Utah didn’t exactly open the season the way it wanted, even with a win in the books.
The Utes had to claw back from a 17-point hole to beat Long Beach State 66-63 on Monday at home, and that comeback left coach Alex Jensen focused less on the final score than on everything that went wrong before it. Utah is 1-0, but Jensen made it clear the performance didn’t meet the standard.
“It was disappointing in a lot of respects for me because I think we took a step back,” Jensen said. “I think we took two steps back and maybe one step forward (Monday). We had three good exhibition games, but (we) can’t make the same mistakes over and over again individually or collectively and put ourselves in a hole.”
The biggest reason Utah was able to escape was Trey Campbell, who delivered across the board with 20 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Jensen didn’t hold back when talking about how much the Utes leaned on him.
“We don’t win the game without Trey,” Jensen said. “I kind of feel bad for him because we had to lean on him as much as we did.
We had to put the ball in his hands offensively. And then he was our best defender on the two guys that they had that got going.
So can’t say enough about Trey. I feel bad because I don’t think he had enough help.”
Utah’s turnaround came after a rough first half that featured shooting problems and 10 turnovers, which Long Beach State turned into 18 points while building its big lead. The Utes steadied themselves after halftime and outscored the Beach 38-23 over the final 20 minutes.
Now Utah gets right back to work Thursday night in Salt Lake City, where it opens the second game of a five-game homestand against Towson in the first meeting between the programs.
Towson arrives at 0-1 after dropping its opener 89-70 Monday at Santa Clara, finishing a two-game Western trip at the Huntsman Center. The Tigers had bright spots, including Jaquan Womack’s 15-point, 12-rebound double-double and 15 points from Zion Stanford, but they couldn’t dig out of a 43-35 halftime deficit.
Towson coach Pat Skerry said the effort was there, but the details weren’t.
“Any time we got it close, we did something to hurt ourselves -- live-ball turnovers, a couple missed block-outs,” Skerry said. “We played too fast. We’re better than what we played, and we’ll get better, I believe.”
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The BYU game in Salt Lake City stands out because it can reshape how the committee views Utah's path from here, especially with so many other contenders trying to protect their standing. Advanced metrics may like the Utes, but this is the kind of late-season test where perception can change fast, and the stakes are high enough that one loss could leave Utah chasing a very different playoff conversation. [Read more 🡒]