Turbulent Utah season hit its lowest point in loss at Baylor

There have been some terrible starts for Utah during a difficult season as first-year coach Alex Jensen tries to turn around his alma mater.

The talent level wasn’t what the Runnin’ Utes needed to compete in the Big 12 Conference after a roster overhaul, and it has led to the team finding itself consistently fighting from behind this season.

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The Utes hit their lowest of lows on Saturday, though, in their regular-season finale, a 101-76 loss at Baylor.

Utah’s defensive effort — or lack thereof — and another porous effort in protecting the ball culminated in the Utes’ most lopsided loss of the year at Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas.

“I’m fine with losing. Just the effort was frustrating and not what — they owe it to themselves and I think the university,” Jensen said in a postgame interview on ESPN 700 AM.

“… I think the first five minutes we replicated the same mistakes that we’ve had for the last two two weeks or so, unforced turnovers, and it’s hard to win or get better when you make the same mistakes over and over again.”

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Baylor’s offense met little resistance out of the gate, as the Bears made 21 of their first 25 shots and went on runs of 10-0, 12-0 and 10-0 again to go up 51-25 before taking a 20-point lead into the break.

The Utes (10-21, 2-16 Big 12), meanwhile, were careless with the basketball, giving up 10 first-half turnovers that led to 22 Baylor points, helping the Bears go into halftime up 53-33.

“We’ve talked about it all year long, don’t jump the pass, don’t get sped up,” Jensen said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers at halftime.

“Our margin for error’s small, and it’s hard to be in a game, let alone win a game, giving up 22 points off turnovers in a half.”

When Utah gave up more than 50 points to Colorado during the first half of its home finale earlier this week, the Utes at least put together a second-half rally to make things interesting before falling by 14.

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That didn’t happen in Waco, though.

Utah could only pull as close as 17 in the early moments of the second half before Baylor (16-15, 6-12 Big 12) simply had its way and led by as many as 30 points before easing into the victory.

The Bears dominated in most statistical categories — they outscored Utah 58-42 in paint points and also had sizable advantages in total rebounds (26-19), offensive rebounds (12-6), second-chance points (15-10), bench points (30-14), steals (10-3) and assists (22-15).

“It’s hard,” Jensen said. “We try to pressure the pick and roll because we’re not great at guarding the ball one-on-one. That leaves us exposed underneath, and again, winning or losing, I’m just disappointed how we lost because I think we could have had a little more fight in us.”

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The Utes ended up shooting only one percentage point lower than Baylor — at 60.4% to 61.5% — though that’s misleading, as it was greatly impacted by Utah shooting 65.4% in the second half when the game was out of reach.

It was only the ninth loss for Utah since 1996-97 when the Utes have shot 55% or better, per men’s basketball sports information director John Vu.

Turnovers, especially, stood out for a Utah team that has proven to be lackadaisical with the ball. The Utes ended up with 16 turnovers, and Baylor turned those into 31 points.

Utah only forced three Bears turnovers and converted those into five points. That one statistic accounted for the 26-point margin of loss for the Utes.

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Utah didn’t have an answer for Baylor freshman guard Tounde Yessoufou, who finished with 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting. He also had five rebounds, four assists and a career high tying six steals.

Bears guard Cameron Carr also had a standout day, as Baylor had four players in double figures. Carr ended up with 21 points on an efficient 9 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

All five players in Baylor’s starting lineup ended up with at least three assists, led by Caden Powell with five.

The Bears ended up scoring an average of 1.656 points per possession, and that only went down slightly in the second half after averaging 1.767 points per possession in the first 20 minutes.

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Don McHenry led the Utes with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists, and Terrence Brown (16 points, five assists) and Keanu Dawes (14 points) also finished in double-figures, though Brown and Dawes added most of their points in the second half when it was a blowout.

If there’s a silver lining for the Utes, it’s that the season is nearly over.

Utah will be the No. 16 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament, and if the effort the team has put on the floor recently shows up again, it should be a quick exit. The Utes play No. 9 seed Cincinnati on Tuesday (1 p.m. MST, ESPN+) in the tournament’s first round.

“I truly mean it, it’s another opportunity and challenge. You only get so many. It’s hard to realize when you’re in the middle of it, but like there’s only so many games you have every year and in your career,” Jensen said of facing a Cincinnati team next week that the Utes led by five with under two minutes to play in their first matchup this year before falling 69-65.

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“Cincinnati, I’m kind of glad for that matchup because that was a game I think we could have won at the end. You know, challenge our guys. We’ll find out what they’re made of and if they take that challenge or just kind of have a little pride and come out and fight.”