As the University of Utah basketball team has gone winless over the last month, there has been an interesting subplot bubbling, which now appears to be coming to a full boil following the Utes’ 63-58 loss to No. 9 UCLA late Thursday evening.
Five minutes, zero points, zero shot attempts, the two fouls, an assist, and no run in the second half as the Utes pushed the Bruins to the limit for 40 minutes. Jenkins Jr. went scoreless for the third time in six games, and it would have been four out of six had he not knocked down a transition 3-pointer with 35 seconds to play in an 18-point loss at Arizona last weekend.
In the middle of all that, it should be noted that Smith substituted liberally on Thursday night. At the 11:00 mark of the first half, Smith had played 11 players. That included third-year walk-on sophomore guard Eli Ballstaedt and Jaxon Brenchley, who played sparingly at Arizona and not at all at Arizona State while dealing with an ankle injury.
Ballstaedt ate up rotation minutes. Brenchley’s minutes have fluctuated, but he clearly earned more opportunities after Thursday. So, as things pertain to Jenkins Jr., now what? “He had two fouls in the first half and I really loved how we were playing,” Smith said. “He got his second foul, we took him out and I thought we had a really good mojo, good rhythm, really good timing, and the way we were guarding.
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