Utah’s top defense looks to slow down powerful Rockets

The Utah Jazz have signed guard Taevion Kinsey, guard/forward Romeo Langford, and center Nick Ongenda.

Kinsey (6-5, 190, Marshall) played five seasons at Marshall (2018-23), appearing in 154 games (130 starts), owning averages of 17.1 points on 50.7 percent from the field, along with 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.1 steals in 34.1 minutes per contest and left the school as its all-time leading scorer with 2,641 points. He was named the 2022-23 Sun Belt Player of the Year following his final college season, with averages of 22.1 points, 5.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in 32 games (all starts), and was also named to the 2022-23 All-Sun Belt First Team.

Langford (6-5, 215, Indiana) has four seasons of NBA experience with Boston (2019-22) and San Antonio (2022-23), posting career averages of 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 16.1 minutes per contest. Last season with the Spurs, he averaged a career-best 6.9 points on 46.7 percent from the field, along with 2.7 boards, and 1.2 assists in 43 games (21 starts).

Ongenda (6-11, 230, DePaul) played four college seasons (2019-23) where he averaged 5.6 points, on 52.9 percent shooting, along with 3.7 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 18.8 minutes per contest.