Will Utah basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak alter starting lineup vs. USC?

The University of Utah men’s basketball team has enjoyed great continuity within its starting lineup this season.

Rylan Jones, Timmy Allen, Both Gach, Riley Battin and Branden Carlson have combined for 122 starts in the 124 games they have collectively played in. The only other Utes to start games this season are freshman point guard Jaxon Brenchley (six) and redshirt freshman forward Lahat Thioune (two).

The Utes (14-12, 5-9 Pac-12) did not have a good showing for most of the first 36 minutes of a 69-58 loss to UCLA on Thursday night. They were outshot, outrebounded, sometimes outhustled. Down as many as 20, the Utes got to within seven with 1:44 left, thanks in large part to the shooting of Alfonso Plummer, who finished with 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting in just 17 minutes.

Early in his postgame press conference, the topic turned to a potential lineup shift. Larry Krystkowiak was not shy in his response.

“At this point, it might be time to shake things up, see if guys are better coming off the bench,” the ninth-year Utes head coach said. “I really like the way guys competed tonight. I think Fonz [Plummer] showed me something, Mickey [Mikael Jantunen] showed me something. We just have to get a little dirty, a little nasty from time to time.

“Everybody needs to stay connected and I trust there will be some changes. It’s not a threat, it’s just something I think we need to evaluate.”

Attention now turns to Sunday and USC (19-8, 9-6 Pac-12) to see if Krystkowiak and his staff follow through. However, with Krystkowiak unlikely to have had a chance to really digest much of what went on over the previous two hours before meeting the media, him singling out Plummer and Jantunen made sense.

Plummer’s minutes and role have fluctuated this season, but he competed hard on Thursday night. The former JUCO All-American, recruited to Utah as a knockdown shooter, was just that, hitting 3-of-6 from deep. Plummer is only shooting 32.9% from 3-point range for the season, but when he gets it going, he can be a difference-maker for a stagnant offense.

Jantunen is shooting 70% from the floor. If you eliminate his 4-for-13 from deep, that number rises to 75.9%. His defense and rebounding need improvement, but Jantunen knows what he’s doing at the rim at 6-foot-9 and generally doesn’t try to be what he isn’t.

For what it’s worth, Jantunen (plus-7) and Plummer (plus-5) were the only Utes to play to a positive plus-minus rating on Thursday night.

“The second half, about the last third of the game, there were some guys that showed me some stuff,” Krystkowiak said. “We competed and that’s what we need to do. We need to scratch and claw. This isn’t a pity party for anybody, playing or not. We’ve got to get out there and take on a little different mentality, and know that we’ve got to grind harder than we were.

“I love all of our guys. I think everybody is in it for the right reasons. We’ve got a lot of high-character guys, but this isn’t the point in the season to worry about anybody’s feelings. We have to put guys on the floor that are ready to produce and commit to it.”