It wasn't pretty, but Jim Boylen is smiling.  What brings a smile to this ever demanding head coach of the University of Utah, he saw improvement.  Coach Boylen is always preaching to his players that defense is the key, and demands improvement in each outing.

He saw his team, hold the Weber State Wildcats to just 36.4% shooting (only 31.8% in the first half), and caused the Wildcats to turn the ball over 18 times.  Thoughout the game the Utes frustrated Weber State not allowing them to get into any semblance of their offense. Throughout the game Boylen could be seen down in a defensive stance encouraging his team to continue the energy on the defensive side.

While the defense was good, the offense struggled..at least in the first part of the game.  At one point in the first half the Utes trailed 16 - 4, but then the tide shifted.  Sean Green caught fire from outside the 3 point arch and he was hot.  Green hit on 5 of 8 from three in the first half and single handedly brought the Utes back into the game.  His three from just short of half court at the first half buzzer gave the Utes the 27 - 21 halftime lead, and the Utes ended the half on a 23 - 5 run.

From the day he introduced his team to the media, Coach Boylen has asked for his big Aussie center, Luke Nevill to grow up and be accounted for.  In the second half, it was clear the coach was going to force feed the big man underneath to get him jump started.  In the first half, Nevill was 1 for 5 and struggled against a much smaller Wildcat center in Steve Panos.  In the second half, Nevill was 7 for 11 and finished the game with 16 as he out muscled and out finessed the smaller man, getting Panos into early foul trouble in the second half.

Now what?  The Utes looked fantastic in the second half of the game shooting 72%, and ran away  from Weber State.  The offense couldn't miss, and the defense continued to frustrate.  Coach Boylen said before the game that he was glad now because he had some game tape to look at and see what his team has improved on, and what they needed to continue to improve on.  He can throw all that tape out and just look at this game.  When the Utes move the ball, and when the big man is active the Utes are good (see 2nd half, and the Washington game).  When they don't, they are very average (see early first half, and Santa Clara game).  After the game, go figure, Boylen said the team still had a ways to go.

Next up, UC Irvine.  Saturday at the Huntsman Center.