On The Horizon

Jim Squire

Friday's Pregame Beat: Slow weekend highlighted by UK-UL--Ballin' is a Habit

Four more mid-major matchups to watch
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Sat. 2:00 pm: Milwaukee @ Butler: Milwaukee looks like they may end up being the class of the Horizon League this season. But until Butler loses their grip -- completely, as in they are knocked out of the Horizon League tournament -- I won't believe that anyone else is going to win a game in that conference.

Conference Reset: Cleveland State, not Butler, should be tops in Horizon--Eye On College Basketball

Jazz-Nuggets: Instant analysis--Deseret News

Odds and ends: Some other observations from Wednesday's game:
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Gordon Hayward had a career-high seven assists.

Nuggets-Jazz: Report card--Deseret News

FORWARDS: Starting power forward Derrick Favors grabbed 10 rebounds, but scored just two points on 1-of-4 shooting in less than 17 minutes of play. It was a performance that doesn't necessarily scream to Utah head coach Tyrone Corbin that he deserves to start over Paul Millsap, who scored 13 points on an effective 6-of-9 shooting with eight rebounds in nearly 22 minutes.

Gordon Hayward had a nice line with 10 points and seven assists, but backup Josh Howard didn't quite maintain his play against the Nuggets in shooting just 2-of-9 from the field. Jeremy Evans was essentially a non-factor in 13 minutes. It hardly seemed like anyone could put a body on Nene, who scored 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Grade: C

Utah Jazz: Defense sputters in Mile High air--Deseret News

Center Al Jefferson scored 10 of his team-best 19 points in the first quarter after missing 14 of 16 shots against the Lakers. But Utah's starting five of Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Big Al still didn't completely click, falling behind 28-23 after the first 12 minutes.
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C.J. Miles also had 13 points, while Hayward and Harris added 10 points apiece.

But Utah had 22 turnovers — "sign of a careless team," Corbin said — and got outrebounded 45-39 by a squad that obviously wanted this one more.

"It's early and we do need to find out who we are," Hayward said. "I think it will be good to go home and have a day to watch some film, find out who we are as a team and hopefully come back and play with a vengeance."

No place like home to get the Utah Jazz season on the right track--Deseret News

"We'll see what type of team we are the next couple of games," second-year Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward said.

Utah Jazz notebook: 'Round Mound' Charles Barkley thinks Jazz should go young--Deseret News

That means Utah fans hoping to see more playing time allotted to Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks and Enes Kanter might be in the weird position of agreeing with and laughing at something Barkley had to say.

Utah Jazz: Millsap gets starting nod tonight--Deseret News

The other four starters will remain the same, with Devin Harris (point guard), Raja Bell (shooting guard), Gordon Hayward (small forward) and Al Jefferson (center).

Utah Jazz notes: Alec Burks enjoying crazy dream of life in NBA--Salt Lake Tribune

Despite hinting after the loss to the Lakers he might tweak Utah’s starting lineup, Corbin decided to stick with an initial rotation of Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Favors and Al Jefferson against the Nuggets.