Utah Men’s Basketball Gets First Pac-12 Road Win Over UCLA
Feb 18, 2024, 7:39 PM | Updated: Feb 20, 2024, 1:42 pm
SALT LAKE CITY- The Runnin’ Utes wrapped up their Los Angeles tour in Pauley Pavilion against a UCLA Bruins team on the rise.
Utah had another disappointing outing Thursday night against USC that has put the Utes behind the eightball in the race to the NCAA Tournament. A win over UCLA on the road would go a long way to help correct the ship.
The Utes got off to a quick 7-0 start over the Bruins. UCLA answered back and went into the halftime leading 36-34.
Utah goes into the half trailing UCLA by two, 36-24.
The #Utes were 35% shooting from the field, 25% from the three, and 73% from the line.
Branden Carlson leads in scoring with 9 points and is tied in rebounds with Keba Keita with three. Deivon Smith leads assists with four.
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) February 19, 2024
The Utes had to battle hard in the second half, but walked away with the win, 70-69.
Utah gets the win, 70-69, after Branden Carlson cleans up the shot from Deivon Smith to get the basket in as time expires. Great effort tonight to get the first road win for the #Utes in Pac-12.#GoUtes #LightTheU
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) February 19, 2024
Look Ahead At Utah’s Schedule
The Runnin’ Utes will be on the road again next week visiting the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder on Saturday, February 24. Utah and Colorado will tipoff at 7:00 pm MT and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.
Starting Five For Runnin’ Utes Vs. UCLA
And this afternoon’s starters for Utah.
2 Cole Bajema
5 Deivon Smith
13 Keba Keita
35 Branden Carlson
55 Gabe Madsen— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) February 18, 2024
Tonight’s Starting 5️⃣‼️ pic.twitter.com/JwS7o0qste
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 16, 2024
Runnin’ Utes Stats Leaders Against UCLA
- Scoring Leader: Deivon Smith, Branden Carlson – 17 points
- Rebound Leader: Branden Carlson – 7 rebounds
- Assists Leader: Deivon Smith – 10 assists
Smith went 6-11 from the paint, 0-3 from the three, and 5-5 from the line to earn his team high tie of 17 points. Smith also earned a double double posting a team high 10 assists, four rebounds, and one steal.
Branden Carlson was also first in scoring with 17 points going 6-13 from the field, 4-7 from the three, and 1-2 from the line while leading team in rebounds with seven and posting one block and one steal.
Cole Bajema and Gabe Madsen rounded out Utah’s top scorers with both posting 11 points apiece.
Noteworthy Utah Men’s Basketball Team Stats Against The Bruins
The Utes shot 42% from the field, 32% from the three and 72% at the line against the Bruins.
Utah collected 36 rebounds, 14 assists, three blocks and four steals against UCLA.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on X, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
