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A night on the town wasn't in the cards, said LaTrill Loveridge, after Utah beat Texas Pan American 85-48 on the day her son became of legal age.
Not even one beer, a reporter asked?
"Root beer," she said.
Jordan Loveridge, No. 21, played 21 minutes on his 21st birthday, scoring 11 points and hitting 3-of-4 attempts from behind the arc to increase his season mark to 50 percent.
His improved shot has been something to celebrate.
But he's a low-key guy, his mom said. Not a partier.
Head coach Larry Krystkowiak said afterward that he hopes Loveridge spends his birthday and Thanksgiving drinking water and resting, because he tweaked his hamstring and was visibly limping before an examination from trainer Trevor Jameson revealed that he was OK.
After a short practice in the morning, some players will visit LaTrill and Bill Loveridge's house for Turkey Day. Freshman Kyle Kuzma said he will eat with the family of fellow frosh Isaiah Wright at a condo in Park City, and Austrian freshman Jakob Poeltl said he'll share his first Thanksgiving with junior transfer Chris Reyes, German sophomore Kenneth Ogbe and freshman guard Jake Connor.
Asked if he understands what the holiday is about, Poeltl said afterward that he's not entirely sure yet.
It's about eating, explained Kuzma.
"This kid eats a lot," he said.
"It doesn't look like it," replied the 7-foot, 235-pound Poeltl, who does know enough, at least, to expect turkey.
Dead-shot Delon • Senior point guard Delon Wright went .561 from the field last season, so it's somewhat strange to be worried about his shot, but it's been apparent through Utah's first four games and exhibition that he feels more comfortable shooting from long range.
Wednesday night, after he hit 4-of-4 shots and a three ball, Krystkowiak said it's the result of thousands of shots in the offseason, and having "heard from a lot of people that he wasn't capable of shooting."
Even when he missed last year — he shot .222 from deep, despite having been a solid 3-point shooter previously at the City College of San Francisco — the shots were missing an inch short or long, said Krystkowiak. Not left or right.
"Fundamentally he's got a nice stroke and it's good to see him [hitting shots], because so much of shooting, I think, is confidence," he said.
Poeltl's prowess • It is no longer news exactly that Poeltl has improved Utah's game under the basket at both ends, but Krystkowiak shared a fairly remarkable stat that had been passed along to him before the postgame press conference: Utah missed 14 shots while Poeltl was in the game. He rebounded seven of them.
He finished with eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals in 20 minutes. Afterward, he said he doesn't know what his secret is.
"I just try to bring energy," he said. "Go to the glass every time, go for every rebound."
Each possession for Utah's offense is worth about a point, Krystkowiak said afterward.
Kuzma in the spotlight • Kuzma followed up a 6-for-7, 19-point outburst against UC Riverside by going 6-for-8 with 14 against UTSA, earning a seat at his second straight press conference.
"That's not supposed to happen for freshmen," said Krystkowiak.
After an early airball Wednesday night, Kuzma began to assert himself and became unguardable for the overmatched Broncs.
"I'm getting a lot of confidence," he said. "The coaching staff, they've been preaching to me just to play my game."
Krystkowiak said Kuzma still has to work on playing lower to the ground on defense — at 6-foot-9, "he's a big target" for screeners — but "he's doing a nice job."
"As witnessed by his game, he's long, and he's shooting the ball pretty well, and getting better defensively for us."
Twitter: @matthew_piper