Utes are finished unless they can start better

If the Utah basketball team doesn’t want Thursday night’s game to be the finish to the season, the Utes need to learn how to start a game.
The Utes have lost six of their last seven games, in part because of terrible starts. Most fans only remember the Utes’ ongoing problem of finishing games, but coach Jim Boylen always reminds us that the minutes early in the game are just as important as those at the end.
The Utes have had some poor stretches this year, but lately it’s their starts that are killing them.
Against UNLV, the Utes missed their first six shots, four of which were layups and 11 of their first 12 and dug themselves an early 10-point hole.
In the previous loss to Wyoming, the Utes missed three shots and had three turnovers in the first five minutes and fell behind 8-2.
In a loss to New Mexico, the Utes only scored two points in the first four-and-a-half minutes. In a loss to BYU, the Utes missed five of their first seven shots and fell behing 8-4.
The worst was the game against San Diego State when the Utes went nearly seven minutes without scoring and fell behind 11-0. Somehow the Utes were able to come back and win that game.
So what’s the answer? You ask the coaches and players and they say they need to make more shots in the early going and not make stupid turnovers. The Utes’ defense seems to be OK in the early minutes, but with the exception of the TCU game, which the Utes eventually lost, their offense has been terrible at the start of games.
I think the new lineup with Luka Drca and Kim Tillie starting is a good idea, even if the Utes got off to poor starts against Wyoming and UNLV. If the Utes can stay even for five minutes, they should have a big advantage when Luke Nevill and Johnnie Bryant enter the game and give the Utes their best offense,
We’ll see if a better start makes a difference Thursday night.