As Utah and Towson prepare to meet for the first time ever on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, they have something in common despite differing results in their season openers.
Both teams feel like they have a lot of room for improvement.
Despite erasing a 17-point deficit to beat Long Beach State 66-63 on Monday at home, the Utes (1-0) were not pleased that the victory required such a big comeback. It was necessary after a rough first-half shooting performance and because Long Beach State turned 10 first-half Utah turnovers into 18 points en route to the big lead.
“It was disappointing in a lot of respects for me because I think we took a step back,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said. “I think we took two steps back and maybe one step forward (Monday). We had three good exhibition games, but (we) can’t make the same mistakes over and over again individually or collectively and put ourselves in a hole.”
Trey Campbell provided the biggest spark in the Utes’ comeback, totaling 20 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals.
“We don’t win the game without Trey,” Jensen said. “I kind of feel bad for him because we had to lean on him as much as we did. We had to put the ball in his hands offensively. And then he was our best defender on the two guys that they had that got going. So can’t say enough about Trey. I feel bad because I don’t think he had enough help.”
Thursday will be the second contest in a five-game homestand for Utah, which outscored Long Beach State 38-23 in the second half.
Towson (0-1), meanwhile, will complete a two-game Western trek at the Huntsman Center after losing Monday’s opener 89-70 at Santa Clara.
Jaquan Womack tallied a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double, while Zion Stanford also scored 15 points.
Unlike the Utes, the Tigers couldn’t overcome their halftime deficit (43-35) as Santa Clara pulled away in the second half.
Towson coach Pat Skerry said he was fine with his players’ effort but noted that the execution needs improvement.
“Any time we got it close, we did something to hurt ourselves — live-ball turnovers, a couple missed block-outs,” Skerry said. “We played too fast. We’re better than what we played, and we’ll get better, I believe.”