do that.

The bad...Oregon State shot 75% from deep, 6/8. A lot of the low totals for Utah were due to their 57 possessions..This was actually a fairly average game for Utah across the board. Nothing really alarming, the 23.8% from deep 5/21 wasn't even the worst or second worst game. Cal and Duke were both sub 20%.

As of today the Utes own 15 of 21 statistical categories I track. See below...



UTAH
OPP


FGM
26.8
25.3


FGA
55.8
62.1


3PM
7.2
7.9


3PA
20.9
20.3


FTM
17.1
10.6


FTA
23.8
15.2


OFFR
8.7
10.1


DEFR
26.7
22.7


TOTR
35.4
32.7


AST
15.6
11.0


AST/SHOT
28.0%
17.7%


STL
5.2
6.2


BLK
5.1
3.0


TO
12.4
10.1


PF
15.7
20.9


PTS
77.9
69.2


EFF
91.1
70.7


FG%
48.1%
40.8%


3P%
34.5%
39.2%


FT%
71.6%
69.7%


POSS
70.8
69.3

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jordan Loveridge
23
+11.7
0.62


Jakob Poeltl
21
-1.1
0.91


Brandon Taylor
21
+12.1
0.58


Lorenzo Bonam
18
+4.8
0.51


Kyle Kuzma
14
+2.6
0.47


Chris Reyes
11
+6.3
0.69


Brekkott Chapman
6
+0.2
0.55


Isaiah Wright
2
-1.6
1.00


Dakarai Tucker
-1
-6.3
-0.10


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP





Now that's a much better performance. Hopefully it's not all wasted on Washington State. Loveridge's 23 ties him for the 10th best performance of the season for a Ute, and ties his season high (vs Southern Utah game 1).
Taylor's 21 was his season high also. Together they shot 10/16 from deep. It's nice to see but that's not going to happen often.

The good...Loveridge and Taylor on the road. It was really a really nice performance from both of them, even though only 2700 people were in attendance...that's sad. Loveridge 23 efficiency on the road was the highest for a true road game (Bonam 22 @Colorado). Wazzu had 13 turnovers, +3 for Utah average opponent. They also only had 54 shot attempts. That's 3 games in a row where Utah held an opponent under 55 attempts, season average is 61.7. Utah only had 5 turnovers, well below the average of 12.0, and the best for the season. The 55.6% shooting was 6th best for the season and the best vs top 100 opponent. Utah's efficiency per possession was 1.75, 5th best for the season, best for Pac12 play. Utah only gave up 5 offensive rebounds and were +18 on defensive rebound opportunities, remember they were only +2 vs Oregon and a winning program is typically high teens positive in this stat. Utah -8 on turnovers was a season high (-4 vs Savannah St). Utah was +9 in shot attempts, also a season high 63 to 54.

The bad...not much to complain about. For Washington State their best number was 22.2% of all shots made were on an assist (season high for Utah opponent was 25.4%). Utah only had 12 free throw attempts, season low and -11 off their average. But they made 11 for 91.7%, not much to complain about. Other than giving up 21 efficiency to Josh Hawkinson (9th best for Utah opponent) and Poeltl not reaching his season average again for PER (Player Efficiency Rating) that's about it for the bad. Overall, Utah had a great game and it shows in the stats.

Bring on the Huskies Sunday night.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
35
+12.3
0.92


Kyle Kuzma
12
+0.6
0.39


Dakarai Tucker
12
+6.4
0.50


Lorenzo Bonam
11
-2.1
0.34


Jordan Loveridge
7
-4.1
0.18


Brekkott Chapman
5
-0.8
0.38


Chris Reyes
5
+0.3
0.71


Brandon Taylor
-2
-10.4
-0.06


Isaiah Wright
-3
-6.2
-0.43


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Welcome back Jakob! What a game to arrive back on the scene. 35 PER was the third best performance of the year for a Utah (the top 6 belong to Jakob) and by far the best for being on the road. Loveridge 2nd best on the road in the last game 23 PER. Also, Dakarai Tucker, he really had some huge rebounds and big shots when needed. 12 PER for Tucker tied his season high (Delaware St). Not sure where Brandon Taylor was, 4 TO, 4 PF and 1/7 from the field? He didn't get back to back great games. He still did enough, including a huge rebound to kill the clock.

The good....Utah is 4-3 with 7 games at home and only 4 on the road left to play. Washington was 23.1% from deep, 6/26, second worst for Utah opponent (Texas Tech 15.8% ). Washington only had 9 assists which yielded 12.3% of assists/shots made (tied for 3rd worst for Utah opponent. Utah had 14 offensive rebounds (tied with Oregon game for season high) and they the Utes put up a seson high 70 shots, overtime helped that. The 79 possessions was the highest since Albertsons College (85 possessions) and +8 over their average of 71. They had 82 vs Duke and 75 vs Stanford, the other overtime games. Now 2-1 in overtime this year. Utah was -5 on personal fouls which turned out to be the difference in the game. Chriss and Andrews fouled out. Dime and Thybulle had 4. Utah had one guy in foul trouble and that was Brandon Taylor with 4. Poeltl has done an amazing job not fouling and it's paying off.

The bad....there was actually quite a bit of bad, take the PER overall score...Utah lost 87-82 on efficiency. That doesn't happen often...or ever. Washington played an extremely efficient game and on paper should have won this game. The main difference was the fouls. Washington dominated on the glass. 46 rebounds was by far the most Utah has allowed (average 33.0). 8 blocks was the second most (Oregon 9). The 31 defensive rebounds was the most Utah has allowed (average 22.9). Utah was -5 on blocks, -4 on steals, -7 on rebounds, -14.6% from the line (81.3%-66.7% ), "only" +10 on defensive rebounding opportunity (remember the goal is around +16). Utah was +8 on assists and +12% on assists to shot percentage (24.3%-12.3% in favor of Utah) which meant the difference.

