The University of Utah men’s basketball team dropped a close contest on the road against the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday night. Utah led for a large majority of this game, but fell to a huge Jabari Walker performance to close this game out for Colorado. 

Walker had 22 points on 6-10 shooting and 9-9 from the free throw line. He showed why he’s an NBA draft prospect, scoring 12 points in the final seven minutes of the game. He took over to carry Colorado to a victory, and all Utah could do was watch.

Branden Carlson also had a huge night with 25 points and eight rebounds. Carlson has been in and out of the lineup all season, but he’s been stellar when he’s played. He set the tone for Utah early and was fantastic all night long.

The Utes led by as many as 11 points, and were in front for the entire first half. They had four players in double digits, and only played four guys off the bench, which is unusual this season. They’ve typically gone deeper, but head coach Craig Smith trimmed the rotation short for this one.

Before the game, the team announced that Dusan Mahorcic is no longer a part of the program. He had previously been suspended indefinitely. There was no explanation as to why. 

Gabe Madsen attempted 11 three-pointers and made four of them. He tried to play the hero late in the game, but went cold at a bad time. The Utes struggled as a team as they attempted to close this one out, and ultimately Walker was more ready for the moment than they were.

The final score was 81-76. They’ve lost 12 of the last 13 with five games left in the regular season. They’ll travel to the Bay Area for their final road trip next week to play Stanford and Cal before returning home for the final three games prior to the Pac-12 Tournament.

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