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Show 6 Friday January 27, 2012 SPORTS 15° / 9 a.m. 25° / 3 p.m. conditions & weather from utahskiweather.com Some new snow over packed powder and bumps. TODAY'S SKI REPORT Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS TODAY: Track Utah @ Boise State Open 10:30 a.m. Boise, Idaho Women's Tennis Utah @ UCLA 1 p.m. Las Angeles, Calif Swimming & Diving Utah @ BYU 6 p.m. Provo Gymnastics Utah vs. BYU 7 p.m. Huntsman Center SATURDAY: Men's Basketball Utah @ USC 9 p.m. Los Angeles, Calif Women's Basketball Utah vs. USC 3 p.m. Huntsman Center NCAA RANKINGS GYMNASTICS 15° / 9 a.m. 25° / 3 p.m. 20° / 9 a.m. 31° / 3 p.m. Canyons a.m. Deer Valley 20° 310 I/39p.m. Snowbird 15° / 9 a.m. 25° / 3 p.m. Solitude 16° / 9 a.m. 26° / 3 p.m. MEN'S BASKETBALL Utah offense too sparse AGAINST UCLA The Bruins' physical play was too much for the Utes to handle, as they gained as much as a 30-point lead Jory Carroll UTAH: 49 UCLA: 76 STAFF WRITER A regular problem for the Run- nin' Utes this season has been their tendency to get off to slow starts. Unfortunately for the Utes, Chris Hines' and Dijon Farr's early 3-pointers were misleading as the Utes' quick start only led to an abysmal finish against UCLA. The Bruins held a i5-point lead at halftime, and in the opening minutes of the second half, they quickly shot down any chance of a Utah comeback. UCLA 4-4 Pac12) cruised to a 76-49 win over the Utes, keeping Utah winless on the road this season. The Utes (5-15, 2-6) began the game tied at 9-9. But soon after that, Utah's offense hit a brick wall, as the Utes began to put up quick shots and air balls against the Bruins. After the halftime break, Utah's offensive woes only continued, unable to settle into any kind of groove. Utah assistant coach DeMarlo Slocum said the Utes struggled at the end of the first half, and were unable to get things going after halftime. "[UCLAs] a big, physical team. They were consistent on the defensive end of the ball. A couple of our shots toward the end of the half stopped falling," Slocum said on the KALL 70o postgame radio show. "[UCLA] made some shots, and missed some, but we didn't get block outs and they got second chances." Hines led the Utes with 13 points, and freshman Anthony Odunsi scored nine points. But NEXT GAME: UTAH vs. USC Saturday at 9 p.m. Los Angeles, Calif. other than that, the Utes' offense was sparse. Utah's leading scorer and rebounder, Jason Washburn, finished the night with just six points and two rebounds. After his early 3-pointer, Farr didn't score the rest of the game, and the Utes finished the game just 5-fori6 from behind the arc. Junior Cedric Martin finished the game with a team-high six rebounds for the Utes, but was held scoreless by the Bruins. Without any points from Martin, and only six points from Washburn, UCLA's lead only grew throughout the game, reaching 3o-plus at one point. In complete contrast to the Utes, the Bruins were on fire from the field. UCLAs starters combined for 58 points, led by Joshua Smith's game-high 14 points. David Wear and Jerime Anderson also contributed 13 points a piece for the Bruins, who as a team shot nearly 6o percent from the field. With the game getting out of hand in the second half, Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak rested his starters and gave some minutes to reserve players such as George Matthews, Kyle Perkins and Alex Mortensen. The team will need all it can take as it faces USC tomorrow night, looking to put an end to its losing streak on the road. j.carroll@chronicle.utah.edu 1 Arkansas 2 UCLA 3 Utah 4 Nebraska 5 Oklahoma 6 Alabama 7 Georgia 8 Florida 9 Penn State 10 Oregon State 11 Ohio State 12 Stanford 13 Boise State 14 Illinois 15 Arizona 16 Auburn 17 LSU 18 Denver Jory Carroll 19 Michigan STAFF WRITER 20 Missouri 21 North Carolina State 22 Washington 23 Iowa 24 Maryland 25 West Virginia Although USC's football program is well known around the nation, the school's basketball team is currently at the other end of the spectrum. The Trojans are at the bottom of the Pac-i2 standings this season, without a conference win. The Utes and Trojans share similar records overall, KIMBERLY ROACH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Jason Washburn looks to make a layup. The Utes lost to UCLA 76-49. Worst Pac-12 teams to face off but with USC's last win coming in the middle of December, Utah has the momentum heading into Saturday's meeting. The Utes have been abysmal on the road this season, but with USC struggling all around, the matchup gives Utah its best shot at picking up a road win. The Trojans only boast a 3-8 