The rematch is in 5 games...up next back home versus the Bay Area teams.

Crazy stat of the night?

The teams tied 26-26 for the first half. 40-40 in the second half. Utah won 14-9 in Overtime. That's about as close as it gets.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Kyle Kuzma
20
+7.9
0.80


Jakob Poeltl
18
-4.6
0.49


Brandon Taylor
16
+6.7
0.47


Brekkott Chapman
11
+5.2
0.79


Lorenzo Bonam
7
-6.0
0.19


Dakarai Tucker
4
-2.0
0.19


Chris Reyes
4
-0.5
0.67


Jordan Loveridge
0
-10.5
0.00


Isaiah Wright
DNP




Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Conner
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Great home win and revenge game on Cal. The Bears are a good team, Utah only went 8 deep.

The good...Kuzma, Taylor and Chapman. Taylor didn't really shoot that great, 4/13 but 6 assists and 0 turnovers will help get to 16 efficiency. Really no statistical numbers stood out in this game, Cal was right at the average for a Utah opponent in almost every category. Same goes for Utah, nothing really great and nothing really bad. The most important number was points.

The Bad...The most outstanding number was the difference in free throw percentage. Utah 64.3% vs California 85.7% or 18/28 for Utah and 12/14 for Cal. +6/+14. Missing 10 free throws was not a factor but still needs to improve going forward.

Great solid win...bring on Furd.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
25
+2.4
0.74


Brandon Taylor
21
+11.7
0.60


Kyle Kuzma
18
+5.9
0.56


Lorenzo Bonam
17
+4.0
0.59


Dakarai Tucker
16
+10.0
0.59


Jordan Loveridge
9
-1.5
0.32


Brekkott Chapman
0
-5.8
0.00


Chris Reyes
0
-4.5
0.00


Isaiah Wright
0
-3.1
0.00


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Great game from Utah's top players. All posted positive efficiency scores, Loveridge hit double figures in efficiency in 7 of the first 9 games. Since then he has only hit 10+ in 2 of the last 13 games. 23 at Washington State and 15 vs Delaware State. To put that into contrast, Poeltl season low is 11, and after 5 straight sub 20 efficiency Jakob has now been over 20 in 3 of the last 4 games, (18 vs California). One trend I noticed with Brandon Taylor is his on one night off the next. Stanford should have been an off game. See below




Opponent
B Taylor PER


@ Stanford
6


@ California
18


@ Colorado
5


Oregon
11


Oregon State
9


@ Washington State
21


@ Washington
-2


California
16


Stanford
21



Which Brandon Taylor will show up on the Oregon trip?

The good.... Poeltl now owns 8 of the top 10 Utah performances of the season. 25 vs Stanford was 10th best for a Ute. Stanford was only 3/25 from deep. 3 was a season low for makes and the 12% was also a season low. 15 defensive rebounds for Stanford was a season low for Utah opponent and the 32 personal fouls was a season high for Utah opponent. Stanford also only had 7 assists (2nd lowest) and 10.8% of assists to shot attempts was also 2nd lowest for an opponent. Utah was 32/42 from the free throw line, this was the result of the 32 personal fouls from Stanford. Utah shot 59.6% from the field, good for 6th best on the season and 47.1% from deep (good for 5th best on the season (8/17). The -13 on fouls was tied for 2nd biggest difference and the +35.1% from deep was by far the biggest difference. 57.6% of all possessions was a score for Utah, 5th highest number. Utah held Stanford to 14 less rebounds from the first game and Utah was +41 efficiency from the first game 106-65.

The bad... Stanford did shoot 19/23 from the free throw line. Utah has only been allowing 11/15 from the line. Stanford stole the ball 10 time (2nd most) and score a 2 pt basket on 31.1% of all possessions, 5th highest. Utah only had 2 blocks (averaging 4.7) and Utah was -18 on shot attempts. 65-47, of course shooting 59.6% will limit your shot attempts.

Utah has won 5 games in a row for the first time this season. They could have had another 5 game win streak but Stanford ended that one.

Bring on the Northwest Roadie, the swamp animal two step, the Willamette Run...

[U-Ute]

Looking at the final stats from 2014-2015, Delon had an efficiency average of 20.7 at the end.

If I'm reading that table, with 9 games remaining, Poeltl is currently at 22.4.

What are Simmons and Hield at?

[The Thrill]

What are Simmons and Hield at?

I have the following



PLAYER
PER


Egidijus Mockevicius
32.3


Ben Simmons
30.3


Kahlil Felder
28.1


Domanatas Sabonis
26.4


Joel Bolomboy
26.2


Brice Johnson
25.8


Buddy Hield
25.4


Jakob Poeltl
24.9



I only did a select few from projected NBA draftees or category leaders so this isn't necessarily the top 8.
Some where my math must be off because Poeltl should be at 24.9.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
23
+0.5
0.77


Kyle Kuzma
15
+2.6
0.45


Jordan Loveridge
8
-2.8
0.27


Dakarai Tucker
8
+1.6
0.35


Chris Reyes
7
+2.7
0.70


Lorenzo Bonam
7
-5.2
0.19


Brandon Taylor
4
-4.5
0.13


Brekkott Chapman
3
-2.6
0.43


Isaiah Wright
DNP




Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Poeltl 23 was the 17th best performance of the year for a Utah. Jakob now owns 12 of the top 25 performances, Poeltl had 18 in Game 1 vs the Beavers. Gary Payton II jumped from a 6 efficiency rating in Salt Lake to 25 (good for 5th best vs Utah).

