Surprising Utah crept closer to first place in the Pac-12 men’s basketball standings with a convincing 63-44 win over last-place Oregon State Thursday night at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.
Unleashing their trademark suffocating defense, the Utes improved to 8-3 in league play, 15-7 overall and won at Oregon State (2-8, 8-13) for the first time since 2019.
Oregon State had just 29 points with six minutes remaining in the game.
Utah’s best two defensive efforts of the season have come on the road. The Utes held Cal to 43 points back on Dec. 29.
Here are 3 keys to Utah’s win:
• Utah’s defense was back to its usual self, even on the road, as Oregon State was held to a season-low 16 points in the first half; The Beavers were 0 of 10 from 3-point range and 7 of 28 (25%) from the field in the first half and Utah took a 32-16 lead at the break.
• Utah got balanced scoring on a night when its defense was sufficient to overcome a rather pedestrian offensive performance after the visitors took an early 10-0 lead. Gabe Madsen (13), Rollie Worster (12) and Branden Carlson (12) were all in double figures for the Utes.
• Oregon State missed its first 15 3-point attempts in its first game since making 13 triples in a road win at Cal. The Beavers finished 2 of 18 from 3-point range and shot 34% from the field.