Young Utah Utes show poise again down the stretch in close win over Minnesota Golden Gophers

SALT LAKE CITY — For the second time this season, the young Utah basketball team found itself in a tight battle against a good team in the final minutes after blowing a comfortable lead. A 16-point lead had evaporated to two points twice in the final minute, but once again the Utes — did we say they are young? — showed their poise as they came away with a 73-69 victory over Minnesota Friday at the Huntsman Center. 

It was a solid victory over a Big Ten team that featured a junior and four sophomores in its starting lineup, which sounds young but isn’t as young as the Utes starting lineup of three sophomores and two freshmen.

The Utes improved to 3-0 on the season after withstanding several runs by the Gophers (1-3) over the final eight minutes of the game when the Utes could never break away.

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“We were exposed in a couple of ways, but I was proud of our guys. We never gave up the lead, and we made enough free throws down the stretch,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “We’re learning. It was a good opportunity to learn some lessons without taking the loss.”

Once again, the Utes were led by sophomores Timmy Allen and Both Gach, who each scored 19 points, with Allen also pulling down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Riley Battin scored 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds, including one of the biggest of the game with nine seconds left after the Gophers missed a free throw and two “bunnies” at the rim, trailing 72-69. Freshman Rylan Jones added 10 points and dished out a team-high six assists.

As thrilled as Krystkowiak was with the victory, he pointed out that the Utes need to improve in rebounding after allowing 17 offensive boards, as well as taking care of the ball better as they had 16 turnovers.

It had been a week since the Utes’ record 94-point victory over Mississippi Valley State, but the way they started the game it was like a continuation of that rout as Utah jumped to a 16-0 lead before the game was four minutes old. The lead was still 16 at 34-18 with 6:05 left in the half, but not surprisingly, the Gophers battled their way back into the game with a 15-4 run to end the half.

The Utes had no answer for Minnesota’s 6-foot-10, 240-pound center Daniel Oturu, who had a double-double by halftime with 16 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Utes pushed the lead back to 10 at 50-40, but went more than five minutes without scoring as Minnesota closed gap to one. On three straight possessions, the Utes basically just dropped the ball, part of their 16 turnovers on the day compared to just five for Minnesota.

When Allen scored on a dunk after a steal by Jones and then Jones hit a pair of free throws on Utah’s next possession, it looked like the Utes were home free at 67-59 with 1:36 left. 

But Marcus Carr hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a two-point game at 70-68 with 23 seconds left. Gach hit a pair of free throws, but Carr was fouled and hit one of two with 16 seconds left. Oturu missed two short shots off the rebound and then Battin came down in traffic with the big board.

But wait. Battin missed both free throws with 9.3 seconds left. So instead of letting the Gophers try for a game-tying 3-pointer, the Utes fouled Carr with 5.4 seconds left as Jones grabbed him in front of the Gopher bench.

Carr missed both free throws, the second intentionally and Allen iced the game with a free throw at the other end.

Afterward Krstykowiak said it was “decided in the summer time” that the Utes would employ the fouling strategy in the final seconds of a 3-point game.

The Utes pretty much shut down Oturu in the second half as he finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds, but Krystkowiak said it wasn’t so much the Utes’ double-teaming that did the trick. 

“We did a better job of blocking him out, but at the end of the day, we don’t want to give ourselves too much credit for it because he was a monster tonight,” he said. “More than anything he probably ran out of gas late in the fight.” 

UTE NOTES: The win marked Krystkowiak’s 200th as a college coach. ... This was Utah’s first win over a Big Ten team at the Huntsman Center since December 2009. ... The Utes now lead the all-time series with Minnesota 3-2. ... Last year in Minneapolis, the Gophers won 78-69 over the Utes. ... Next up for Utah is the Myrtle Beach Invitational, which starts next Thursday in South Carolina. The Utes will play Coastal Carolina in the first round and either Baylor or Ohio in the next round. No. 10 Villanova is also in the field. ... Utah’s next home game will be Nov. 29 against UC Davis. ... Tre WIlliams, who scored 6 points off the bench for the Gophers, played his prep ball at Wasatch Academy in Utah.