The good....Not much, defensive rebounds for Oregon State was low, only 16 which was tied for 2nd least vs Utah. Utah was +16.7% from the free throw line. 66.7% to 83.3% and Utah was +6 on attempts. This game wasn't lost at the free throw line. This game was lost on rebounding on the Beaver side of the court, more on that below. Utah scored +10 over game 1 but only +4 on efficiency. The game was also a little faster pace +2 on possessions from game 1. That's about it for the good.

The bad....Besides the stupid last second call that I'm not even going to mention or the 7 minute collapse with turnovers which I also won't mention, Utah lost this game giving up offensive rebounds. Oregon State was -7 on offensive rebounding opportunities. A good number is anything higher than -14. Utah was -4 on shots made and -12 on shot attempts. This has been a common trend for Utah. The last three games Utah has been -8, -18 and -12 on shot attempts. Some of this is from Utah shooting in the high 50% but when the shots aren't landing and then Utah gives up offensive rebounds to the other team is a recipe for failure. Utah had 1 block, season low. 60 possessions, 3rd lowest (Oregon St and Wichita other 2). Utah gave up 16 assists and 27.1% assist to shot attempts (season low), meaning 27.1% of all shot attempts ended up as an assist. Oregon State turned 34.6% of all possessions in to a 2 point basket (2nd highest, Oregon 35.1% ).

Utah should have won this game, they had a 10 point lead with 7 minutes remaining. Tough to point this on one thing but the offense stopped attacking and Oregon State upped their pressure D. Utah has to learn to keep the throttle on all the way. Luckily for Pac12 this was a good game to lose for the Utes. Oregon State was a 52 RPI going into the game and this should help the conference come tourney time. Games like this should help Utah in the big dance. Turnovers, stupid ones like their horrible inbounds plays, should be in their conscious during crunch time...hopefully.

Bring on the Ducks.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jordan Loveridge
19
+8.3
0.56


Jakob Poeltl
18
-4.5
0.62


Kyle Kuzma
17
+4.6
0.77


Dakarai Tucker
13
+6.6
0.42


Brekkott Chapman
5
-0.6
0.56


Gabe Bealer
2
-2.3
0.33


Isaiah Wright
1
-2.0
0.10


Lorenzo Bonam
0
-12.2
0.00


Chris Reyes
-1
-5.3
-0.09


Brandon Taylor
-5
-13.5
-0.15


Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Loveridge, Poeltl, Kuzma and Tucker showed up...the guards didn't. Dillon Brooks scored a 34 efficiency, he now owns the top spot vs Utah. Chris Boucher scored a 21 efficiency, good enough for 12th best. Jordan Bell scored a 15 which was the 32nd best. 3 of the top 32 in one game does not generally bode well for the other team and that theory held true today. Utah should be getting Poeltl the ball more if defenses are overplaying the three but Jakob only had 5 attempts today 4/5, game 1 versus Oregon Jakob was 1/4. He has to get 10 or more shots if Utah is going to have success. He averages 9.4 attempts per game.

The good...Utah did a great job on the defensive glass, only allowing 8 from Oregon. Utah shot 42.9% from deep 6/14 but this marked the 4th game in a row Utah didn't attempt 20 or more from deep. Averaging 20.3 for the season. It's obvious teams are keying in on not letting Utah shoot. Utah really shut down Oregon from deep compared to game 1. Oregon was -11 from game 1 from the free throw line, 22 to 11.

The bad...Utah was only 10/14 from the free throw line, that's nearly 10 attempts under their average. This was the second game Utah only forced 17 fouls. I noticed a trend in fouls at home vs fouls on the road. Utah forces 23.2 fouls at home and 19.0 on the road. If you only count true road games that number drops to 18.0 5 foul difference per game is big. That's 10 attempts if on the shot. To put that into perspective Utah fouls are nearly the same at home or on the road. 14.8 to 15.8, only a difference of 1. So why are the Utes getting +5 fouls in their favor at home as opposed to the road? You tell me. For the second straight game Utah allowed 34% of all possessions to be a 2 point basket, they average 26.3% for the season and have only been +34% in three games (Oregon x2 and Oregon St, last game). Utah held their opponents to 1.01 efficiency per minute as a team during their 5 game win streak and 1.33 in both games in Oregon. For the season in wins Utah opponents average 0.94 EPM vs in losses they average 1.35 EPM. 13 of 17 wins Utah held their opponent under 1.1 EPM. 6 of their 7 losses were all over 1.33 EPM (exception was @ Stanford 0.97 EPM)

I expected Utah to go 1-1 in Oregon so 0-2 is a disappointment but Utah competed in both games. Can't complain about that.

Bring on the Washington's...

[The Thrill]

