Utah Falls To No. 2 Arizona After Late First Half Run
Feb 24, 2022, 11:10 PM
Utah Utes guard Rollie Worster (25) shoots over Arizona Wildcats guard Bennedict Mathurin (0) in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah men’s basketball team suffered a 97-77 blowout loss to second ranked Arizona after a big run late in the first half by the Wildcats.
Gabe Madsen lead Utah basketball with 15 points in their loss to Arizona. Both Gach dropped 13 points, while David Jenkins Jr. added 12 points.
Kerr Krissa had a triple-double for Arizona, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Azuloas Tubelis poured in 23 points. Former Ute Pelle Larsson played his first game in Salt Lake City since transferring to Arizona. He finished with two points, seven rebounds and two assists.
The rejection ➡️ The AND1
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— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 25, 2022
Arizona Tops Utah Basketball After Big Run Late In First Half
Arizona jumped out to an 8-0 lead in less than two minutes when head coach Craig Smith called a timeout. It was a good time for the timeout because the Runnin’ Utes came out on a 7-0 run with two dunks by Branden Carlson and a three-pointer by Both Gach.
The game stayed close until the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run and took a 36-28 lead with 5:19 remaining in the first half. Gabe Madsen hit a three-pointer to tie the game before the Arizona run started.
Arizona ended the half on a 26-5 run after Kerr Kriisa hit a halfcourt shot. The Wildcats had a 53-33 lead at the half.
A couple of things stood out during that run that allowed Arizona to go on a big run. First thing was allowing the Wildcats to hit nine three-pointers in the first half, including seven from Kriisa. Second is committing nine turnovers, which turned into 11 Arizona points off of turnovers.
Both Gach led the Utes with nine points in the first half. Kriisa had 21 points to lead the Wildcats.
In the second half, Arizona had the upper hand by outscoring Utah 14-7. Their lead reached 29 points before Utah started to climb back into the game.
It was even for much of the next 10 minutes of the second half with the Wildcats leading 82-60 with eight minutes left.
Utah dropped their record to 11-17 overall and 4-14 in Pac-12 play. They will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 26 against Arizona State at 8 p.m. MT on ESPNU.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com, Co-Host of Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.
