The Utah men’s basketball team (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12) came into this matchup with the Washington State Cougars (13-6, 4-4 Pac-12) looking to capture their first road win of the conference season. The first half was fairly tight as Washington State took a 33-30 lead into the locker room. The injury to Deivon Smith late in the first half looked to have depleted Utah coming out in the second half because Washington State seemingly couldn’t be stopped the entire 20 minutes of action, eventually coming away with a 79-57 victory.
First Half
The first half was dominated by the Washington State defense, as they held Utah to just 38.2% shooting from the field and 18.2% from 3-point range. Despite the poor shooting for the Utes, Branden Carlson kept Utah in this game with a whopping 16 first-half points. Carlson played exceptionally well in the first half, going 6-13 from the field and 2-4 from three.
Utah’s defense made a massive impact early on in this one as well, allowing the high-powered Cougar offense to score just 33 first-half points on 35.2% percent and 22.2% from 3-point range.
The story in the first half, however, was the injury to Smith. A little after the midway point of the first half, Smith had to be helped off of the court by coaches and training staff with an apparent ankle injury. The Utes guard depth was already hindered due to the absence of Rollie Worster, and the loss of Smith left Utah even thinner at the point guard position.
Washington State took a 33-30 lead into halftime, and if Utah wanted to find success in the second half, one of the guards would need to step up in a big way to take some of the load off of Carlson’s shoulders.
Second Half
The poor shooting for Utah continued early on in the second half, but the only difference was that Washington State started to catch fire. Despite coming out of halftime relatively flat, at the 11:05 mark, Keba Keita made a floater from just inside the free throw line that cut the lead to 51-49 in favor of the Cougars. With this bucket, Utah looked to have some gas left in the tank to make the comeback a reality.
Unfortunately for Utah, Washington State stepped on the pedal on both ends of the floor, stringing together multiple stops and pushing the ball in transition to get easy looks at the basket. At the 6:05 mark in the second half, Washington State held a commanding 64-51 after their impressive 13-2 run.
This one was all but over, as the Cougars were able to knock down their free throws and put away a Utah team that has struggled mightily on the road so far this year. When it was all said and done, Washington State would come out victorious, 79-57.
Utes Stuffing the Stat Sheet
Carlson led the Utes in scoring, putting up 20 points, while Gabe Madsen was the second-leading scorer with 14 of his own. Keita continued to play well in the starting role, putting up 10 points, 9 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. The injury to Smith allowed some more inexperienced players to get some minutes in this one, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough to come away with a win.
What’s next for the Utes?
The Utes will head to Seattle to take on a tough Washington Husky team this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. MST. Utah is still in a good spot regarding the NCAA tournament and Pac-12 tournament, but a road win would really help boost their confidence as a team and show the tournament committee that the Utes can win at home or on the road. Tune in to ESPN2 for coverage of this exciting matchup.
