Giac ball

It's just lovely.....for the opposing team

Looking at these stats, it isn't a surprise why the Utes lose. While scoring 71 points per game, they also give up nearly 70 themselves. They also allow the opponents to shoot a near blistering 49% from the field and 48% from three point land.

The Utes field goal shooting is impressive, but when they allow teams to shoot 47% from three point land and can only muster 44% when they try, things are going to get ugly. Wednesday night's UNLV game pretty much proved why the Utes need to defend better when it comes to the three point threat. These adjustments will probably lower that number and position the Utes to actually get stops on the defensive end. For how good Utah's offense has been this year, their defense is as equally -- if not more -- bad. As the old saying goes, offense puts butts in the seats, but defense wins championships and that's the underlining factor concerning this Utah team right now.

I understand Giacoletti wants a more offensive team at Utah than the fans are accustom to, but that type of production should never handicap Utah's ability to win and it seems it has. I don't know if Giacoletti teaches defense in practice, but I'm wondering if he is more content at out shooting the opponent than actually employing a defensive strategy that stops the opposing teams dead in their tracks.

If the Utes were a fundamentally sound defensive team this season, they would have enjoyed wins over Colorado, rival Utah State on the road, Rhode Island, Northwestern and UNLV. They also probably would have a record of 13-1. There is a world of difference between 13-1 and 5-9. A whole career difference, at least for Ray Giacoletti.