Arizona
‘Awful, awful’: No. 10 Utah’s red-zone woes, second-half offensive struggles lead to 23-10 loss to Arizona
Two third-and-11 conversions were key as Arizona handed No. 10 Utah its first loss of the season on Saturday night by a score of 23-10.
With less than 10 minutes left, right after a Tao Johnson interception led to an Isaac Wilson touchdown drive to cut the Arizona lead to just six points, Utah’s defense ran out onto the field for its most consequential series of the game.
The Utes’ defensive players whipped the sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd into a frenzy during a lengthy discussion between the referees about a holding penalty on Arizona on the kickoff, and by the time Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita finally took the field, Utah fans were at ear-splitting levels, especially on a third-and-11 from Arizona’s own 25-yard-line.
No sweat for Fifita.
As safety-turned-linebacker Johnathan Hall crashed into his legs on the crucial third-down play, Fifita delivered his best pass of the night. The ball traveled nearly 40 yards in the air and was right on target for receiver Devin Hyatt, who snagged it for a key first down.
Two plays later, after Utah’s defense had forced another third-and-11, Fifita made an incredible on-the-run throw to an open Keyan Burnett in the back of the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown.
After the PAT, it was 23-10, and with the way Utah’s offense had played in the second half, Fifita’s touchdown toss basically sealed the game.
There were some glaring deficiencies on defense for the Utes, starting with the two third-and-11 conversions, some poor run defense in the first half (Kedrick Reescano had some strong runs) and way too many missed tackles — 15 or more, per Utah coach Kyle Whittingham’s count.
Even with those mistakes, holding an offense of Arizona’s caliber to just 23 points while missing two of your top players — linebacker Karene Reid and defensive end Connor O’Toole — would be a decent defensive performance.
Aside from some of the defensive miscues, the Utes were doomed by an ineffective offensive performance full of missed chances in the red zone and way too many empty second-half drives.
After Utah’s win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Whittingham said that if the red zone woes continued, that it would “catch up with us.”
On Saturday, that’s exactly what happened.
Starting for the third consecutive time, true freshman quarterback Wilson led the Utes on three straight trips to the red zone to open the game.
Between the 20s, Utah’s offense was humming right along under the true freshman’s guidance, as he found former Arizona receiver Dorian Singer over and over to the tune of seven receptions for 104 yards before the first half was over.
Micah Bernard also provided a few timely runs, showing nice field vision and speed, to complement Utah’s passing attack.
Time and time again, however, when the Utes’ offense rolled into the red zone, the play calling that led them there dried up and the execution left much to be desired.
Utah scored just three points in three trips to the red zone, going away empty on their first two possessions.
Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig gambled on the first two drives of the game instead of taking the points, electing to go for it on fourth-and-2 both times instead of taking the field goals.
On the first trip inside the 20, Ludwig called for five straight runs, and after Mike Mitchell only got a yard on third-and-3, Utah’s offensive coordinator went right back to him. On the sixth consecutive run by the Utes, Mitchell was stuffed for a turnover on downs.
On the second drive, following a three-yard Bernard run, an incomplete Wilson pass and a four-yard Wilson scramble on third-and-6, it set up fourth-and-2.
Wilson tried a pass to Caleb Lohner — a play that has worked well in the past — but it was broken up by Tacario Davis, and the Utes left empty-handed again.
While Utah came away with three points on its third drive of the game, the 52,898 fans at sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium grew anxious as the team crossed the 20-yard line.
They had reason to, as despite a couple of strikes from Wilson to Singer to get the Utes into scoring position, the offense fizzled once again, with a QB keeper from Wilson, a run from Bernard that went nowhere and an incomplete pass from Wilson to Money Parks.
Utah had to settle for a field goal.
“Left points out there. We were horrible in the red zone. Awful, awful, and until we get that fixed, we’re going to continue to have problems,” Whittingham said.
Instead of potentially heading to the locker room up 21-10 if everything had gone right in the red zone, or even 17-10 if the Utes had scored touchdowns on two of the three trips, it was instead a 10-3 deficit.
