Perfect Utes
No. 8 Utah wins 22nd straight, rolls to WAC championship
Posted: Sunday March 07, 1999 01:08 AM
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Utah players celebrate with the trophy after beating New Mexico for the WAC championship. AP |
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- New Mexico doesn't want to play No. 8 Utah again. The way the Utes are playing, not too many teams in the NCAA tournament will want to, either.
Utah capped a perfect Western Athletic Conference season Saturday night by beating No. 25 New Mexico for the third time this year, 60-45, to win the WAC championship.
It was the 22nd straight win for Utah, which was a mediocre 5-4 team seemingly on its way to nowhere when it began winning shortly before Christmas.
"Do we have to play Utah anymore?" New Mexico coach Dave Bliss asked, shaking his head.
Not likely, although the Lobos (24-8) believe they should join Utah in the NCAA tournament after winning two WAC tournament games and playing the Utes tough for a half despite injured star Kenny Thomas being in street clothes on the bench.
Alex Jensen helped dominate inside in the second half as the Utes opened up a close game against the undermanned Lobos to finish WAC play a perfect 17-0.
"We don't look pretty but the sum is greater than the parts," Utah coach Rick Majerus said.
Utah, which was knocked out of the same tournament in the quarterfinals last year only to go on to play Kentucky for the national championship, is expected to get a high seed when the NCAA pairings are announced Sunday.
The Utes haven't looked that far ahead, although senior guard Andre Miller said the prospect of returning to the Final Four is enticing.
"There's only three of us that really have any experience there," Miller said. "Some of the younger guys might be a little excited and fired up so we just have to get them calmed down and playing in the system."
The system wasn't working in the first half against New Mexico as Utah failed to take advantage of a big height advantage and instead shot away from the outside, making only 4-of-17 3-point attempts.
A talk by Majerus at halftime got Utah back to its usual game -- strong defense and tough rebounding.
"I was obviously upset with the players and we remedied that situation," Majerus said.
Jensen had 10 of his 18 points in the second half as Utah went inside against a New Mexico team playing a zone defense with three guards on the court at most times.
New Mexico stayed close midway through the second half but didn't have enough against a team it lost to by 30 points only a week ago with a healthy Thomas.
"We showed that we're more than just Kenny Thomas and a bunch of stiffs," Bliss said.
The Utes (27-4), outrebounded in the first half and leading by only a point at halftime, used their big height advantage in the second half to pull away.
New Mexico (24-8) trailed only 40-37 with 12:13 left in the game when Hanno Mottola started a 10-0 run with a layup. By the time Jensen scored inside to finish the run, Utah was ahead 50-37 and had the game in hand.
Utah, which was never outrebounded in winning 21 straight games prior to the conference final, outrebounded New Mexico 24-14 in the second half and 41-33 for the game.
Jensen, the tournament's most valuable player, had 11 of those rebounds to go with his 18 points on a night when star guard Andre Miller hit only 6-of-15 shots, missing all six 3-point attempts.
Kevin Henry scored 13 points for New Mexico while Damion Walker had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Utah beat New Mexico by 30 points only a week ago, and by 18 when the teams met early last month.
Thomas was in the lineup for both of those games, but sat on the bench in street clothes as the Lobos fielded a small lineup featuring three guards to try and offset the height advantage of Utah's big front line.
It worked during the first half as the makeshift lineup outhustled the Utes and outrebounded them 19-17.
The lead changed hands nine times during the first half before Utah took its biggest lead of the half, 24-18, on a 3-pointer by Mottola with four minutes remaining. New Mexico kept scrapping, however, and had a chance to tie the game when Walker scored underneath and was fouled with 4.6 seconds left.
Walker missed the free throw, however, and Utah went into halftime leading 27-26.
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