The University of Utah men’s basketball team picked up a blowout victory over the Manhattan Jaspers on Saturday afternoon. Utah pulled ahead early and never looked back, eventually winning 96-62.

Both Gach got off to a blistering start, scoring 10 of the Utes’ first 12 points. The Jaspers pressed full court on defense early and often, which had Utah a little out of whack on the offensive end. 

Interestingly, David Jenkins Jr. was pulled from the starting lineup and did not enter the game until seven minutes in. It was a big change in head coach Craig Smith’s rotation after Jenkins had struggled the past few games.

Manhattan is a strong, athletic, well-coached team. They make life tough on their opponents, but the Utes did a good job dealing with the pressure for most of the first half. 

Utah took a solid lead on the back of Branden Carlson, who the Jaspers couldn’t do much to stop. He had 11 points on 5-6 shooting in the first half. 

Down the stretch of the half, Utah continued to play solid defense and hit shots. Manhattan struggled to guard Utah inside; the Utes had 20 points in the paint in the first half. The lead heading into the locker room was 47-30.

Utah maintained a healthy lead throughout the entire second half. Carlson continued to play well. Lahat Thioune threw down a couple of slams to push the lead to nearly 30, and the remaining seven minutes of the game were complete garbage time. This game was effectively decided by halftime, as Utah pulled away and didn’t look back. 

“We got back to playing the way we need to play to win,” Smith said. 

Up next, Utah will face Missouri on the road next Saturday. They have a full week off before the matchup. They have only two more non-conference games before heading into Pac-12 play full-time.

“It’s on to the next for us,” Riley Battin said. “We look forward to our next game, and we’ll try to get better leading up to that.”

This was a nice win for Utah as they’ve hit a rough patch lately. A blowout victory can perhaps get them back on track as the season wears on.

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