Utes Collapse Against Cal, Finish Conference Road Schedule Winless

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Utah Utes basketball team lost to the California Golden Bears in overtime 86-79, ending their regular season conference road schedule winless. It’s the first time that the Utes have gone winless on the road in conference play since 2012.

Timmy Allen led the way with a game-high 26 points along with 8 rebounds on 10-16 shooting from the field. His career-high in scoring is 27 points against BYU this season.

Alfonso Plummer added a career-high 23 points off the bench. The junior college transfer knocked down 8 of his 13 field goal attempts and 5 of his 8 three-point attempts. Both Gach pulled out of his slump with 19 points and 6 rebounds, including the two free throws to tie the score and send the game to overtime.

Gach made two 3-pointers in the game. Entering the contest against Cal, he didn’t make a three in the last seven games that he played in, missing 20 straight attempts.

Utes Lose Two Key Players

Utah lost two key players at the beginning and at the end of the game. Freshman point guard Rylan Jones left the game in the first five minutes when big man Branden Carlson and Cal forward Matt Bradley landed on him.  The Olympus alum did not return to the game.

In overtime, after having a great game, Both Gach quickly picked up his fifth foul and was disqualified from the game. During the extra period, Utah scored 10 points and made just two field goals. Cal dropped 17 points in overtime.

Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak decided to try a different lineup to start the game. Rather than the usual lineup of Rylan Jones, Both Gach, Timmy Allen, Riley Battin and Branden Carlson, Krystkowiak elected to start Jaxon Brenchley and Mikael Jantunen and brought Battin and Gach off the bench.

Gach’s minutes didn’t change since he filled in at point guard for Jones when he left the game with an injury. Gach, Allen and Plummer scored 68 of Utah’s 79 points.

Utes fall to Cal in OT.#GoUtes🏀🔴 #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/zZHBSVc8C7

— Utah Basketball🏀 (@UtahMBB) March 1, 2020

Cal Dominates Offensive Glass

The game was close throughout until the overtime period but the difference in Cal’s win over the Utes was their dominance on the offensive glass. The Golden Bears pulled down 39 total rebounds including 18 on the offensive glass. They scored 20 second chance points compared to Utah’s 6 points.

Another factor in the loss for the Utes was Cal’s 19 points off of Utah’s 13 turnovers. The Golden Bears turned the ball over just 8 times and Utah had 11 points off of the miscues.

Matt Bradley led the Bears with 21 points and 5 rebounds. Five players for Cal scored in double figures.

Spread the Golden Bear wealth. 🤝

A 5️⃣0️⃣-point effort by @CalMBBall’s bench helped the Bears cap off its season finale at Haas with an 86-79 victory in OT. pic.twitter.com/mfzTqw9GL4

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) March 1, 2020

Utah dropped their record to 15-14 overall and 6-11 in Pac-12 play and drop to the 10th spot in the conference standings. They will play their final game of the regular season on Saturday, March 7 against No. 21 Colorado at the Huntsman Center. The game will tip-off at 12:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.

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