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It's something coach Larry Krystkowiak can count on at the start of every season, though he doesn't like how reliable it is.

What stood out to him on the stat sheet in Saturday's 81-37 win over Northwest Nazarene was 19 turnovers — or seven more than the goal Utah (1-0) had set for the evening.

It's to be expected but not embraced.

"Some of it's jitters, I think," he said. "Getting it going. Gotta find some consistency and roles."

There was some clarity in Utah's season-opening victory over a DII opponent, but other areas and questions remained unclear.

For example: Who sets the offense? Who are the 3-point shooters? Who gets in the rotation, and how much will they be used? Even in a blowout, the Runnin' Utes had some big-picture concerns that didn't gain much certainty.

Not to say there weren't high points either: The front court clearly dominated, with Utah's top three big men of Kyle Kuzma, Tyler Rawson and Jayce Johnson combining for 44 points and 38 rebounds — both totals outnumbering the collective effort of the Crusaders. The big-man arrangements had different benefits: Rawson and Kuzma were an effective scoring tandem, while Johnson and Kuzma cleaned the glass.

Defensively, Krystkowiak said, the Utes were schematically sound. They held the Crusaders to only 16.4 percent shooting, cutting down the percentage in the second half by almost 10 percentage points. NWN's leading returning scorer, Bouna N'Diaye, was held to 9 points on

A point of preseason emphasis — limiting transition offense — was achieved: Utah allowed only six fast-break points despite the numerous turnovers.

"I think it was preparation," Rawson said. "Our coaches do a great job even though we didn't have a lot on them. We went in prepared, we shut down their two main players. I think we did a good job."

Still, Krystkowiak said he wasn't going to "toot my horn" about playing great defense against a lower-tier opponent that was playing its second game in as many nights. And other areas demanded attention.

Utah started the game making its first two 3-point shots back-to-back by Lorenzo Bonam and Parker Van Dyke. Neither hit again from deep, and the team was only 6 for 24 on the night from long range — a bit of a concern for a group that lost some of its best shooters from last season.

Krystkowiak said ahead of the season he hoped to be a sharing team, but Utah had 11 assists on 26 baskets, lower than the nearly 57 percent assists-to-field goal mark the program enjoyed last year. The turnover issues, Krystkowiak said, were rooted in a lack of trust and moving too fast.

"I think that's where we got kind of vulnerable," he said. "We kind of looked across the board and said, 'I can beat this guy.' And we had a bunch of people putting their heads down, dribbling and making forced plays. We need to have more trust in our offense and trust in our teammates a little bit more."

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon —

Concordia at Utah

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