WACO, Texas — Earlier this week when Utah men’s basketball coach Craig Smith discussed the team’s first Big 12 opponent, Baylor, one thing he made sure to point out is that the Bears are adept at forcing turnovers.
That proved to be true, as No. 25 Baylor forced Utah into a season-high 17 turnovers in the Utes’ 81-56 loss to the Bears at Foster Pavilion on New Year’s Eve.
Baylor, who entered the day 35th in the nation in forcing turnovers with a 15.5 per-game clip, turned those takeaways into a 22-8 edge in points off turnovers against the Utes.
While it wasn’t the key factor in Utah’s 25-point loss, it played a role in the Utes’ worst offensive day of the season.
Tuesday was the first time this season Utah (8-4, 0-1 Big 12) has had more turnovers than its opponent — the Bears had 12.
“We’ve done a good job of this this year, but we had 17 turnovers. Now they turn you over — they’re top (35) in the country in creating turnovers. We just had some senseless turnovers that really led to direct points. In fact, 22 of them. That was a real issue for us,” Smith said.
The Utes spent the afternoon largely out of rhythm offensively — they shot a season-low 31.8% from the field, hit 23.3% from 3-point range (second-worst this year) and made 7 of 13 from the free-throw line — the seven makes was a season low.
In the first half, Utah hit just 1 of 12 3-point attempts as the Utes fell behind 37-17.
At one point in the second half, Utah trailed by as many as 31 points before its shooting improved slightly, with the outcome already decided and both teams emptying their benches.
After turning the ball over seven times in the first half, though, the Utes had 10 turnovers following the break as a frustrating day continued to compound upon itself.
The Bears turned those 10 second-half turnovers into 18 points.
“It’s definitely huge just to turn them over. They’re not a team that’s going to turn it over a lot, but that’s something we pride ourselves in, and our defense is going to lead to our offense.”
Baylor guard Jeremy Roach
Baylor guard Jeremy Roach, one of four Bears who had two steals in the game, said forcing as many turnovers as they did helped set the tone by “making them uncomfortable.”
“We felt like a lot of teams were kind of just letting them pass the ball around, screens, slip. I think us switching one through five was definitely a big thing, just taking them out of their offense. Because they run a five-out motion offense, looking to slip and stuff like that, and look to get guys not communicating, little miscommunications,” Roach said.
“It’s definitely huge just to turn them over. They’re not a team that’s going to turn it over a lot, but that’s something we pride ourselves in, and our defense is going to lead to our offense.”
That’s just one part of an equation that the Utes will have to figure out as they get used to playing in the Big 12 — how to handle pressure, especially on the road.
“It’s really hard to win on the road. It’s just really hard,” Smith said. “You’ve got to play very good, tough-minded basketball, and we weren’t good enough today.”
The next chance for collecting Utah’s first-ever Big 12 conference win will come at home, as the Utes host Texas Tech on Saturday.
Like Utah, the Red Raiders (9-3, 0-1 Big 12) are coming off a Big 12 opening loss, though Texas Tech lost at home against UCF.
Tip off will be at 5 p.m. MST. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on 700 AM.
