Utah Hoops - Surprise. It wasn't Martin

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As Utah's resident defensive stopper, We all thought Cedric Martin would be assigned the task of stopping Washington's guard C.J. Wilcox, the Pleasant Grove native who's been tearing up the Pac-12 this season.

We thought wrong.

The assignment didn't go to Martin, the man who had been so successful against people like Shabazz Muhammad and Tyler Haws.

No, the assignment went to 5-foot-10 junior Glen Dean. And he promptly played his best game of the season.

Dean held the 6-5 Wilcox scoreless in the first half. He did score 14 by the end of the game, but it was mostly after the game was decided.

By the way, Martin harrassed Scott Suggs, the other high-scoring wing, into a 4-16 shooting performance.

The reasoning was simple. Dean, defensively, is Utah's best trail guy on screens, the guy who can get through and challenge Wilcox. Martin is a better defender against guys who post up and try to take you off the dribble. Together, the two took away a huge chunk of Washington's offense.

Tony Jones