Player
Team
FG
FT
3P
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Eff


1
Dillon Brooks
@Oregon
12/22
4/5
2/7
6
9
2
0
2
30
34


2
Tonye Jekiri
Miami-Florida
8/10
4/5
0/0
12
1
1
1
1
20
31


3
Sheldon McClellan
Miami-Florida
10/12
4/4
3/5
4
0
1
0
1
27
29


4
Luke Kennard
Duke
5/9
12/13
2/5
8
0
1
0
0
24
28


5
Gary Payton II
@Oregon State
9/17
0/0
2/5
6
7
0
0
0
20
25


6
Mo Evans
IPFW
11/16
0/0
4/7
1
4
1
0
3
26
24


7
Winston Shepard
San Diego State
6/9
5/6
2/3
7
0
2
2
3
19
23


8
Ivan Rabb
@California
7/12
5/6
0/0
10
1
0
0
1
19
23


9
Dillon Brooks
Oregon
10/16
1/1
0/1
8
0
1
0
2
21
22


10
Max Landis
IPFW
4/6
4/4
4/5
3
3
1
0
0
16
21


11
Josh Hawkinson
@Washington St
6/7
3/3
1/1
8
1
0
0
3
16
21


12
Chris Boucher
@Oregon
6/7
1/1
2/3
4
0
0
3
0
15
21


13
Chase Fischer
BYU
8/15
7/8
3/7
2
1
2
0
3
26
20


14
George King
@Colorado
8/10
2/2
3/4
3
1
0
1
4
21
20


15
Marquese Chriss
@Washington
7/11
1/2
0/1
6
1
2
3
2
15
20


16
Ivan Rabb
California
4/9
4/4
0/0
12
0
2
0
1
12
20


17
Kyle Davis
BYU
5/8
2/3
0/0
8
1
2
1
1
12
19


18
Emanuel Morgan
College of Idaho
3/7
0/0
1/2
6
6
3
0
0
7
18


19
Josh Scott
@Colorado
5/12
0/0
0/0
10
3
1
1
1
10
17


20
Jaylen Brown
California
9/20
8/10
1/5
3
2
2
0
4
27
17


21
Ron Baker
@Wichita State
3/8
0/0
1/3
4
5
4
1
0
7
16


22
Kyle Collinsworth
BYU
6/13
1/5
2/3
9
5
2
0
4
15
16


23
Dakarai Allen
San Diego State
4/5
4/4
3/4
2
1
0
0
1
15
16


24
Travon Langston
Southern Utah
5/6
3/3
0/0
4
1
0
0
1
13
16


25
Toddrick Gotcher
Texas Tech
4/9
3/4
1/6
5
5
1
0
1
12
16

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
26
+3.0
0.96


Lorenzo Bonam
22
+9.7
0.81


Brandon Taylor
18
+9.0

0.55


Jordan Loveridge
15
+3.9
0.45


Kyle Kuzma
15
+2.4
0.47


Chris Reyes
10
+5.4
0.77


Brekkott Chapman
2
-3.8
0.33


Isaiah Wright
1
-2.0
0.11


Dakarai Tucker
0
-6.0

0.00


Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Poeltl...Poeltl...Poeltl... 26 efficiency versus Washington was his 13th 20+ efficiency of the season, more than half the season. Marquese Chriss scored a 23 (9th best) and Andrew Andrews scored a 21 (14th best). First time two players reached 20+ efficiency versus Utah and Utah won.

The good...Utah forced 16 turnovers, +6 over average. Utah scored a 50% on assists to shot attempts, season high. 52 attempts and 26 assists. Utah also shot a season high 67.3% from the field 35/52 and 58.8% from deep 10/17. Both season highs for Utah.

The bad...Utah allowed 33 made shots. Washington made 5 more shots in this game than they did in the first overtime game. Utah allowed 16 assists for the third straight game. Average is 11.2, only Albertsons College had more at 17 but allowing 16 assists per game isn't great. This was also the third straight game Utah gave up 34% or more of possessions being 2pt makes. I don't know if this is trying to avoid foul trouble and giving up easy buckets instead of fouling but it isn't a great trend. Utah only had 2 offensive rebounds (season low), but shooting 67% does that. The 17 turnovers were third worst on the season. Washington is a good team so this is a solid win, shooting 67% helped.

Utah was +10 over game 1 vs Washington in points but was -18 in shot attempts. +25.9% from the field was the largest game 1 to game 2 difference, same goes for the +33.8% from deep. Only Colorado remains on the schedule with teams Utah has already played.

I'm expecting big things versus Washington State....cross your fingers.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
34
+11.0
1.36


Kyle Kuzma
15
+2.4
0.75


Jordan Loveridge
15
+3.9
0.56


Brekkott Chapman
13
+7.2
0.54


Brandon Taylor
12
+3.0
0.46


Isaiah Wright
6
+3.0
0.29


Austin Montgomery
6
+1.9
1.00


Lorenzo Bonam
5
-7.3
0.33


Austin Eastman
5
+4.0
0.83


Gabe Bealer
4
-0.3
0.36


Dakarai Tucker
3
-3.0
0.16


Chris Reyes
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





Wow. That's Utah basketball. Poeltl broke 30 for the 7th time this season (high 42 vs Temple). Taylor had back to back solid games for the first time in a long time. Loveridge had his third straight 15+ PER. But Kyle Kuzma has been really solid for 9 games now (since the home Oregon game). Kuz has averaged 15.6 PER over the last nine games. If you recall, Delon Wright had a tough time reaching 15 two seasons ago...this team has come a long way.

The good... Where to start? 11 steals, season high. This gave Utah a -12 advantage on turnovers. The last time something like that happened was...well...Washington State in Spokane. In fact, Utah has been on the advantage with turnovers only 10 times all year. The -20 versus Washington St in 2 games is more than the other 8 games where Utah had less turnovers. The 41 point difference was actually tied for third largest on the season (+47 vs Delaware State and +46 vs Savannah State) but versus Pac12 opponents it's by far the best. Washington State only made 15 shots. Utah allows 25.6. They only attempted 49 shots. Utah allows 62. Both were season lows. The 20 turnovers for Wazzu was also a season high against Utah. This was also the first time Utah allowed less than 50 points. The 37 efficiency was the second lowest for Utah opponent. Washington State only shot 30.6% from the field.

The bad... not much. Utah only had 2 blocks, averaging 4.3 per game. Wazzu was +6 on rebounds from game 1 but most of those came in garbage time. Lorenzo Bonam didn't score a point on 0/3 shooting and still had a 5 PER. That's from the 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers. Josh Hutchinson actually led Wazzu in PER with 11. He was only 2/4 from the field but still had 8 rebounds. Really that's it for the bad. Great game.

