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Corvallis, Ore. • For the second straight year, the Utes found themselves under a strange spell within the walls of Gill Coliseum.
For almost four and a half minutes, they couldn't hit a shot. They lost track of Oregon State's best player on defense. They turned the ball over three times in the final 1:08 of the game: travel, five-second rule, travel.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak said his team "lost our composure." It's also called a choke.
A 68-67 defeat marked a new low for Utah in a quickly flatlining season. Oregon State celebrated its first conference win with fans spilling onto the court after 14 straight defeats, and the Utes slumped out of their fourth straight road game with a defeat on their backs — arguably the program's most embarrassing Pac-12 defeat.
"There's no excuses," sophomore Sedrick Barefield said.
It didn't quite have the dramatic flair of last year's stumble against the Beavers — when a last-second foul gave Oregon State a go-ahead chance at the line. But it was gradual: a turnover here, a missed shot there, and Utah's 10-point lead with five minutes left crumbled.
Missing five of their last six shots, Utah (17-10, 8-7) gave a window to Stephen Thompson Jr, who set a career high for a second straight game against the Utes this season with 31 points.
The sophomore guard hit an open 3-pointer to bring his team one point shy, then JaQuori McLaughlin tied the game at 64 with 53 seconds to play. The Utes managed to get junior Kyle Kuzma (team-best 19 points) a 3-point look out of the timeout, and he buried Utah's first basket in four-and-a-half minutes.
But Utah got a terminal case of the yips starting on the next possession: It took Thompson just eight seconds to burst through for a layup as the Utes switched into the wrong defense. Then came a turnover with 27 seconds left, as Barefield failed to find an inbounds target.
Thompson again was good from 2-point range, a go-ahead scoop with 10 seconds left. But as Bonam sped down to court to find an answering basket, he was tangled up in a Beavers scrum and called for a travel, Utah's 17th and final turnover in the game.
"It was our ineptitude on the offensive end," Krystkowiak said. "We're hurrying things. Had a number of turnovers, missed shots. From a defensive point of view, I'd have to look at the film. My mind is more on the breakdowns on the offense that didn't give us a shot."
The crippling turnover down by a point forced Utah to foul with just under three seconds left. While the Beavers couldn't make either shot at the line, neither could Kuzma make a half-court heave as time expired, condemning the Utes to another deflating loss in Corvallis.
Utah looked little like the team that had ambitions of a top-four conference finish just hours before — ambitions that were all but smothered Sunday afternoon. Krystkowiak said he didn't fire off any bombastic speeches after the game, but was taking a night to sleep on it and let the passions of the moment balance with a more distanced perspective.
"I've never been a big fan of trying to manufacture something after a big loss," he said. "We'll get a chance to sort some things out. Come up with a game plan."
Utah's initial game plan was to feed its interior, led by Kuzma returning from an ankle injury. The junior forward was often the most energized player on the floor in the first half, the first to reach double digits in the scoring column with a variety of post moves to attack the basket.
Between his 19-point, 9-rebound effort and a 13-point game from David Collette, the Utes racked up a 42-24 scoring advantage in the paint, and outrebounded the Beavers by 11.
But the execution on offense tripped up the team: Oregon State was able to score 16 points off the 17 Utah turnovers, including an early surge that saw them lead by 10 points after the first eight minutes of play. Aside from Kuzma and Collette, no other Ute scored in double figures.
"We traveled a few times, there's no doubt about it," Krystkowiak said. "Seventeen turnovers. Saw some crazy ones. I don't want to get into it. We'll just leave it that."
The loss saw Utah remain in a fifth-place tie with USC and remain a game behind Cal for fourth place and a Pac-12 Tournament bye. But that goal seemed very far away for the Utes, who gave up a conference victory to the last power-conference team in the country without a league win.
"That one's tough," Barefield said. "We let that one go. We beat ourselves at the end of the day."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Oregon State 68, Utah 67
R Oregon State breaks 14-game losing streak with a win over Utah.
• Stephen Thompson Jr. has his second straight 30-plus point game vs. the Utes.
• Utah's Kyle Kuzma scores 19 in return from injury.
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