“It starts with me. You got to have a better red zone package. The buck stops right here and so if we don’t have a good enough arsenal in place, enough creativity down there, then that’s something we got to look at,” Whittingham said.
“Execution — I’m not going to blame the players though, but sometimes it goes down to being a little off with your timing or just a little bit off with your execution.”
Aside from a fourth-quarter drive wherein Wilson stepped up into the pocket and delivered a 37-yard strike to Singer, which was followed by a 20-yard pass to Lohner for Utah’s lone touchdown of the night, Utah’s second-half offensive execution was poor.
Forget the first-half red zone problems — the Utes couldn’t even sniff the inside of Arizona’s 20-yard line on six of their seven second-half drives.
Singer, who had been so productive in the first half, was mostly shut down by Arizona in the second half, with just two catches (for 51 yards) on eight targets.
“They cheat the safety to him and (Tacario Davis) shadowed him for quite a bit of the game and just like we did with Zemaiah Vaughn on (Tetairoa McMillan). They had more success doing that than we did,” Whittingham said.
Wilson struggled in the second half, completing 8 of 20 passes for 115 yards. He threw a touchdown and had two interceptions — one deep in Utah territory that led to an Arizona field goal and the other one on the final drive of the game.
“Converting in those red zones. I know better on those interceptions. I know better,” Wilson said. “I shouldn’t put the team in that situation. I felt like we were driving the ball up and down the field the whole time — run game, pass game, but red zone.”
Wilson’s final line was 20 for 40 for 280 yards, a touchdown pass and two interceptions.
Bernard had a solid game, with 91 yards on 16 carries, but he only rushed it six times in the second half.
Postgame, like all the players, Bernard was visibly frustrated.
“I don’t get too upset, I don’t get too mad. I just almost want to just smack something right now, so I’m going to use that this whole next two weeks and when we go to (Arizona State), they gonna feel me. They gonna feel me.”
Once again, Cam Rising, still limited by his ring finger, came out for early warmups with a glove on his hand.
Rising tested out his hand by throwing the ball around about 90 minutes before kickoff, but the decision by Utah’s coaches to start Wilson came much earlier this time.
As opposed to last week, when Wilson was informed that he would be the starter 20 minutes before game time, when Utah took the field for final, padded, warmups 45 minutes before the game Saturday, Wilson starting was seemingly set in stone.
While Rising threw the ball a little bit during Utah’s final warmups, when the time came for the quarterbacks to work with the offensive line, it was Wilson taking the No. 1 reps and sophomore Brandon Rose, who appeared to be Wilson’s backup on Saturday night, taking the second-team reps.
Though he was dressed in his full uniform with a glove and wearing his usual knee brace, Rising didn’t throw much, if at all, during the final walkthrough. From at least an hour before the game, if not more, it was clear — this was going to be Wilson’s game.
Postgame, Whittingham said Rising was “really close” to playing, but that didn’t provide much comfort to Utah fans following the first loss of the season.
While one loss doesn’t derail Utah’s Big 12 championship hopes, it makes the margin of error in the remaining seven games that much narrower.
Wilson has kept Utah afloat during 2.5 of the 3.5 games Rising has missed, but for this team to achieve its ultimate goal, it needs its veteran quarterback back under center.
“If there is a silver lining here, we’ve got a week off and hopefully he’s ready to go by then,” Whittingham said.
We’ll see if Rising is back at quarterback in two weeks, as Utah takes on Arizona State after a much-needed bye week.
No. 21 West Virginia entered Tuesday night’s game against Arizona winning their last seven as well as being ranked for the first time this season.
The Mountaineers and Wildcats were familiar with each other, facing off back in November. West Virginia got the best of them then, but Arizona was too much to handle for the Mountaineers this time around, as WVU’s win streak came to an end, falling 75-56 at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers would get off to a slow start offensively as Arizona was able to slow down Javon Small. Small, who was named the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week for his efforts last week, struggled to get in rhythm and that could be felt throughout the rest of the Mountaineer offense.