Tough road trip then three at home to end the season.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
20
-2.9
0.54


Kyle Kuzma
18
+5.2
0.56


Brandon Taylor
14
+4.9
0.38


Jordan Loveridge
12
+0.9
0.34


Dakarai Tucker
12
+5.8
0.67


Lorenzo Bonam
11
-1.3
0.38


Brekkott Chapman
7
+1.2
0.70


Chris Reyes
-1
-5.3
-0.50


Isaiah Wright
DNP




Gabe Bealer
DNP




Jake Connor
DNP




Austin Montgomery
DNP




Austin Eastman
DNP




Jayce Johnson
DNP




Kenneth Ogbe
DNP




Makol Mawien
DNP





This was a really great game on paper, for both teams. UCLA had 5 players in double digits for PER. Hamilton 18, Welsh 17, Alford 11, Bolden 11, Holiday 10. That would make 11 players in this game with 10+ PER. That's actually quite amazing. The number were great in this game, the best was the final score.

The good... The Utes committed only 7 turnovers, 2nd lowest since Pac12 play (5 @ Washington St). The Utes average 12.0 turnovers so +5 on turnovers is great, especially in a 2 point game. Utah has been over 33% of all possessions ending in a 2 point bucket during their 3 game winning streak. Season high was 40.3% vs IPFW. I've noticed a trend here. Utah wins when posessions are less than 12% for turnovers, over 33% of being 2 point bucket and over 14% being three point buckets. With their average being 70.2 possessions Utah should be around 8.4 turnovers, 23 made two pointers and 10 made three pointers to win. They only average 7.4 threes and 27.7 made two pointers so their possessions need to come down. Typically low 60 possession game and under 10 turnovers would warrant a win. Meaning 50 possessions per game must be positive. That's not a lot if you really think about it. Utah scores on average of 50.4% of their possessions. In games they've lost it was 42.7%. In games they've won that percentage jumps to 52.9%. Seems logical but this really shows the value of every possession. Utah was +4 in steals over UCLA and -3 in turnovers. That's your game.

The bad...Utah usually forces 20+ fouls per game. Only two games this year did they force less than 15 (@Colorado 11 and @UCLA 11). UCLA scored a three on 16.6% of their possessions. We learned above that anything over 14% for Utah is typically a win, UCLA was 11/23 for 47.5%, one more drops and Utah loses by 1. Over the past 5 games Utah has been giving up more assists per shots. Season average is 18.4 but over the last 5 games it has been 24.2%. This is based on shot attempts. 24% is a big number to give up, (FYI, Utah averages 28.5% assists per shot attempt). Remember vs Washington last week Utah had 26 assists on 52 shots, shooting 67.3% for 50% assist to shot ratio. The assist to shot ratio is a big indicator of the overall team efficiency. Back to my point. Over the past 5 games Utah is giving up more but their fouls have dropped. Utah has been as high as 26 fouls this season but over those same 5 games Utah has been averaging 14.4. It should also be noted that Poeltl hasn't fouled out since at Stanford. His last 4 foul game was at Oregon (that was the 4th game in a row he recorded 4 fouls). During that 5 game stretch Poeltl has recorded 4, 4, 3, 2, 2 vs UCLA. Coincidence? I think so. Utah plays great defense but when they get beat they aren't taking a cheap foul. If you get beat don't add insult to injury, just take your licks and move on. I think Utah has taken this approach lately and it has paid off.

One more game in California then it's three in a row at home.

GO UTES!

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
47
+23.2
1.34


Brandon Taylor
14
+4.7
0.36


Jordan Loveridge
13
+1.8
0.43


Kyle Kuzma
8
-4.6
0.50


Lorenzo Bonam
7
-5.1
0.21


Brekkott Chapman
6
+0.2
0.27


Chris Reyes
5
+0.6
0.71


Dakarai Tucker
3
-3.1
0.17



I'm tired of typing in all the DNP guys.

Jakob Poeltl!!! 11/13 from the field. 7/8 from the line. 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, only 1 turnover. = 47 efficiency. Wow!
Since the first Washington State game, 10 games ago, Jakob is 79/112 from the field...70.5%
Jakob owns 9 of the top 10 performances of the year for Utah, including 2 games over 40 PER. (Temple 42, USC 47)
USC wasn't even his best performance, with regards to minutes. Jakob scored an efficiency 1.36 per minute (only played 25) against Washington State last week. He recorded 1.34 vs USC.

The good....fouls...again. Utah gave up 14 fouls vs USC. The last 14 games Utah has averaged 15.0 fouls per game. The first 14 games Utah averaged 16.2 per game. That might not sound like a lot but remember who they were playing. USC only had 21 rebounds, that's a season low for Utah opponent, previous low was 23 vs Delaware St. Utah was +9 in rebounding, highest in Pac12 play for Utah. In fact the first 7 games in Pac12 play Utah was -31 in rebounding. The last 7 games they are +16, and that's counting a -10 performance vs Washington. The low fouls only allowed USC 6 free throw attempts. During the entire LA trip, both USC and UCLA combined for 11 attempts...Utah has been allowing 15.0 per game. The 50% from the line tied a season low for Utah opponent. Utah gave up 14 defensive rebounds (season low) and they were only -4 in offensive rebounding opportunities (second best all year, -2 vs Albertsons). If you recall, a team that does better than -10 in offensive rebounding opportunities generally wins the game. Over the past 4 games Utah is +13 on steals, before that Utah had only won the steals head to head 4 times in 24 games, they've done it in each of the last 4 games. They aren't turning the ball over like before, the last 14 games they've averaged 11.1 turnovers. The first 14 games it was 12.8, nearly -2 in turnovers on average...again remember who they played in the first 14 games.

