The Utah Runnin’ Utes led start to finish at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Friday, beating the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners 72-44 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Gabe Madsen led the Utes with 25 points. Ben Carlson scored 13, Branden Carlson added 12 and Wilguens Jr. Exacte contributed 10.
Here are three takeaways from Utah’s win.
Gabe Madsen steals the show
Utah guard Madsen had the best game of his career, scoring a career-high 25 points and making a career-high six 3-pointers.
It was a good night for the Madsen family, as Gabe’s brother Mason hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to lift Boston College over Detroit Mercy earlier on Friday.
“Well, me and (Branden Carlson) were watching my brother play earlier and he just hit a game-winner at Boston College, so we were talking, it’s in the Madsen family air tonight to shoot well, so I think that’s what it was,” Madsen said.
Madsen was 8 for 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, and he also contributed three rebounds and two assists.
“I mean obviously any shooter will tell you it gives you some confidence going forward to shoot it. I mean obviously you gotta keep that same mindset if you’re missing shots too, but yeah, obviously it gives you a little confidence to keep going,” Madsen said.
He also had a dunk that got the bench fired up and a nifty reverse layup.
“Gabe’s put a lot of time in and I think you guys can see that. ... He’s always been a very good shooter. I think he’s become even a better shooter, but he is certainly gotten just stronger when you look at his body,” Smith said.
“Some of those finishes, he got a couple steals in transition, the dunk. He could dunk last year, but barely — and he had some authority on that thing. Then of course the reverse layup. I mean, you gotta have a strong lower body to be able to make those sorts of plays.”
Utah’s hot start to open both halves
The Runnin’ Utes started the game on a 14-0 run, holding CSU Bakersfield scoreless over the first seven minutes of the opening period before the Roadrunners’ Kaleb Higgins hit a 3-pointer to put CSU Bakersfield on the board.
Utah’s defense was dialed in to the start the contest, forcing three turnovers in the first seven minutes.
Offensively, the two Carlsons and Madsen powered the opening run, with Branden Carlson scoring six points, Madsen contributing five and Ben Carlson scoring three.
That 14-0 start was exactly what head coach Craig Smith wants to see from his team.
“I mean, we’ve just prepared a lot for this game and our coaches have been saying, you know, this team is a very physical, tough team, they’re not gonna have any quit to them, they’re just gonna come out ready to take it to us,” Carlson said, “so we just need to come out being ready to take it to them instead and just be the dictator of this game, and so that’s just what we did, just came out.”
The fast start to the first half was a key reason why the Utes, who went into the locker room at halftime up 13, weren’t in a closer game at the break after allowing a 7-0 run to close the half out.
After suffering that letdown, Utah regrouped and opened the second half of a 16-2 run over the first six-and-a-half minutes to take a comfortable 52-25 lead and put the game out of reach.
Ben Carlson, Madsen, Rollie Worster and Lazar Stefanovic all contributed to the scoring run, while CSU Bakersfield missed nine of its first 10 shots of the second half.
Dialing in a rotation
In just the second game of the year, Utah’s rotation is starting to come into focus.
The Utes’ starters — Madsen, Worster and Stefanovic in the backcourt and the Carlsons in the frontcourt — played heavy minutes against CSU Bakersfield.
Madsen played 31 minutes; Brandon Carlson, Stefanovic and Worster played 30 minutes; and Ben Carlson played 22 minutes, with Jr. Exacte playing 18 minutes.
“I thought those guys really played well,” Smith said. “I thought (Jr. Exacte) played well. Like, we didn’t go into the game thinking certain guys were gonna play nine minutes or eight minutes or five minutes, but we’re gonna go with the guys that are performing,” Smith said, adding that he thinks the bench will be a strong point this season.
The rotation isn’t completely clear yet though.
Senior guard Marco Anthony, a starter last year for the Utes, remains out with an injury. Postgame, Smith said that he will know “a lot more” on Anthony’s status going forward, but that he is “anticipating him being out still for a little bit longer.”
Does Anthony replace Madsen, who came off the bench in the majority of games last year, when he is healthy? Also, freshman guard Luka Tarlac, who Smith said was ill on Monday, didn’t play in the season opener and was out again Friday.
Gavin Baxter, who transferred from BYU, is still working his way back from injury.