Michigan vs Utah Basketball Recap

Utah 68, Michigan 52

Remember the Utah team that was in dire straits a few weeks ago? The Utes and coach Jim Boylen evidently can't, and that's a great blessing for one of the resurgent teams in the Mountain West Conference.

Wednesday night's 16-point popping of a discernibly struggling Michigan team showed that Utah basketball is back on track. This impressive outing at the Jon M. Huntsman Center lifted Utah to 5-4, but more importantly, it gave Boylan's boys a fresh injection of confidence after a rocky pair of weeks.

On Nov. 24, just two days before Thanksgiving, Utah played with all the energy of a stuffed turkey in a shocking 77-74 home loss to Seattle University, a program just beginning to re-enter Division I-A competition. The RedHawks were beginning the second year of a five-year phase-in at the highest level of Division I basketball, but when coach Cameron Dollar led Seattle U to a victory in Salt Lake City, it seemed as though the Utes were the team unused to playing in Division I. Loads of turnovers and an uninspired effort on the boards allowed the Utes to get knocked to the canvas, and suddenly, the team that was a No. 5 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament was struggling to find answers of any kind. Utah would defeat Illinois on Nov. 27, but a Dec. 2 loss to Weber State (interestingly enough, another team that was beaten by Seattle University) reintroduced demons to Boylen's ballclub.

Someway, somehow, the ways of winning needed to be injected into the bloodstream of this slumbering Mountain West program. Inconsistency and mediocrity needed to be flushed out of each and every Ute, in mind and body.

Well, in that case, the Utes performed a lot of internal cleaning against coach John Beilein's Wolverines, who are currently laboring as noticeably as Utah was just a couple weeks ago.

Utah cruised to victory over Michigan for two fundamental reasons. First, UM guard Manny Harris was the only person who showed up for the Maize and Blue. The Wolverines have been known to get caught in the trap of standing around the perimeter and watching their star players shoot, and on this night in Utah, that's the very dynamic which unfolded. Harris led Michigan with 25 points, six rebounds, four steals, and nine free throw attempts, which meant that his teammates weren't leading in any other major categories. Forward DeShawn Sims was UM's second-leading scorer, but with only 10 points in the contest. As long as the middle was being clogged up, Utah had nothing to fear. This game truly was Manny Harris against the University of Utah.

The second reason the Utes prevailed was that they crushed the Wolverines on the boards, 34-21. With Carlon Brown snagging eight boards from the guard position, Utah had great depth and length on the floor at all times. This helps explain why - beyond rebounding - the home standing Utes enjoyed other advantages as well.

Center David Foster blocked five shots, while hauling down six rebounds of his own; Utah guard Luca Drka had a team-high six assists against the Maize and Blue. With balanced contributions from all over the map and role players chipping in with their own unique skill sets, Boylen could get his team to focus on defense and rebounding as a whole. That focus was in evidence on Wednesday, and Michigan never knew how to adjust to Utah's tenacious defensive style.
 
So much for upset losses on home hardwood. The University of Utah might have received its get-well tonic of the year... all while Michigan and its confused coach flew back to Ann Arbor, Mich., with another notch in the loss column.

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