record at home, and are 1-12 in their last 13 games. That lone win came against TCU at home on December 19, but the Trojans have since lost four straight home games at the Galen Center. But even with that said, the Utes have shown that getting a win is no easy task, even if they are the favorites on paper. The main difference between Utah winning and losing this season has been consistency and balance. In the team's most recent win against the Sun Devils, the Utes shot consistently from 3-point range, and four Utes finished the game in double figures. But Utah's losses this season have mainly come when only one or two players reach double figures, and the team struggles from beyond the arc. Even though USC is at the bottom of See USC Page 7 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Utes prepare defense vs. physical Trojans Parker Lee STAFF WRITER MADELINE SMITH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Janita Badon fights for control against UCLA's Mariah Williams. The Bruins grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the first half. Full-court press costs Utes Parker Lee STAFF WRITER The Utes had the Bruins right where they wanted them, but it all slipped through their fingers in a mere matter of minutes as they lost to UCLA, 65-6o. Utah had a comfortable nine-point lead with five minutes 3o seconds to go in the second half and they were poised to claim their first home win against a Pac-i2 opponent. Then UCLA put on a full-court press, and it was all downhill from there. That led to six Utah turnovers in the next four and a half minutes, which opened UTAH: 60 UCLA: 65 NEXT GAME: UTAH vs. USC Saturday at 3 p.m. Hunstman Center the door for the Bruins to steal the game away from the Utes. "That's incredibly disappointing for how well we played for about 35 minutes of the game," coach Anthony Levrets said. "With a young team, it is always something new, it seems. In the first half, it was offensive rebounding. In the second half, they turn us over with their press and get easy baskets." Utah could have built a big halftime lead, but rebounding killed them. UCLA grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the first half. Levrets addressed the issue at the break, and the Utes fixed it. Unfortunately for Utah, they couldn't get back the second chances they gave away in the first half. Utah forward Taryn Wicijowski said they would have put themselves in a much better position if they had done a See PRESS Page 7 After being defeated by the UCLA Bruins on Thursday, Utah is attempting to get back in the win column as it hosts the USC Trojans. USC has been one of the top teams in the Pac-12 this season, at least in conference play. After dropping its conference opener to Stanford, USC won five straight Pac-12 games. "They are one of the most talented teams in the conference," said Utah coach Anthony Levrets. "Tons of McDonald's all-Americans all over their roster. They're big, they're strong, they're physical, they're very good defensively and they are well coached." The Trojans do not have one decent scorer — they have three. Ashley Corral, Briana Gilbreath and Cassie Harberts all average 11.6 points per game or more. Corral gets her points from behind the arc. She is the top 3-point shooter in the conference at 41 percent. Solid perimeter defense will be crucial for the Utes. At 36.5 percent, USC has the worst field-goal percentage of any PacI2 team, but they are the secondbest 3-point shooting team at 34 percent. Utah's 3-point defense is ninth in the conference. Against UCLA, the Utes allowed guard Mariah Williams to go 3-4 from 3-point range when she was just 2-25 in her career before that. A true deep shooter, like Corral, could really do some damage if she gets open. Just because the Utes have to give extra attention to the outside, it doesn't mean they can neglect the interior. Gilbreath and Harberts both are big post presences and they do their scoring down low. Both players also snag more than six rebounds per game. Utah forward Taryn Wicijowski said offensive rebounding will be especially important. She also said they need to handle the full-court press, which has been a struggle of late. "We have a good half-court defense and a good half-court offense, but we need to not let the press affect us and we can't give USC 0-boards," Wicijowski said. Winning the rebound battle will be another factor in Utah's success against USC. Both teams have a season rebound margin of plus-three per game. The team to come out on top in that category could very well be Saturday's winner. Utah committed 20 turnovers against UCLA on Thursday, See TROJANS Page 7 |
