The University of Utah men’s basketball team dropped a competitive game against the TCU Horned Frogs on Wednesday night. Utah is now 6-3 on the season, 1-1 in Pac-12 play. Branden Carlson and Both Gach were the leading scorers for Utah, dropping in 16 points each.

Utah kept pace with TCU for most of the first half, but a strong run by the Horned Frogs right before halftime pushed it to a nine-point game, 27-36 at the half. The Utes’ defense had a rough stretch, and TCU scored in bunches to solidify their lead.

The Utes never quite recovered from that deficit. The lead for TCU hovered around 8-10 for pretty much the entire second half, but Utah was never able to break through for the comeback. They eventually dropped the game, 76-62. 

It was a tough shooting night for the Utes, hitting only 19 of their 56 shot attempts. They were just 3-20 from three point range. No one seemed to find their rhythm against a tough TCU defensive effort.

Marco Anthony made his return to the lineup after sitting out a few weeks with an ankle injury. He came off the bench in his first game back, with head coach Craig Smith opting to leave Gach in the starting lineup. Gach has been playing very well recently, so clearly Smith felt like he couldn’t make that change tonight. Anthony scored six points on 2-4 shooting to go with four rebounds.

Horned Frogs guard Mike Miles tied his career high in scoring with 28 points on the evening. Miles was the silencer for TCU; every time the Utes would start to cut into the lead, he would be the one scoring to build it back. Utah had a tough time against his speed and finishing ability.

The Utes will return home this weekend to play Manhattan at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game will tip off on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. MST. Utah has three more games on the non-conference schedule before moving into full-time Pac-12 play.

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