The University of Utah men’s basketball team dropped a grinder of a game to the Oregon Ducks on Saturday evening. This was Utah’s first loss in conference play, where they now stand at 5-1. The Utes had chances to claw back into this game, but made too many mental mistakes in a tight second half that ultimately did them in.

Oregon was the aggressor out of the gate, beginning the game with an effort and intensity on the defensive side of the ball typically reserved for the fourth quarter. Utah, already a poor offensive team in the half-court, struggled to find quality shots in the early minutes of the game. That trend continued throughout the first half. Utah was not getting quality looks, and their shooters missed the open ones they did get. Lazar Stefanovic and Gabe Madsen were a combined 1-13 before halftime.

The game was trending towards a blowout heading down the stretch of the half, but Utah did enough to hang in there and go into the locker room down by only seven. Over the first 15 minutes of the game, the Utes scored 13 total points, and then scored 14 in the final five minutes of the half to keep things close. The team did a good enough job defensively that 27 points from the offense was enough to be within striking range.

Oregon’s Kel’el Ware, a projected NBA Draft lottery pick, had a solid night for the Ducks, draining two deep three pointers in the first half. He looked okay on defense, but Branden Carlson was able to exploit him a few times, as was Keba Keita, making a nice play to jump in front of Ware on an entry pass and muscling it away from him.

The second half was a more common up-and-down pace, with Utah hanging around a deficit of eight points or so. They cut it to two midway through the half, but the Ducks punched back to go right back up by 10. Utah went cold at a bad time, scoring just three points during a six minute stretch that allowed the Ducks to completely regain control of the pace of the game. Utah rallied to attempt a late comeback, but it was not quite enough. Down by five points with a minute to play, Duck’s N’Faly Dante was fouled and missed both free throws. Utah had four players in position to rebound the ball, but it somehow ended up in the hands of Will Richardson, who called timeout to gift the Ducks a crucial free possession. Oregon hit a wide open three-pointer after the timeout, putting them up by eight points with 57 seconds to go.

“You can’t do that if you expect to be great,” said Utes head coach Craig Smith about the missed defensive rebound.

“I think that just summed up the whole night,” Marco Anthony said about the play.

It’s plays like that that kill you in comeback situations, and that one simple mistake ended the night for the Utes. They had the momentum and were on the comeback trail, but could not quite get over the hump and eventually lost, 60-70.

“I didn’t think we were very good tonight,” Smith said. “We’ll keep climbing. It’s a great group to be around … We have guys that love to hoop and love to play.”

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