Small attempted 11 of West Virginia’s 26 shot attempts in the first half as the Mountaineers struggled to find any flow on that side of the ball. West Virginia trailed 27-17 before Small would be able to pull West Virginia within reach. Small scored five straight points, as WVU trailed by five with 7:08 to play in the first half.
That’s as close as the Mountaineers would get as West Virginia went on a four-plus minute scoring drought as Arizona stretched its lead to 11 at halftime. The Wildcats were very active on the glass in the opening 20 minutes, out-rebounding WVU, 20-13 and they had a 10-point advantage on points in the paint.
The second half started the same way the first half ended for West Virginia. They struggled offensively, as their first points didn’t come until the 17:32 mark of the first half as Arizona’s lead stretched to 15.
The Mountaineers would then catch fire from the field, making six straight field goals, as they went on a 9-0 run, cutting Arizona’s lead to just five as the Wildcats called a timeout with 2:31 to play. During the run, Sencire Harris made back-to-back threes, the second time in as many games he’s knocked down two triples after missing his first 28 3-point attempts of the season.
Arizona would respond soon thereafter, going on a 9-0 run across a 2:40 stretch, as a KJ Lewis 3-pointer put Arizona in front 62-47 and forced a Mountaineer timeout with 9:46 to play.
On Arizona’s run, the Mountaineers struggled to stop them on the glass. The Wildcats were able to get second and third chances as well as seemingly got to almost every 50-50 ball. The Wildcats finished the game with nine second-chance points as well as owned the rebounding advantage, 40-31.
In the end, West Virginia’s defense was unable to slow down the guard play of Arizona.
Between Jaden Bradley, Caleb Love, and Lewis, they scored a combined 45 points.
Arizona scored 36 points in the paint, and their seven 3-pointers made were tied for the second most they’ve made this season. Arizona shot 51 percent from the field, which was the best an opponent has shot from the field against WVU. this season.
West Virginia turned the ball over 10 times, leading to 15 points for the Wildcats. The Mountaineers shot 36 percent from the field and went 8-for-29 from beyond the arc.
West Virginia was dealt with more unfortunate injury news pregame as KJ Tenner was out due to an injury he suffered against Oklahoma State on Saturday. Tenner joined Tucker DeVries and Jayden Stone as Mountaineers to be out due to injury.
Watch The Republic’s coverage of Arizona in 2024
From the Phoenix Open to Election Day, from ‘Gilbert Goon’ violence to ASU’s Big 12 championship, The Republic covered it all in Arizona in 2024.
The Republic
The Arizona Republic was among the 15 local newsrooms awarded multiyear funding by the Arizona Local News Foundation through its Arizona Community Collaborative program to expand journalism about education solutions in the state.
The initiative, designed to create measurable change in access to information and improve Arizona’s education system, has raised $2 million and continues fundraising to expand to more newsrooms.
“This is one of the most ambitious efforts in Arizona’s history to empower local media and tackle one of our state’s most pressing challenges,” said Chris Kline, president and CEO of the Arizona Media Association and the Arizona Local News Foundation. “With immediate effect, this collaborative will dramatically expand community conversation and launch new discussions about how to improve Arizona education for students of all ages. We are setting out to prove that collaboration at scale can create a better future for all Arizonans.”
This award will support the expansion of The Republic’s education coverage, currently handled by two reporters. Madeleine Parrish covers the nearly 60 school districts across Maricopa County, focusing on emerging education policy trends and districts’ innovative programs. Helen Rummel focuses on higher education, reporting on the state’s three public universities and the community college system in Maricopa County.
The new position will prioritize stories about communities that face challenges accessing critical information due to income and language barriers, ensuring more inclusive and equitable coverage. It will also enhance our reporting on dual-language programs and equity-focused education issues.
After a competitive application process with submissions from 40 Arizona newsrooms, the selected grantees represent a mix of news outlets across a wide geographic area. The funding will enable these outlets to hire reporters focusing exclusively on education solutions reporting. They will cover urban and rural communities on digital, print, radio and TV platforms.