The bad....USC only committed 16 fouls. Utah isn't forcing as many fouls as they did earlier this year. They were averaging 21.3 forced fouls per game but only 16.2 in the last 6 games. Also for the second game Utah allowed over 15% of all the opponents possessions to be a 3 point basket. The first 13 games Utah was weak at guarding the three, average of 12.7% of possessions were three point baskets. Beginning with Pac12 play Utah cut that number to 8.5% of all possessions but the last two have been over 15.7%. The main difference is turnovers. Early in the season Utah was forcing a turnover on 13.8% of their opponents possessions, in Pac12 play Utah has pushed that number over 18% and Utah has forced double digit turnovers in the last four games, if you remove the Oregon trip it's all the way back to the first Oregon St game. USC actually shot 58.8% from deep, 10/17 but they only made 1 more than Utah. The Utes were 9/25 for 36% but their 10 offensive boards really won this game. Second chance opportunities. Utah has slowed their games way down. For the season they average 70 possessions, they had 64 in both LA games.

Three games at home, including a huge one vs Arizona, then it's March Madness!

[The Thrill]

Player
Team
FG
FT
3P
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Eff


1
Poeltl, Jakob
@Southern California
11/13
7/8
0/0
13
4
4
1
1
29
47


2
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Temple
10/12
12/14
0/0
11
1
2
3
3
32
42


3
Poeltl, Jakob
Brigham Young
11/16
4/6
0/0
13
1
0
5
2
26
36


4
Poeltl, Jakob
@Washington
8/14
13/16
0/0
10
4
1
1
1
29
35


5
Poeltl, Jakob
Washington State
11/14
3/6
0/0
10
0
3
2
0
25
34


6
Poeltl, Jakob
Southern Utah
10/13
6/10
0/0
11
2
0
4
3
26
33


7
Poeltl, Jakob
Idaho State
7/11
5/6
0/0
11
2
2
4
2
19
31


8
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Duke
8/11
3/4
0/0
14
1
0
3
3
19
30


9
Bonam, Lorenzo
Savannah State
6/6
0/0
2/2
4
7
3
1
1
14
28


10
Poeltl, Jakob
IPFW
10/12
1/6
0/0
6
6
1
1
0
21
28


11
Kuzma, Kyle
Southern Utah
10/12
2/5
1/1
12
0
0
0
3
23
27


12
Poeltl, Jakob
Washington
11/12
1/3
0/0
6
1
0
1
2
23
26


13
Poeltl, Jakob
Stanford
5/7
13/15
0/0
7
2
0
0
3
23
25


14
Bonam, Lorenzo
IPFW
6/7
3/3
0/0
3
4
3
1
1
15
24


15
Poeltl, Jakob
Albertsons
6/6
3/6
0/0
10
3
0
3
4
15
24


16
Tucker, Dakarai
Albertsons
6/9
2/4
3/5
7
3
1
1
1
17
23


17
Poeltl, Jakob
@Oregon State
8/11
4/6
0/0
9
1
0
0
2
20
23


18
Bonam, Lorenzo
(N) Texas Tech
6/12
8/10
0/1
7
4
1
0
1
20
23


19
Loveridge, Jordan
Southern Utah
8/13
2/4
6/11
4
2
0
0
0
24
23


20
Loveridge, Jordan
@Washington State
8/13
1/1
5/9
4
1
1
0
0
22
23


21
Kuzma, Kyle
Savannah State
7/11
3/4
1/1
3
5
1
0
0
18
22


22
Kuzma, Kyle
Idaho State
5/11
7/8
0/1
11
1
1
1
2
17
22


23
Bonam, Lorenzo
Washington
7/9
3/3
1/1
2
4
2
0
2
18
22


24
Bonam, Lorenzo
@Colorado
7/12
2/2
1/2
5
3
3
0
1
17
22


25
Poeltl, Jakob
San Diego State
4/7
7/11
0/0
12
2
1
1
2
15
22

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Brekkott Chapman
22
+15.6
1.10


Kyle Kuzma
16
+3.2
0.76


Lorenzo Bonam
16
+3.8
0.80


Brandon Taylor
14
+4.5
0.50


Jordan Loveridge
12
+0.8
0.63


Jakob Poeltl
12
-11.4
0.52


Dakarai Tucker
10
+3.8
0.56


Gabe Bealer
6
+1.6
0.46


Isaiah Wright
2
-1.0
0.13


Chris Reyes
1
-3.3
0.06


Austin Eastman
-1
-1.8
-0.17



Kuzma had 16 PER with only 3 points. 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 100% shooting will do that.
Chapman 22 was a season high for him (ties for 21st best for a Ute), his 1.10 per minute efficiency was 8th best for a Ute (min 10 minutes)

The Bad....Arizona State

The Good... 16/40 from deep. 24.7% of all possessions were a 3pt makes, Utah averages 11.1%
+35 score and +72 efficiency wasn't even the best in Pac12 play (check out the Washington State game 3 weeks ago)

Nothing to see here...nice tune up for Arizona.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
24
+0.6
0.62


Brandon Taylor
24
+14.0
0.63


Lorenzo Bonam
12
-0.2
0.44


Brekkott Chapman
11
+4.5
0.52


Jordan Loveridge
6
-5.0
0.19


Chris Reyes
3
-1.2
3.00


Isaiah Wright
2
-0.9
0.29


Kyle Kuzma
0
-12.3
0.00


Dakarai Tucker
0
-6.0
0.00



Great win. Taylor and Poeltl both get 24 efficiency, enough to earn Taylor the national payer of the week.

