Although the Utah men’s basketball team (17-5, 7-2 MWC) started the game on an 11-0 run and held double digit leads throughout the first half, UNLV (13-8, 5-4) rallied for a 72-64 win in Las Vegas on ESPN’s Big Monday.
The Rebels forced 22 U turnovers and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, and commanded the game after a 21-4 run late in the second half.
“[UNLV] got 16 points cause we didn’t block out…case closed, game over, period,” said coach Rick Majerus.
“We’ve got to go back to square one, and compete through the possession.”
Following the game, even Majerus was anxious to figure out what happened after his Utes controlled the lead for the first 32 minutes of the game.
In the first half, Phil Cullen fired a full-court fastball to Travis Spivey for a lay-up and Spivey penetrated for another lay-up. Utah led 11-0 with 15:52 to go in the half.
The lead was cut to two at 20-18 on a three pointer by UNLV’s Marcus Banks, but Utah went on a 17-7 run to claim a 37-25 lead with 3:02 left.
After the Rebels scored a basket, a Cullen turnover gave UNLV the final shot of the half. Guard Jevon Banks found Omari Pearson, and Pearson hit a jumper as time expired.
The Utes led 37-29 at half, despite 14 turnovers on offense.
In the second half, Britton Johnsen extended Utah’s lead to nine after it had been cut to six. Johnsen dribbled coast to coast, before hanging and extending for a head-turning slam.
A play later, forward Cullen found Jeff Johnsen on a backdoor cut and the Utes led 47-36.
But it was downhill from there.
UNLV went on a 21-4 run to claim a 57-51 lead, using an up tempo, pressure defense and its transition game.
The Rebels first took the lead with 7:47 to go, after a Marcus Banks steal resulted in a Louis Amundson lay-up and a 53-51 advantage.
The lead stretched to eight after two Amundson free throws made it 63-55 UNLV.
Utah cut the lead to 63-60 after two Nick Jacobson free throws, but UNLV closed on an 9-4 run as Utah ran out of time.
Brit Johnsen led all Utes with 16 points on 8-11 shooting, despite foul trouble that limited him to 4 minutes in the first half.
Jeff Johnsen scored 11 points on 5 14 from the field, while center Cameron Koford had 10 points and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
Jacobson, Utah’s leading scorer at 13.8 ppg, continued to struggle getting clean looks at the basket. The sophomore didn’t get a shot off until the game was 13 and a half minutes old. He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting, including 0-3 from downtown.
As a team, Utah shot 52.8 percent, but the Utes shot just 3-17 (17.6 percent) from the three-point line. In Utah’s 86-63 defeat of the Rebels in the Huntsman Center Jan. 12, the Utes made a school record 17 treys.
In addition, Utah shot just 5 free throws to UNLV’s 28.
For the Rebels, Dalron Johnson scored 17 points on 5-10 shooting. Marcus Banks returned from an ankle injury he suffered with 6:10 left in the first half to finish with 12 points and 5 steals. After the injury, Banks was not expected to return. But he returned for 9 minutes in the second half, creating the spark the Rebs needed.
Seldom-used freshman Amundson had 12 points and 7 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive glass.
After two games on the road, the Utes return home to host Air Force Feb. 16 at 6:00 p.m. and New Mexico Feb. 18 at 10:00 p.m.