On Sunday night, the Utah men’s basketball team (16-9, 9-5 Pac-12) faced off against the 3-20 Cal Golden Bears at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Coming off a tough loss against Stanford on Thursday night, the Utes looked to regain momentum. Here’s how the game broke down.

Gameflow

Cal was able to open up the game with a 2-pointer to take an early 0-2 lead, but Junior Ben Carlson put the Utes on the board with a 3-pointer to give the Utes a 3-2 lead early on. Senior Branden Carlson then hit a 2-pointer to tie up the game at 5-5, while back-to-back 2-point buckets by Junior Rollie Worster helped put the Utes ahead with a score of 9-7.

While the Utes were able to take an early lead, Cal showed a surprising amount of fight. They put together a dominant 8-0 run over the Utes, taking a 15-9 lead with just about 11 minutes left in the first half. Cal had all the momentum, and the Utes needed a big play to help turn the tide and avoid suffering an embarrassing loss.

That play came from Carlson, as he had an impressive block that fired up the Huntsman crowd. He then also scored a jump hook on the other end to tighten the score to 15-11. Cal scored a quick 3 to push their lead to 18-11, but the Utes fired back.

Senior Jaxon Brenchley came alive for the Utes towards the end of the half, hitting an and-one with a successful free throw followed by a 3-pointer, shrinking Cal’s lead to just 18-17. Brenchely then hit another and-one to fire up the crowd even more, although he did miss the free throw as the Utes jumped ahead to a 19-18 lead.

They finished the half well, with a strong showing from Sophomore Lazar Stefanovic, as he hit a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer to give the Utes a 24-22 lead. Branden Carlson then put in two successful free throws followed by another Stefanovic 3 to give the Utes a 29-24 lead going into halftime.

The Runnin’ Utes looked to put away this game in the second half against a team they were clearly better than. To start off, fifth-year senior Marco Anthony hit two free throws to build the Utes lead to 31-24. Later, Branden Carlson hit two 3-pointers in a row to build the Utes lead to 39-25, as they really began to take control of the game. Worster then hit a 2, followed by two made free throws from Ben Carlson, and a Stefanovic 2 to extend the Utes lead all the way to 45-30.

The game was out of reach at this point, as Brenchley and Stefanovic both put in buckets while Ben Carlson hit back-to-back 3s to close out the game and give the Utes a 61-46 victory. The second half was much less close than the first half, as Utah found its stride early on.

Stats

Stefanovic led the Utes in points, assists and minutes, totaling 15, 6 and 39, respectively. Branden Carlson collected the most boards for the Utes, with a solid 13 in the game. He also scored 12 points, while he and Stefanovic were joined in the double-digits by Ben Carlson and Brenchley with 11 and 10 points respectively. 

As a team, the Utes did not have a great shooting night. They shot 32.3% from 3, but just 36.8% overall. However, they did put in 90% of their free throws, making five more from the line than Cal, while they turned the ball over seven times compared to Cal’s ten. Additionally, Cal’s shooting was much worse than the Utes, as they put in just 23.5% of their 3s while making just 33.9% of their shots overall.

It was a close game for too long for the Utes, but ultimately, they flexed and showed they were the superior team.

Coach’s Thoughts

Head Coach Craig Smith shared his thoughts after the game of how he was proud of how his team played, particularly on defense, as they held Cal to such low shooting numbers.

“At the end of the day, we took care of business,” he said. “I loved how we guarded. I thought we guarded really well tonight and truly got back to who we are and what we are. I thought we made life very difficult for them on that end of the floor.”

Looking Ahead

After moving to 16-9 after their victory over Cal, the Runnin’ Utes will return to the Huntsman Center next Saturday, Feb. 11 against the 14-11 Colorado Buffaloes. The game will take place at 8 p.m. MST.

The Utes will travel to Arizona the following week to face off against No. 5 ranked Arizona and Arizona State, both of which have winning records. The challenge will be tough for the Utes, but they have an opportunity to string together some impressive wins here in February.

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