Chris Reyes
Sunday night the Utes took care of the Washington Huskies with a strong second half winning 77-56. The game was close the first and start of the second with Utah only leading by as little as five points. The Utes turned on the afterburners and left the Huskies behind as Tucker and Taylor combined to make eight 3-pointers. The Utes went on a 23-3 run to put the game out of reach. Utah scored on seven straight possessions during the run which was highlighted by three straight Tucker 3-pointers and took a 66-41 lead with 9:43 remaining. The win puts the 12th ranked Utes at 16-3 for the season and 6-1 in the Pac-12 putting them in a tie for first place with the Arizona Wildcats.
Jordan Loveridge and Coach Larry Krystkowiak
The win was Utah’s 15th straight home victory dating to last season. All six of the Utes’ Pac-12 conference wins have come by double-digit margins. A highlight of the game occurred early in the first half as Junior forward Jordan Loveridge made a 3-pointer that gave him 1,000 points for his career at Utah. The win was also Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak’s 100th career win and puts his record at Utah at an even .500.
Utah Utes vs Washington Basketball 2015
The Utes shot the ball very well Sunday making 28 for 52 (54 percent) from the field, including 11 for 18 (61 percent) on 3-pointers. Utah players always try to find the best shot on every possession. That’s why the Utes lead the Pac-12 in shooting and rank second in 3-point field-goal percentage and scoring.
Dakarai Tucker scored a career-high 19 points and Brandon Taylor added 14 to lead Utah to a 77-56 victory over Washington on Sunday. Washington was led by Andrew Andrews who also had 19 points to lead the Huskies. Robert Upshaw chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Huskies (14-5, 3-4) who saw their three-game winning streak end. Upshaw leads the country in blocks at 4.5 blocks per game.
Jakob Poeltl and Delon Wright
Delon Wright had a quiet night scoring only five points however the point guard did have 9 assists. Wright’s five points is a testament to the quality of this Utah team being able to win by 20+ points while their star player doesn’t have to score for the team to win.
The Utes now go on a three game road swing with UCLA, USC and ending with Colorado. The bracket predictors are all putting Utah as a three seed in the NCAA tournament at the current date. Look forward to that going up if the Utes can continue to shoot on the road like they are at the Huntsman Center.