The bad...Utah only had 16.9% of assists to shot ratio, the first time they dropped below 20% since at Colorado (game 3 of Pac12). Credit this to Arizona taking away easy shots. Utah shot 41.7% from the line 5/12. It wasn't a huge factor but it didn't help. 2-3 more charity stripe shots would have ended the game a bit earlier. Arizona made a 2pt basket on 33.5% of their possessions. Typically when a team is over 30% of their possessions Utah is 2-7...now 3-7. Arizona recorded 7 blocks, and Utah was -18 on offensive rebounding opportunities. Meaning they gave up way too many defensive rebounds, 26 to be exact. Utah allows 22.1 per game.

The good...Utah only had 8 turnovers. For the season they average 11.7 turnovers but only 8.6 in the last 5 games (6 game win streak mind you). In Utah losses they average 14.6 turnovers per game. Utah has been consistent at controlling the game, they have been right at 64 possessions for 4 straight games. Utah was 34% of all possessions being a 2pt basket. Season average is 28.9%. Arizona shot 23.5% from deep 4/17. 6.1% of all their possessions was a three point basket. Other than that this was an average Utah game.

One thing I'd like to point out is Utah is almost shooting their season high for the season from deep. The highest they've been was 36.6% after the College of Idaho game, after Arizona State they were at 36.5% for the season. The lowest they've been was 27.6% and that was after game 1. On the contrary, Utah opponents have been on a steady decline all season from three.

One more game to go then it's tournament time!

[The Thrill]

Player
Team
FG
FT
3P
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Eff


1
Poeltl, Jakob
@Southern California
11/13
7/8
0/0
13
4
4
1
1
29
47


2
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Temple
10/12
12/14
0/0
11
1
2
3
3
32
42


3
Poeltl, Jakob
Brigham Young
11/16
4/6
0/0
13
1
0
5
2
26
36


4
Poeltl, Jakob
@Washington
8/14
13/16
0/0
10
4
1
1
1
29
35


5
Poeltl, Jakob
Washington State
11/14
3/6
0/0
10
0
3
2
0
25
34


6
Poeltl, Jakob
Southern Utah
10/13
6/10
0/0
11
2
0
4
3
26
33


7
Poeltl, Jakob
Idaho State
7/11
5/6
0/0
11
2
2
4
2
19
31


8
Poeltl, Jakob
(N) Duke
8/11
3/4
0/0
14
1
0
3
3
19
30


9
Bonam, Lorenzo
Savannah State
6/6
0/0
2/2
4
7
3
1
1
14
28


10
Poeltl, Jakob
IPFW
10/12
1/6
0/0
6
6
1
1
0
21
28


11
Kuzma, Kyle
Southern Utah
10/12
2/5
1/1
12
0
0
0
3
23
27


12
Poeltl, Jakob
Washington
11/12
1/3
0/0
6
1
0
1
2
23
26


13
Poeltl, Jakob
Stanford
5/7
13/15
0/0
7
2
0
0
3
23
25


14
Bonam, Lorenzo
IPFW
6/7
3/3
0/0
3
4
3
1
1
15
24


15
Poeltl, Jakob
Albertsons
6/6
3/6
0/0
10
3
0
3
4
15
24


16
Poeltl, Jakob
Arizona
6/9
2/5
0/0
10
2
1
3
0
14
24


17
Taylor, Brandon
Arizona
7/9
1/2
4/5
3
1
5
0
1
19
24


18
Tucker, Dakarai
Albertsons
6/9
2/4
3/5
7
3
1
1
1
17
23


19
Poeltl, Jakob
@Oregon State
8/11
4/6
0/0
9
1
0
0
2
20
23


20
Bonam, Lorenzo
(N) Texas Tech
6/12
8/10
0/1
7
4
1
0
1
20
23


21
Loveridge, Jordan
Southern Utah
8/13
2/4
6/11
4
2
0
0
0
24
23


22
Loveridge, Jordan
@Washington State
8/13
1/1
5/9
4
1
1
0
0
22
23


23
Kuzma, Kyle
Savannah State
7/11
3/4
1/1
3
5
1
0
0
18
22


24
Chapman, Brekkott
Arizona State
5/10
3/4
2/4
9
2
1
1
0
15
22


25
Kuzma, Kyle
Idaho State
5/11
7/8
0/1
11
1
1
1
2
17
22



Bonam, Lorenzo
Washington
7/9
3/3
1/1
2
4
2
0
2
18
22



Bonam, Lorenzo
@Colorado
7/12
2/2
1/2
5
3
3
0
1
17
22



Poeltl, Jakob
San Diego State
4/7
7/11
0/0
12
2
1
1
2
15
22



Loveridge, Jordan
San Diego State
5/9
7/7
4/8
4
2
0
1
2
21
22

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Jakob Poeltl
25
+1.5
0.69


Lorenzo Bonam
16
+3.7
0.48


Brandon Taylor
14
+3.9
0.38


Jordan Loveridge
6
-4.9
0.19


Dakarai Tucker
6
0.0
0.22


Brekkott Chapman
1
-5.4
0.09


Chris Reyes
1
-3.1
0.33


Kyle Kuzma
-2
-13.9
-0.10



The good... My theory about allowing easy baskets and giving up high assist/shot percentage is out the window. The last three games Utah has improved substantially with this. Versus Colorado the Buffs were only at 6.8%, well below the 20+% Utah had been allowing but the Utah fouls haven't gone up. Colorado had 4 assists on 59 shots. The 18 shots made was 2nd lowest for a Utah opponent (ASU and WSU both had 15). The Utes allowed a score on only 35.2% of all Colorado possessions and a 30.5% (both 2nd best for Utah allowing). Utah had 8 blocks which was almost double their average. In fact, Utah has averaged over 7 blocks a game in the last 3 games. The last time Utah had more than 7 blocks in a game before the last three was Duke. Utah had a -9 foul difference. Utah was +22 on defensive rebounding opportunities, highest since Pac12 play. The two teams combined for 18 blocks, season high for Utah game. They also combined for 64 defensive rebounds, season high.

