Timmy Allen Thinks Utah Basketball Is ‘Right There’ Despite Four-Game Losing Streak

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah basketball forward and captain Timmy Allen said he still believes in his team after the Utes lost their fourth straight game.

Timmy Allen and Utah basketball lost to Colorado on Monday afternoon, 65-58.  Since their last win against Idaho on Friday, December 18, the Runnin’ Utes have lost to UCLA (by 2), USC (by 18), Oregon (by 6) and Colorado (by 7). What was a 4-1 start for the Utes has turned into a 4-5 overall record.

During this losing streak, Utah had a halftime lead twice, both were by 10 points against the Ducks and Buffaloes. In the last four games, the Utes have been outscored 147-107 in the second half, including 84-51 in the second half in their last two games at home.

The Runnin’ Utes don’t have time to panic as they are halfway through a tough stretch of four games in seven days. They now turn their attention to the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday afternoon before ending the homestand on Saturday night against California.

After Utah lost to Colorado yesterday, I asked Timmy Allen about the 4-game losing streak. He had some strong and encouraging words.#GoUtes #Pac12Hoops @kslsports

📽️: @UtahMBB pic.twitter.com/oHG3yRWj8P

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) January 12, 2021

Timmy Allen Still Believes In Utah Basketball

After Utah’s disappointing loss to Colorado, he was asked about the message to his teammates after suffering their fourth straight loss.

“I was just thinking about it,” Allen said after the Colorado game. “People might write us off or not believe in us, or say we don’t have enough. These last four games, we have been right there. We just let it slip. Our first halves are great. I mean, even the stretch in the USC game, like we are rolling and then we just get stagnant and we can’t let it happen. I think we’re really right there. So, you know, people can jump ship. But as long as we stay bought in on this and we just  continue to work and grind, you know, I think we’re right there. I’m definitely not happy with the loss. We didn’t even play great and our defense is good enough to keep us in it. We just got to keep the flow and I believe, man, I think we’re right there.”

Despite have a pair of 10-point halftime leads in the last two games, head coach Larry Krystkowiak said that two different things went wrong in the second half in those games.

“I thought the other night was turnovers and tonight was rebounding,” Krystkowiak said after the game. “We got pounded on the glass, we got him to miss. The rebounds happen a lot. Miss shots happen a lot. We cleaned it up for Oregon, but this is a big physical team and they pounded us. That was super costly.”

If the Utes can clean up the boards and limit the turnovers for a full 40 minutes and continue their impressive offensive play, they should snap this skid soon.

Final. pic.twitter.com/eFLwUyFEgL

— Utah Basketball🏀 (w/ 😷) (@UtahMBB) January 12, 2021

Stanford Comes To SLC To Face Timmy Allen And Utah Basketball

The Cardinal come to Salt Lake City with an 8-3 overall record and a 4-1 mark in Pac-12 play. They have wins over Alabama, North Carolina A&T, CSUN, Arizona, CSU Bakersfield, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State. Their losses came against North Carolina, Indiana and Oregon.

Four Stanford players average double figures led by Oscar Da Silva with 19.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Daejon Davis is posting 13.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest. Stanford has one of the best freshman players in the conference in Ziaire Williams, who is averaging 11.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Since Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011, they are 8-7 against Stanford, including a 6-1 record at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The Cardinal won the last meeting in Palo Alto, 70-62, snapping a four-game losing streak to the Utes. These two teams last met in Utah on February 6, 2020 when the Utes picked up a 64-56 win.

Tip-off on Thursday between Utah and Stanford will be at 3 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.