Utah native Jordan Loveridge is off to a hot start this season, scoring 24 and 21 points in Utah’s two first games respectively.

He’s shooting better than 50 percent from three-point range, hitting 10-of-19 so far, and his confidence is growing with each bucket. However, this was not always the case for the senior from West Jordan. He’s endured his fair share of ups and downs, and it’s those rocky parts that have made him the player he is today.

Against San Diego State, Loveridge drained a few late game free throws to extend Utah’s lead, something he was not always able to do when he was younger. Although he realizes as a senior more people are counting on him to show up late in the game, he knows his job is to really just to motivate the team and get them back on track when necessary.

“I know we got to get some buckets in a tight game, and if I am the one to be open, I know I got to hit the shots for my team,” Loveridge said. “I don’t really worry about doing this because I’m a senior or doing that, I’m just trying to win games and trying to make everyone better.”

And according to Jakob Poelt, Loveridge is making every other player on the floor better.

Since a lot of teams now have to be concerned with Loveridge’s outside shot, this gives more leeway to the post players who perform better one-on-one. Poeltl, who is viewed as a potential first-round NBA draft pick, is sure Loveridge has plenty more double-digit games left to dish out this year.

“It’s great because it spaces out the floor and it gives us bigs in the paint more space,” Poeltl said. “If he keeps shooting like that you’re going to see a couple more 20-point nights.”

Another thing working in the Utes’ favor is how they are working toward a faster pace. With a shorter shot clock — last year’s was 35 seconds and this year, it is 30 — many people questioned whether or not the Utes had it in them to speed their game up. Loveridge wants to reassure Utah fans everywhere that they are more than capable of doing so.

Not only does a faster pace work for them, it works to the team aspect all the players are really big on this year.

“Throughout the whole summer Coach [Larry Krystkowiak] has been harping on us [that] he wants us to be a running team,” Loveridge said. “We got so many threats, and if we get out and run, it’s hard for teams to get back and guard us, so we’ve been trying to get better at that every day.”

Krystkowiak knows Loveridge puts in extra hours in the gym when no one is watching and believes it is finally paying off for him. He thinks Loveridge is the perfect example of a player working his way up the ranks, and because of this, the way he has been playing lately is really no shocker to the head coach.

Krystkowiak also thinks there is a higher power recognizing everything Loveridge has dedicated to the sport.

“He’s shooting the ball really well, and I’m not surprised,” Krystkowiak said. “The kid works his tail off, and it’s important to him. Hopefully it continues, and hopefully this is what happens when a senior has paid a lot of dues. I know there’s a God, but I think there’s basketball god. Call it karma or whatever, but he puts a lot of time in when nobody is watching and that puts us in a situation like this.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Loveridge hopes to leave a new legacy, one completely different from the one of last season.

“I think with each game we’ll build confidence, and last year will kind of just keep fading as we win games and go through this season,” Loveridge said.

k.brenneisen@dailyutahchronicle.com

@kbrenneisen

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