First off, anyone that doubted Jacob Poetl's talent needs to reevaluate. He was by far the best big man on the floor last night even as a true freshmean.
Cal's depleted front line of Kravish, Tarwater and Okoroh were manhandled by the Utes. We shot 2 for 17 from the field and garnered but 11 rebounds between the three of them. Okoroh had an especially rough defensive and rebounding game. He looked slow laterally and simply was not aggressive enough.
Wallace and Bird were clearly up for the challenge but when you play a team with as much talent as Utah, you need your own team to pick up their game a notch. Tarwater, Kravish and Okoroh were not able to do so thus the loss.
Mathews being hurt was a factor. His presence on the floor created lanes for Wallace and space for Bird. Given that the 2nd half seemed to be determined by which team was tougher, not having Mathews toughness was especially painful.
We missed Behrens. He would have been a positive contributor last night given the matchups.
I still like Okoroh's upside but we need reinforcements up front. Assume Behrens cannot come back and we're losing three of our five big men.
Cal's depleted front line of Kravish, Tarwater and Okoroh were manhandled by the Utes. We shot 2 for 17 from the field and garnered but 11 rebounds between the three of them. Okoroh had an especially rough defensive and rebounding game. He looked slow laterally and simply was not aggressive enough.
Wallace and Bird were clearly up for the challenge but when you play a team with as much talent as Utah, you need your own team to pick up their game a notch. Tarwater, Kravish and Okoroh were not able to do so thus the loss.
Mathews being hurt was a factor. His presence on the floor created lanes for Wallace and space for Bird. Given that the 2nd half seemed to be determined by which team was tougher, not having Mathews toughness was especially painful.
We missed Behrens. He would have been a positive contributor last night given the matchups.
I still like Okoroh's upside but we need reinforcements up front. Assume Behrens cannot come back and we're losing three of our five big men.
