Takeaways From Utah Falling Apart In Final Minutes Of 85-75 Loss To Cincinnati
Feb 11, 2025, 7:54 PM | Updated: Feb 12, 2025, 12:16 pm
SALT LAKE CITY—Though it looked like they might pull off an upset bid on the road, the Utes ran out of gas in the final minutes and lost 85-75 to Cincinnati.
Utah was aiming for a road trip split but unfortunately dropped both on the East Coast road trip.
With Kansas and Kansas State coming to town, Utah missed out on perhaps their best chance at a win tonight.
An exciting one for 38 minutes but Utah falls to the Bearcats 85-75 after a completely unraveling in the final minutes. https://t.co/vACqTtrdmG
— Steve Bartle (@BartleKSLsports) February 12, 2025
Here are the takeaways from the game…
Inability to defend on the perimeter
An offensive outing like the one the Utes had tonight should be enough to get a win. Unfortunately, the Utes could not get the defensive stops they needed to capitalize. Utah struggled, particularly defending the perimeter, and gave up way too many clean looks.
Through the first half of the game, the Bearcats were having a fantastic outing on the offensive end. They converted 8-of-14 shots from 3-point range, a blistering 57.1% rate. Coming into the game, Josh Reed converted 24% of shots from deep but went 3-for-3. Tyler Betsey averaged 33% but also went 2-for-2 from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, Jizzle James finished a remarkably efficient game, shooting 10-of-15 from the field for 23 points and adding six assists. Dae Dae Thomas wasn’t as efficient, scoring just 2-of-7 from the field, but he still created opportunities by getting past Utah defenders and dishing out five assists.
The Bearcats overall finished the game 30-of-61 from the field and 11-of-22 from deep. Utah’s inability to defend perimeter players hurt them greatly in this one.
Complicated matters by not cleaning the glass
To complicate matters, Utah was incapable of securing defensive rebounds. The Bearcats grabbed 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, 10 of which came in the first 10 minutes. That led to 10 second-chance points for the Bearcats.
They finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds but 16 second-chance points. Thus, even though they limited the offensive rebounds, they allowed the Bearcats to score more efficiently on the additional possession.
Jake Wahlin was the leading rebounder with 7, while Keanu Dawes was second with 5 boards. Disappointingly, Utah’s bigs (Lovering, Ausar, Keller) combined for just 5 boards.
So, Utah gave up open looks on the perimeter, failed to clean the boards, and yielded a number of second-chance scores. The Bearcats outrebounded the Utes 41-29, which simply cannot happen for a Craig Smith-coached team.
The roller coaster ride of Gabe Madsen’s streakiness
Gabe Madsen wasn’t necessarily quiet in the first half. He scored 10 points but he cranked it up a level in the second period.
He scored 6 of Utah’s 11-points-2-minutes-run to open the second frame. Madsen then had 12 points through eight minutes and knocked down another pair of 3-pointers to give him 18 second-half points by the 8:13 timeout.
It was clear that Madsen was playing with a different aggression and confidence. This was the best he had looked in quite some time. To this point of the game, he was 6-of-11 from 3-point range, and it seemed like he would shoot his way to a Utah victory.
Unfortunately, his streakiness turned the other way in the game’s closing minutes. He missed seven straight, a few of which were wide-open looks, and he finished the half 6-of-18 and 8-of-22 overall.
Smith funneled the offense through him, and unfortunately, no one else was able to get going in the half. As mentioned, Smith needed to add a counterpunch to the second half offense but failed to do so. Ultimately, Madsen and Utah ran out of steam in the end.
Smith failed to get bigs going in the second half
Despite the lack of rebounds, Utah’s starting big men, Ezra Ausar and Lawson Lovering, got off to a strong offensive start. The two scored 18 of the first 21 points on a combined 9-of-13 shooting from the field.
Lovering added another layup later in the half, and the two finished with 20 of Utah’s 36 points. They played a big role for Utah in the opening frame.
There were a number of dunks and other easy ones around the rim. Combined, the two were each finishing around the rim much better than they had been in previous contests.
It seemed like these two would be the ones to lead Utah to a win. Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite in the second frame, as Ausar went scoreless while Lovering only added a layup.
The offense went through Madsen, which was wise to an extent. At some point, Smith needed to counterpunch as the Bearcats defense tilted to Madsen. The unwillingness or inability to generate looks for Ausar or Lovering, despite how well they played in the first half is concerning.
Concerning stretch in the big picture
Winning on the road in the Big 12 is hard. Unfortunately, Utah has had three really good opportunities to come away with wins in their last three road games.
Unfortunately, for one reason or another, Utah has fallen in all three. It’s a disappointing stretch for Craig Smith, who now enters a much tougher phase of the schedule.
One of the bigger issues during Smith’s tenure has been Utah’s collapse over the final stretch of the schedule each season. Simply said, it’s really hard to see Utah turning things around to the extent they need to.
Smith and the Utes have to find a way to play better, more consistent basketball in the season’s final month. Otherwise, Utah might enter a really interesting juncture with their head coach.
UP NEXT – Kansas Vs. Utah
Utah returns home for a pair of home games after being on the road and kicks it off against the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, Feb. 15, beginning at 8 p.m. (MST) on ESPN. Dave Flemming and former UCLA Bruin Sean Farnham return to the Jon M. Huntsman to guide fans through the action as the Runnin’ Utes and Jayhawks square off for the first time since Dec. 13, 2014, a game that took place in Kansas City at the now-named T-Mobile Center that wen in favor of KU 63-60.
