It’s fitting, really.
On the night that Utah honors their former coach -- the late Rick Majerus, who spent many seasons in Salt Lake City and brought the Utes to the 1998 national title game -- by placing one of his patented, cream-colored sweaters on the first seat on the bench, Larry Krystkowiak’s team put together their most impressive performance since ... Majerus was actually on the Huntsman Center sideline?
Boise State was 6-1 on the season coming in, with a 13 point win at Creighton on their resume and their only loss coming by four at Michigan State, but found themselves down 27-8 in the blink of an eye. Utah would push that lead to as much as 26 points en route to a 76-55 win.
“We felt like coach Majerus was with us all night. He was right on the bench with us, smiling down,” senior center Jason Washburn said. “We talked about giving our best, and giving a complete performance. This was a Rick Majerus type of game. We hope that we made him proud.”
Utah finished the game shooting 68% from the floor as they won their sixth game of the season, matching last year’s win total just eight games in and picking up what is undoubtedly the biggest win of Krystkowiak’s tenure.
Boise State came in with a combination of hype and momentum, but they ran into a Utah buzzsaw that sent them back to Idaho with a heaping helping of humility.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.
