Facing the prospect of losing their third consecutive game and fourth out of their last five outings, the Utah Runnin’ Utes did just enough down the stretch to beat the Washington State Cougars 74-70 Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.
David Collette scored a career-high 22 points to lead the home team, while Lorenzo Bonam added 13 on a night when star Kyle Kuzma didn’t get on the scoreboard until the second half and finished with 10 points.
Ike Iroegbu and Josh Hawkinson combined for 33 points to lead the Cougars, while Malachi Flynn and Charles Callison finished with 12 apiece.
Why the Utes won
Against a team it had beaten by 41 points in two previous meetings (incidentally, the final score was 88-47 in both contests), Utah had to fight its way to victory on Thursday. The outcome wasn’t decided until Ute guard Parker Van Dyke made a free throw with five seconds left to stretch the lead to four.
The turning point
Washington State stayed in it until the waning seconds, although Utah did start to gain control with 1:50 remaining when Kuzma was fouled while rebounding a Van Dyke miss, and he made both free throws to stretch the lead to four at 69-65.
What it means
Thursday’s victory for the Utes against the ninth-best team in the conference won’t move the meter much in a positive direction in the grand scheme of things, but it was crucial that the game didn’t result in a loss, which would have given Utah three consecutive in the negative column.
Unsung hero
On a night when Collette dominated, Kuzma struggled and Van Dyke hit a key shot, Bonam was quietly solid. In addition to his 13 points, he had four assists and three steals with just one turnover. Seven of his points came from the foul line (on just eight attempts), the two biggest being a pair with 20 seconds left that stretched the Utes’ lead to three.
Grading the performances
Utah
The Utes started out terribly before going on a 25-4 run in the middle of the first half, then stretched the lead to double digits in the second stanza before allowing the Cougars to come back and make things interesting at the end.
Although Utah shot just 2-of-15 from downtown, it countered that by making 22 free throws compared with six for Washington State and finishing +22 in points in the paint. The Utes also had more blocks and steals than the Cougars and finished ahead in the assist category, 19-12.
Grade: B
Washington State
While the Cougars lost, their performance was certainly better than in two previous meetings against Utah. Hawkinson’s all-around offensive game gave the Utes problems, and he pulled down 11 rebounds to go with his 16 points. Iroegbu was the catalyst for Washington State’s hot start, and he and Flynn both made more 3-pointers (three apiece) than the entire Utah team did.
Grade: B
Up next
The Utes will welcome the Washington Huskies to the Huntsman Center Saturday afternoon. The Huskies are 11th in the Pac-12 with a 2-10 record in conference play (9-15 overall) after suffering their sixth straight loss Thursday night against Colorado.
Markelle Fultz, the presumptive top pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, has been fantastic this season in averaging 23.2 points, six assists, six rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, but beyond him, Washington has been bad. Making matters worse for the Huskies, Fultz missed Thursday’s game with knee soreness and is day-to-day.
Guard David Crisp and forward Noah Dickerson also average double figures for Washington.