Mission accomplished. Utah used a strong second half to run away from the Trojans 84-66 at the Huntsman Center. The main thing that had plagued the Utes in their two losses in the Evergreen State was an inept offense. For a large part of the first half Thursday, it appeared the struggles would continue, but Utah turned it on in the final 20 minutes to snag the victory.
“There hasn’t been any question with this team that we play really hard on defense, but sometimes you have to remember to play really hard on offense,” head coach Larry Krystkowiak said.
The Utes came into the contest wanting to run, but that was difficult early as USC shot 54 percent from the field in the first frame.
“If we get stops we can push the tempo,” Krystkowiak said. “In the first half when they scored it kind of took the air out of our sails. I still thought we could score on their makes, but we weren’t getting much tempo after a make.”.
The Trojans pounded the ball inside to big man Omar Oraby early and used their length to disrupt Utah. A Julian Jacobs dunk with 8:04 remaining in the first half gave USC a 24-18 lead and the momentum seemed to be all on the Trojans’ side.
But with last week’s losses still fresh in mind, Utah responded. Sophomore forward Dakarai Tucker came to life, igniting a 12-1 run with three right-corner jump shots, two of which were threes, as the Utes turned a six-point deficit into a five-point lead. They took a 39-36 edge into the half.
In the second stanza, Tucker picked up right where he had left off. He drained two 3-pointers in the half’s opening four minutes, both from the right side, as the Utah lead grew to double digits.
“I was confident in my shot,” Tucker said. “The right corner’s my spot.”
The Utes showed more urgency on offense in the second half, making a concentrated effort to push the ball on all Trojan shots. That effort led to Utah controlling most of the second session, but USC made a run.
The Trojans came into Thursday night’s game in search of their first conference victory, and a three form J.T. Terrell cut the Ute lead to seven, 56-49, with 12 minutes remaining. It looked for a moment that Utah would once again be in a close battle down the stretch, but Delon Wright had other plans.
With the Utes up eight with 10 minutes remaining, Wright stole the ball and took it coast-to-coast for a layup. On the next USC possession, the Trojans caught a little taste of deja vu as Wright once again snagged a steal and raced down the floor for a layup. He was fouled, converted the three-point play and in the blink of an eye, the Utah lead had ballooned to 13 and USC never challenged again.
On the night, Wright finished with 22 points, six rebounds, six steals, five assists and two blocks as his presence was felt everywhere on the court.
The Utes moved to 13-4 overall and 2-3 in Pac-12 play with the win. They will return to the Huntsman Center Saturday for a showdown with No. 25 UCLA at 2 p.m.