Considering how much Utah and Grand Canyon love to score, perhaps it makes sense that both their coaches are desperate to see defensive improvement when they meet on Tuesday night in an Acrisure Classic opener in Palm Desert, Calif.
Utah (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday when Cal Poly came into Salt Lake City and secured a 92-85 win — helped by hitting 14 of 25 from 3-point range.
It was a sour end to the Utes’ six-game homestand to start the season. The Runnin’ Utes trailed Cal Poly 50-39 at halftime after allowing the Mustangs to shoot 54.8% (17 of 31) from the field and 52.9% (9 of 17) from 3-point range.
“Just disappointed in how we started out the game,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said. “Defensively, hard to give up 50 points. Our guys have got to just individually take the challenge to guard, to play defense.
“Offense will work itself out, but defensively you’ve gotta guard, individually and collectively, and how do I as a teammate fit into this scheme to what we’re doing? Our mind can’t be anywhere else.”
Meanwhile, Grand Canyon (3-2) defeated Northwestern State 85-72 on Friday at home, but the Antelopes allowed the Demons to shoot 61.5% from the field in the second half.
“We have to play way better,” Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said. “I think our guys obviously will be fired up. We have to guard 1-on-1. It’s probably not going to change dramatically unless the guy sits down in front and doesn’t let his guy score. Hopefully, we’ll pack our defense.”
Grand Canyon withstood Northwestern State by shooting 54.2% from the field in the second half while making 17 of 21 shots from the free-throw line.
The Lopes also won the rebounding battle 41-17. They outrebounded a D1 opponent by at least 24 for the first time since Nov. 10, 2018 against Delaware State.
Graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane led Grand Canyon with 12 rebounds, his fourth consecutive double-digit rebounding game.
Utah guard Terrence Brown had a game-high 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field against Cal Poly, but his string of 25 consecutive free throws made was halted with 54 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
