Alex Jensen: ‘You Don’t Beat Teams Like That Turning It Over’
Feb 24, 2026, 11:19 PM | Updated: Feb 25, 2026, 10:58 am
Feb 24, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes head coach Alex Jensen during the second half against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images
SALT LAKE CITY — After a promising opening stretch at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, the Utes were overwhelmed by Iowa State’s defensive pressure and physicality, falling 75–59 in a game that was defined less by shot-making and more by control.
Utah turned it over 18 times in the game, 11 in the first half alone, all of which led to 20 points off turnovers for the Cyclones.
“We didn’t handle their pressure very well,” Utah head coach Alex Jensen said afterward. “They’re physical. They deny. They make you start your offense farther out than you want to.”
Keanu Dawes saw it the same way.
“I think they really just sped us up from the beginning of the game, all the way for the full forty minutes,” Dawes said. “We got sped up and taken out of what we do and playing our own game.”
The Pressure Shifted Everything
Iowa State’s on-ball pressure and perimeter denial gradually changed the geometry of the game. Utah wasn’t initiating offense at the slot anymore. They were starting it 30 feet from the basket. Passing lanes vanished. Dribbles got picked up. Reversals were denied.
“We had too many empty possessions where we didn’t even get into what we wanted to run,” Jensen said. “Against a team like that, that’s a problem.”
Those weren’t one-off mistakes. They were cumulative wear-and-tear errors — bad passes near half court, stalled possessions, late-clock desperation. Dawes said the counter was there — Utah just didn’t use it enough early.
“You’ve got to use their aggressiveness against them,” Dawes said. “Get a lot of backdoor cuts. I think we got them a little bit, especially in the second half. Backdoor cuts to one more. We’ve just got to do that more and figure out what works earlier in the game and use that the whole game.”
After taking the lead 13:16 mark in the first half, the Cyclones never relinquished the lead. They made work harder as the game wore on.
“That’s what good defensive teams do,” Jensen said. “They don’t just guard you once. They guard you the whole possession.”
Habits Under Pressure
There were stretches where Utah moved the ball cleanly — extra passes, paint touches, kick-outs. But sustaining it was the issue.
“Just going back to your habits and your fundamentals,” Dawes said when asked how to balance poise with pace. “Not only individually, but as a team. Staying within your role and not trying to do too much because of how much they speed you up.”
That “trying to do too much” showed up in the margins. Iowa State outscored Utah 38–26 in the paint and got 26 bench points to Utah’s 8. When Utah overextended offensively, the Cyclones made them pay.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” Jensen said. “And we didn’t capitalize on theirs.”
Individual Efforts
Terrence Brown battled through heavy pressure to finish with 17 points, continuing his recent stretch of aggressive downhill play. McHenry added 12 on efficient shooting. Dawes provided interior toughness and double-digit rebounds.
Brown struggled significantly against the defensive pressure, turning it over seven times. Dawes acknowledged that his ability to get others involved is rather valuable to this team.
“He’s probably one of the most talked-about people on the other team’s scouting report,” Dawes said. “They focus in on him. He’s done a really good job of getting other people involved early on in the game. That kind of opens up everything. I kind of feed off that, and the team in general.”
But the flow never fully returned after Iowa State’s first surge. In the second half, Utah shot just 38 percent and couldn’t string together stops long enough to seriously threaten.
“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the league,” Jensen said. “We’ve got to learn from this. You don’t beat teams like that without taking care of the ball.”
The Bottom Line
Utah didn’t get blown out because they couldn’t score. They lost because they couldn’t consistently initiate their offense. When the Utes were strong withe ball, cut to the basket, or made quick reads and passes to the open man, they typically scored.
But again, Utah didn’t do that nearly enough tonight.
Against disciplined, pressure-heavy teams in this league, execution is oxygen. When you turn it over 18 times and give up 20 points off those mistakes, you’re playing uphill all night.
The Utes showed flashes. Iowa State showed control. And as Dawes put it, when you let a team speed you up for forty minutes, you’re no longer playing your game — you’re playing theirs.