Flagstaff:
Lake Havasu:
Metro Phoenix:
- Independent News Media
- KAET-TV
- KPNX-TV
- KTAR-FM
Pinal County:
- Casa Grande Valley Newspapers
Prescott:
Southern Arizona:
Statewide:
- The Arizona Republic
- Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
- Univision Arizona
Tucson:
Yuma:
- Colorado River Public Media
This is the second Arizona Community Collaborative sponsored by the Arizona Local News Foundation and its sister organization, the Arizona Media Association, the nonprofit corporation that acts as the official trade association for Arizona’s local radio, TV, print and digital media industry.
The first partnership focused on Arizona’s 2024 elections, broadcasting 29 debates for races that included Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat, U.S. congressional districts, Arizona Corporation Commission seats, select county-level races and multiple ballot propositions in partnership with the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and dozens of local media brands. The Republic was instrumental in establishing the association and continues to be an active collaborator.
Silvia Solis is the director of partnerships and community relations at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She can be reached at silvia.solisgarza@gannett.com or 602-239-4413.
Arizona
Solution to Arizona's water crisis? Local researcher hopes so, sharing breakthrough in desalination technology
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Two years ago, Arizona state leaders were actively exploring the idea of a binational desalination plant that would bring water from the Sea of Cortez to the state. The plan, spearheaded by former Governor Doug Ducey, aimed to address the state’s growing water shortage. However, after facing backlash from water authorities and a lack of transparency, the project ultimately fell through. Later, Governor Katie Hobbs redirected funds away from long-term water supply projects, further pushing desalination off the table for the time being.
Despite these setbacks, one local researcher has continued to push the boundaries of desalination technology and is hopeful that his breakthroughs could provide a solution to the ongoing water crisis in Arizona. Professor Mark Witten, a researcher at the University of Arizona, has spent the past 17 years finding ways to efficiently remove salt from seawater.
In 2023, he shared his efforts with the public, explaining how his low-energy desalination technology could significantly reduce the cost and energy consumption typically associated with removing salt from seawater.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we can take out 99% of the salt from simulated ocean water,” said Witten, reflecting on his progress.
His recent work has culminated in a groundbreaking discovery that allows for the removal of 335 parts per million (ppm) of concentrated salt, which is the same salinity level found in Earth’s oceans.
He was initially working with a silicon disc, and decided to try isolating salt by using a reactive metal. He experimented with tungsten, copper, iron, and magnesium. Witten described finding success with a small magnesium disc, so he purchased a larger disc.
Witten recalled, “When I first did the first experiment. I just bought a brand new salinity meter from Amazon, and it registered 333 parts per million after I did the desalination. Remember, I started out at 35,000 parts per million. So I thought something was wrong with my new salinity meter. So I went into my kitchen, filled a glass of water, and measured the salinity. It was 425 parts per million and I almost fainted because I thought I had hit the jackpot.”
Witten is confident that his technology can make a real difference. “Our technology, we believe, can produce an acre-foot of water for less than $400,” he said. An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre of land covered by a foot of water, a standard unit of measurement for water volume.
Beyond providing freshwater, Witten hopes his technology will provide more resources. He highlights that the salt could contain lithium, an essential component for electric vehicle batteries, which could help further support the green energy industry.
“We plan to collect the salt and mine lithium from it,” Witten explained. “The electric vehicle industry cannot grow without more lithium, and this could help address that challenge as well.”
As Arizona faces the very real threat of water scarcity, Witten’s innovative desalination technology offers a potential solution to one of the state’s most pressing issues. He believes that large-scale desalination could help protect Arizona’s future by ensuring a more stable and sustainable water supply.
“The future growth of this state, and the other states in the Colorado River Compact, is in danger because we don’t have enough water,” said Witten.
As the state continues to grapple with its water challenges, Witten sees a future where the ocean could provide an answer to Arizona’s water shortage. Witten’s next steps involve getting an industrial prototype of his desalination technology off the ground.
——-
Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
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