Utah Goes Back-To-Back, Earn First Big 12 Road Win, 73-65 Over TCU
Jan 15, 2025, 8:17 PM | Updated: Jan 16, 2025, 1:04 pm
SALT LAKE CITY—Utah basketball has earned back-to-back victories and their first Big 12 road win, as they’ve taken down the TCU Horned Frogs, 73-65.
Utah showed a lot of mettle in this one. They led wire-to-wire but had to fend off a late surge by the Horned Frogs for the victory.
Early in the second half, the Utes built a 13-point lead but the Horned Frogs cut it to 6 with four minutes to go and momentum in their favor. However, a key sequence late in the game was the difference for Utah.
Lawson Lovering was switched onto guard Vesean Allette, who attempted to score on the Utah big man. However, Lovering moved his feet and defended the driving shot quite well. That led to a quick layup by Keanu Dawes on the other end, which gave Utah a 64-55 lead with 2:20 left.
Keanu Dawes was phenomenal in this one, as he finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and a couple of assists. More importantly, he made a number of impactful plays on both ends of the floor in the final minutes.
Headed back from Texas with a UTES DUB‼️ pic.twitter.com/AQu63zoXrP
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
Starters for Utah vs TCU
Craig Smith stuck with the same starting five, which were as follows:
Mike Sharavjamts, Gabe Madsen, Jake Wahlin, Ezra Ausar, and Lawson Lovering.
First Half, Utah vs TCU
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively while playing well defensively. Utah was able to get to the free throw time a couple times in the opening minutes. They converted 2-of-4 from the line and 1-of-3 from the field to start the contest. It was a 4-2 contest, in Utah’s favor by the first media timeout.
15:44 – After the break, Ezra Ausar knocked down 1-of-2 from the line. TCU tied it up at 5-5 after a couple of possessions. Then, Gabe Madsen knocked down a 3-pointer off of an offensive rebound for Utah. Beautiful ball movement led to a Lawson Lovering dunk, where Keanu Dawes made a nice pass to him inside. On the ensuing defensive series, G. Madsen got into the passing lane for a steal and took it the other way for a dunk. On Utah’s next possession, Dawes scored a bucket of his own at the rim.
Great defensive effort from Madsen leads to a breakaway jam!! 🔨🔨#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/fc9cimtDbK
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
Utah’s defense softened on the perimeter and allowed TCU’s backcourt to knock down a couple of shots. That made it a 14-13 game, before Lovering caught it on the move to the rim, where he was fouled.
11:09 – After the break, Lovering knocked down 1-of-2 from the free throw line. After a defensive stop, Utah’s next offensive possession featured more great ball movement, leading to a Hunter Erickson 3-point make in the corner to make it 18-13.
Utah unfortunately had turnovers on three consecutive possessions, and TCU made it an 18-15 score by the next media timeout.
7:35 – On the inbound play after the break, Ausar got free underneath for a gimme at the rim, which was Utah’s sixth assist on seven field goals. A couple of possessions later, G. Madsen scored a layup, Utah got defensive another stop and, on the ensuing possession, knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner plus the foul but missed the free throw. That made it 25-16, Utah.
O board from Keller leads to another 👌 for Madsen‼️ pic.twitter.com/gXajSGhyB3
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
Unfortunately, again, the defense softened and allowed TCU to cut the lead to 27-23 by the final break.
2:59 – Following the timeout, Utah went to G. Madsen, who was fouled on a driving layup attempt. He knocked down 1-of-2 from the line to make it 28-23. Two possessions later, Utah found Dawes underneath, who put it in over a smaller defender to give Utah a 30-23 lead and a TCU timeout.
TCU knocked down a 3-pointer in transition after the timeout. Neither team scored on their final two possessions and went into the locker room with Utah up, 30-26.
Second Half – Utah 30, TCU 26
Lovering opened the half with a bucket off of a strong post-up. After that, Ausar really asserted himself into the action. He blocked a TCU layup attempt, took the ball the other way and found Sharavjamts for an open 3-pointer. Then, after another defensive stop, scored a layup, and Utah jumped out to a 37-26 lead.
After a TCU timeout, the game got a little ugly. TCU scored one field goal, while Ausar knocked down 1-of-2 from the line. That made it 38-28 by media timeout.
15:54 – After TCU went 1-of-2 from the line, Utah worked the offense and found an open Sharavjamts for another 3-point make. On the next possession, Utah enjoyed phenomenal ball movement, which led to a Sharavjamts drive and dunk, which gave Utah a 43-31 advantage.
"THE MONGOLIAN HAMMER" – @ESPNLowell
🇲🇳🔨 pic.twitter.com/1FfnANQ6K0
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
Lovering scored a layup and Dawes knocked down both of his free throws. TCU kept pace but Utah kept their distance, 47-38.
12:06 – After the timeout, Wahlin knocked down a rhythm 3-pointer from the right wing to extend Utah’s lead to 50-38. Unfortunately, that would be the last score for Utah for four minutes. That allowed the Horned Frogs Vesean Allette to get going a little and TCU was able to trim Utah’s lead to 50-43 by the next media timeout.
7:51 – Utah was able to get a defensive stop coming out of the break. On the other end, Wahlin was fouled and knocked down 1-of-2 from the line, but Dawes grabbed the miss, which led to a missed G. Madsen 3-pointer.
Dawes later scored on back-to-back possessions. All three buckets were scored at the rim, and the latter two were emphatic dunks. Wahlin added another one through contact down low, and Utah went into the final media timeout with a 59-51 lead.
MAKE WAY FOR KEANU DAWES!!!!! 🔨🔨🔨 pic.twitter.com/IchTU2QNPk
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
4:19 – TCU scored quickly after the timeout but Utah responded just as quickly on the other end with a Wahlin bucket.
In the final minutes, Utah showed great mental toughness, fighting to regain the momentum to hang onto this one. Dawes, Lovering, Sharavjamts, and G. Madsen made key plays down the stretch to preserve the Utes’ wire-to-wire win.
HUGE block from Dawes late in the game!!!! pic.twitter.com/U4HY7vzoyh
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 16, 2025
UP NEXT – BYU vs Utah
The 265th edition of the Red vs. Blue rivalry is on tap as Utah and BYU square off once again as conference opponents this Saturday, Jan. 18, inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Roxy Bernstein will guide fans through the action alongside Tim Welsh on ESPN+ as the Runnin’ Utes and Cougars battle in the first of two games as Big 12 Conference opponents this season starting at 7 p.m. (MST).
