Utah's head coach Craig Smith is focused on establishing a tough, physical, and mentally disciplined identity for his team as they prepare for the challenging Big 12 Conference schedule.
Craig Smith and the Runnin’ Utes are in search of an identity. Utah’s head coach has had that thought in mind when watching film and preparing for his team’s final preseason tune-ups. Now he’s hoping to establish it as the Runnin' Utes look forward to a grueling Big 12 Conference slate. “I know what I want our identity to be,” Smith said this past weekend. “We have to be tough-minded, very physical and mentally disciplined and very, very physical and tough. We have to defend at a high level.
We have to rebound at a high level. That’s been a huge emphasis from day one, because in this league, if you don’t rebound, it’s going to be a really long year and some games will be really, really long.” Utah and Smith were able to get back on track following a 72-63 loss to Saint Mary’s on Dec. 7. The Runnin' Utes captured a blowout win over Radford on Saturday evening, despite being out-rebounded 38-32 by the Highlanders.Defensively, Utah held Radford to a 41% shooting clip from the field and a 30.4% mark from 3-point range. The win brought Utah’s record to 7-2 on the season with two contests remaining until Big 12 play — which begins with a New Year’s Eve bout against Baylor. Getting back in the win column, certainly, was a start for Smith, especially after Utah missed 16 shots at the rim against Saint Mary’s. He saw progress in the Utes' win over Radford. “It was great for us to get back into practice and kind of re-establish an identity,” Smith said after Utah’s win. “We had a heck of a week in practice. ... (We) did a better job at finishing plays, as a whole, around the rim. We still have to make our free throws. But, I thought we defended hard and made them earn a lot of stuff, especially in the second half.” The addition of Caleb Lohner, who transferred from Baylor to Salt Lake City to play football, will add a new level of athleticism and physicality to Utah’s frontcour
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