The bad... Shooting was abysmal. Luckily it was bad for both teams. The 30.8% combined 36/117 was by far the worst of the season, 5% under the Arizona State game 2 games ago, and that was mostly ASU. The 14 combined assists was also a season low. Utah had 10 which was third worst (tied with Arizona) had 5 versus Wichita State. The 31% 18/58 from the field was Utah's worst performance. 33.9% versus Oregon at home. The 19% from three was 2nd worst (16.7% vs Duke). Utah allowed 34 defensive rebounds versus Colorado, season worst. Only one other time did they give up +30 rebounds (@ Washington). Overall Utah was lucky to win. The deep bank three from Loveridge really opened something up and the team played loose. You just never know where it can come from.

Next up either UCLA or USC in Vegas.

[The Thrill]

Player
GP
FG
FG%
FT
FT%
3P
3P%
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
TO
Pts
Pts/Gm
Eff
Eff/Min


Poeltl, Jakob
31
202/306
66.0%
139/205
67.8%
0/0
-
282
59
19
50
56
543
17.5
23.5
0.79


Bonam, Lorenzo
31
115/229
50.2%
55/69
79.7%
18/48
37.5%
103
97
34
17
44
303
9.8
12.3
0.46


Kuzma, Kyle
31
130/258
50.4%
64/104
61.5%
8/41
19.5%
186
49
12
14
57
332
10.7
11.9
0.50


Loveridge, Jordan
31
112/276
40.6%
63/81
77.8%
79/194
40.7%
118
50
17
5
37
366
11.8
10.9
0.36


Taylor, Brandon
31
99/252
39.3%
44/55
80.0%
56/166
33.7%
76
120
47
3
67
298
9.6
10.1
0.31


Chapman, Brekkott
31
50/114
43.9%
33/52
63.5%
10/33
30.3%
94
34
12
20
23
143
4.6
6.4
0.46


Tucker, Dakarai
31
55/127
43.3%
17/24
70.8%
38/96
39.6%
75
20
13
16
23
165
5.3
6.0
0.33


Ogbe, Kenneth
5
7/17
41.2%
7/8
87.5%
5/12
41.7%
5
1
3
0
1
26
5.2
4.6
0.37


Bealer, Gabe
13
20/41
48.8%
13/18
72.2%
6/18
33.3%
18
3
2
3
2
59
4.5
4.4
0.58


Montgomery, Austin
8
10/13
76.9%
5/6
83.3%
1/1
100.0%
12
2
0
1
4
26
3.3
4.1
0.92


Reyes, Chris
30
29/52
55.8%
29/41
70.7%
0/3
0.0%
71
7
5
6
18
87
2.9
4.1
0.47


Connor, Jake
6
7/9
77.8%
0/0
-
3/5
60.0%
1
4
1
0
1
17
2.8
3.3
0.71


Wright, Isaiah
25
16/45
35.6%
8/11
72.7%
10/31
32.3%
28
41
6
4
24
50
2.0
2.9
0.22


Eastman, Austin
10
1/6
16.7%
2/2
100.0%
1/6
16.7%
4
5
1
1
3
5
0.5
0.8
0.24



Leaders are based on 13 games miniumum.

I've noticed some numbers are different from ESPN official numbers, I've entered them in after each game so if official box scores are different I haven't accounted for that.

[The Thrill]

PLAYER
PER
+/-
EPM


Kyle Kuzma
24
+11.8
0.75


Jakob Poeltl
21
-2.4
0.55


Lorenzo Bonam
16
+3.6
0.89


Jordan Loveridge
13
+2.1
0.34


Dakarai Tucker
11
+4.8
0.42


Brandon Taylor
11
+0.9
0.29


Brekkott Chapman
5
-1.3
0.63


Chris Reyes
2
-2.0
1.00



Bonam still put up 16 PER in only 18 minutes. 6 players scored in double figures for efficiency. Utah actually dominated this gamy by 27 on efficiency but give USC credit, they went down swinging. McLaughlin and Jacobs combined for 42 of the 72 USC efficiency. Without them, Utah wins by 40.

The good.... USC only had 19 defensive rebounds but Utah only had 4 offensive rebounds, that happens when you shoot 61% from the field. USC was 62.5% from the line 5/8. Utah had 22 assists which was +6 over their average. They averaged 43.1% of all shots off an assist. When Utah is over 30% of shots off an assist they are 11-0. The 10 fouls was only +1 over their season low of 9. Utah was 10/22 from deep 45.5% which was the 8th best shooting night from deep of the year. The two teams combined for 50.4% from the field 61/121. This was the 6th time this year the teams combined for +50%.

The bad... USC put up 70 shots. Utah has only allowed +70 shots in 3 other games (Duke, Albertsons, @Washington). In fact, Utah was -19 in shot attempts but +1 in shots made. USC pulled off 9 steals, third most for Utah opponent. The Trojans only fouled 12 times, way under the 20 Utah has been forcing all year. Utah gave up 34.4% of all possessions to a 2 point basket. That typically means a Utah loss. Utah is now 5-6 in games where they allow over 30% of all possessions to be a 2 pt basket. Utah only forced 5 turnovers. USC played a really clean game, they just shot 18% lower than Utah. Utah was only 8/12 from the line, they've only been averaging 9 made free throws over the past 6 games, most of the season they make 16.6 per game. The 22 personal fouls tied the low for a Utah game. Utah was +8 in turnovers, still won by 8.

One game down in the Pac12 Tournament. Either the Beavers or the Bears are up next.