Utes ‘proud’ of late surge

Kansas forward Jamari Traylor (31) fights for a rebound with Utah forward Chris Reyes (20) during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Sprint Center. At right is Utah guard/forward Dakarai Tucker (14).

• Box score

Kansas City, Mo. ? His team trailed by 18 at halftime, 21 early in the second half and gave up a two-point lead late. Yet there Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak sat, opening his postgame meeting with the media following Saturday’s 63-60 loss to Kansas University with the word “proud” being one of the first to come out of his mouth.

“It’s hard for me to sit up here and be as disappointed as I would be if it was a first-half game,” Krystkowiak said. “Because our guys bounced back. It was a heck of a second half. I just wish we had one or two of those plays back.”

After battling the 10th-ranked Jayhawks (8-1) toe-to-toe for the first eight minutes of Saturday’s showdown between one-loss teams at Sprint Center, the 13th-ranked Utes (7-2) watched with amazement as a 17-16 lead turned into a 39-19 deficit during the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Krystkowiak lamented his team’s effort, energy and intensity during the first 20 minutes and said talk of improving all three areas dominated the locker room at halftime. That improvement came in bunches, and the Utes eventually took a 55-53 lead with 4:36 to play. But it was a single play late in the first half that spring-boarded the surge.

With the first-half clock winding down, Utah senior Delon Wright delivered a moment that demonstrated exactly what Krystkowiak hoped to see after the break. After crossing his man over at the top of the key, Wright drove hard to the rim, cocked his arm back and flushed a nasty, one-handed dunk over two Jayhawks who challenged the shot. The bucket only counted for two points and Kansas still led 39-21. But both Krystkowiak and Wright said they thought the flush gave the Utes hope.

“Definitely,” Wright said. “I think the guys saw that I was ready to play and they didn’t feel alone out there. My energy was up and the conversation at halftime was just to keep the energy up and take it four minutes at a time.”

Krystkowiak hardly seemed surprised that his star senior, who led all scorers with 23 points while adding five rebounds and four assists, was the one who set the tone for Utah’s comeback.

“He likes big games,” said Krystkowiak of his 6-foot-5 guard from Los Angeles. “And I think he rises to a different level for us when he’s in this type of environment. He was the one guy that was ready to play from the beginning.”

Wright downplayed the dunk after the game, partly because he expects to do that and also because the Utes lost. But he shared his coach’s sentiments regarding the way his team responded to one of its worst halves of the season.

“It’s a loss,” he said. “But we’re not gonna win every game. I’m proud that we fought back and didn’t lose by 20 or 40 or whatever and didn’t let it get out of hand.”