Utah Basketball Cruises To 98-67 Exhibition Win Over CSU Pueblo
Oct 30, 2024, 12:35 AM | Updated: 12:36 am
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah basketball fans got their first look at the upcoming 2024-2025 team in a free exhibition game against the CSU Pueblo Thunderwolves.
The Runnin’ Utes led wire-to-wire but allowed the game to be closer than it ever needed to be at times but still earned the 98-67 win.
Tonight's Exhibition Final‼️
See you on November 4th here at the Huntsman! pic.twitter.com/SY7lI7QAm5
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) October 30, 2024
It’s a meaningless game in the grand scheme of things, however, there are some takeaways from the action tonight. Let’s get to some of my notes from the exhibition.
Utah Basketball top two transfer additions looked the part
Utah added seven transfers to the roster this offseason. All of them were solid additions but a couple of them required a bit more work to land.
Ezra Ausar and Mike Sharavjamnts were the big recruiting wins for Craig Smith. The Utes beat out NC State and Seton Hall for Ausar, as well as Cal, St. Mary’s, and Illinois for Sharavjamts.
Each of those two provided encouraging signs of why they were prioritized targets.
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Ausar is a capable scorer in the paint and within the arc. He finished the night with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. Ausar scored mostly around the basket, which included a couple of big dunks.
No rebounds for Ausar, which has to change, but Utah found a capable scorer in that forward spot.
As for Sharavjamts, he looked quite comfortable manning the point. That is largely why he was such an important portal target for Utah. His size is such an advantage in that role, he found open teammates quite often.
He did finish with just 6 points on 3-of-7 shooting but added 6 assists. He was 0-of-4 from 3-point range but he just missed a couple of them.
Is Miro Little another triple-double threat point guard?
Last season, Utah had a record-breaking triple-double machine at point guard. Before him, Utah had another point guard who was capable of scoring, rebounding, and assisting.
It’s only a scrimmage but Miro Little finished the night with 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists. Little didn’t eclipse the double-digit threshold in any statistical measure but the productivity is similar to what Utah has had in that spot over the last few years.
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Little was willing to go up among the bigs and grab rebounds. He was constantly looking to set up his teammates for scoring opportunities. He went 2-of-8 from the field, which needs to improve, but his own scoring opportunities will be there too.
At 6-foo-4, 192 pounds, Little has good size for the point guard position. He showcased a good handle and feel on the offensive end of the floor. He’s got to find something to hang his hat on when it comes to scoring but his overall productivity was encouraging.
3-point shooting could be hot and cold
For most of the night, Utah struggled to connect from behind the arc. In the first half, the Utes connected on just 5-of-18 from 3-point range.
Gabe Madsen, Mason Madsen, and Hunter Erickson combined for 5-of-10 from deep. On the flip side of that, Miro Little, Ezra Ausar, Mike Sharavjamts, Keanu Dawes and Jake Wahlin combined to go 0-for-8 in the opening frame.
Though the first half provided an idea of how rough it can be at times, the second half was the opposite.
Utah converted 8-of-14 from 3-point range, which was spearheaded by Erickson and M. Madsen combining to shoot 6-of-8 from 3-point range, while G. Madsen and Wahlin each added another make. That fueled an 18-2 run in a three-minute run at one point in the second half.
The Madsen brothers and Erickson will be responsible for providing Utah with consistent shooting. Their consistency from deep this season is a necessity because others have to make improvements and prove themselves as shooters this season.
Utah Basketball can be disruptive on defense
Given the competition, take the numbers with a grain of salt, but the defensive effectiveness at times was impressive.
Utah finished the game with 9 blocks, 15 steals, and forced 26 total turnovers which led to 31 points directly off those turnovers.
The size and length of Utah was noticeably impactful on the defensive end. Passes were deflected, dribbles were knocked loose, and those often led to easy buckets for Utah on the other end.
This group showed in brief stretches how disruptive they can be. For Utah to be competitive in the Big 12, they need that sort of defensive effort to be fairly consistent this season.
All in all…
Utah basketball has some fun and intriguing pieces on the roster. Nothing that happened tonight changes the outlook for the season. However, it was good to see the squad in a competitive exhibition like to get a better feel for what this team could be.
It’s going to be a work in progress to fine-tune the lineups and rotations. This team is capable of playing an entertaining brand of offense and could be pretty tough defensively as well. Still, this is a group that is going to have to work extremely hard to earn their respect in the Big 12.
Utah Basketball’s full 2024-25 schedule
- November 4th – Home, Alcorn State
- November 7th – Home, Central Arkansas
- November 12th – Home, Queens
- November 17th – Neutral Site, Mississippi State
- November 22nd – Home, Utah Tech
- November 26th – Home, Mississippi Valley State
- November 30th – Home, Eastern Washington
- December 7th – Home, St Mary’s
- December 14th – Home, Radford
- December 17th – Home, Florida A&M
- December 21st – Neutral, Iowa
- December 31st – Road, Baylor
- January 4th – Home, Texas Tech
- January 7th – Road, Iowa State
- January 11th – Home, Oklahoma State
- January 15th – Road, TCU
- January 18th – Home BYU
- January 21st – Road, Houston
- January 25th – Home, Baylor
- January 28th – Home, Cincinnati
- February 1st – Road, Oklahoma State
- February 5th – Home, Colorado
- February 8th – Road, West Virginia
- February 11th – Road, Cincinnati
- February 15th – Home, Kansas
- February 17th – Home, Kansas State
- February 23rd – Road, UCF
- February 26th – Road, Arizona
- March 1st – Home, Arizona State
- March 4th – Home, West Virginia
- March 8th – Road, BYU
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