For a couple of tense minutes at the start of the second half Thursday night, it seemed like the Utah Runnin’ Utes of last year had rolled out of the locker room rather than this year’s defensive-minded bunch.
Visiting Oregon State made three straight 3-pointers to trim what was once a 13-point first half Utes lead to one, and many among the announced crowd of 6,471 at the Huntsman Center grew uneasy.
But these clearly aren’t last year’s Utes, who won just four Pac-12 games and 11 overall.
Coach Craig Smith unleashed the dogs, as it were, and Utah held OSU to just two points on its next six possessions.
“Give our guys credit, man. We had a different mindset in that second half defensively. We held them to 31%. Obviously the first three possessions they were raining in 3s. … But we just stayed with the game plan and those percentages even out and they finished the game missing their last nine 3s.” — Utah basketball coach Craig Smith.
On the other end, Branden Carlson got everything rolling again offensively with a 3-point play, and the Utes ended up cruising to a 79-60 win in their new throwback jerseys from years much better than the recent ones.
“I thought overall we had a great game,” said Carlson, who tied his career high with 27 points. “Yeah, there were some stretches where we let them come back, but we know this year we just have to continue to stay the course and trust in the game plan our coaches give us.”
The Beavers (7-8, 1-3) cooled off considerably after making eight of their first nine 3-point attempts and shooting 50% in the first half.
Oregon State shot 31% in the second half and Utah improved to 5-0 in Pac-12 play for the first time ever, and 12-4 overall.
The Utes, the biggest surprise in the early Pac-12 season, are tied with UCLA atop the league standings after the Bruins held off USC Thursday night.
UCLA doesn’t play again until Utah visits Pauley Pavilion next Thursday, while the Utes host fading Oregon on Saturday night (5 p.m. MT).
“I thought we had a great atmosphere in here,” said Carlson, who also had 11 rebounds to post the eighth double-double of his career. “I want to thank the fans that came out. They gave us some great energy.”
Carlson is now No. 38 on Utah’s career scoring list, with 1,029 points.
He was also stellar at the rim, per usual. And he had a lot of help — in the final 18 minutes.
“I thought defensively we weren’t finishing possessions the way we normally do,” Smith said. “I mean, the number of times they scored with five seconds or left on the shot clock, it just wasn’t good enough.
“We were playing relatively hard, but not to the degree that you need to in Pac-12 play, and that’s what we said at halftime. They were over a point a possession in the first half. It is not good enough.”
Utah entered the game No. 4 in the country in 3-point shooting percentage defense and overall field goal percentage defense.
“Give our guys credit, man. We had a different mindset in that second half defensively,” Smith said. “We held them to 31 percent. Obviously the first three possessions they were raining in 3s. … But we just stayed with the game plan and those percentages even out and they finished the game missing their last nine 3s.”
Oregon State’s leading scorer, Jordan Pope, was held five points below his average (13.3) and the only Beavers in double figures were Rodrigue Andela (10) and Tyler Bilodeau (11).
“We knew that this team loves to live at the rim. They get fouled a lot as well. We didn’t give them many free throws this game (five),” Carlson said.
“That was kind of our game plan: Don’t let them get to the rim for easy points in the paint and not foul them, and I think we executed that really well.”
Utah only outscored OSU 34-30 in the paint, but was 18 of 20 from the free-throw line. Smith said Marco Anthony and Rollie Worster were especially effective in turning up the defensive intensity in the second half.
“They stuck a couple 3s on us, especially the start of the second half,” said Worster, who added six points and eight assists. “I think a big thing for us was just carrying a hand. … And even though they hit a couple, just sticking to our game plan and just getting out on guys tighter and getting into the ball more did it.”
Anthony added 14 points and 12 rebounds, his fifth double-double as a Ute and sixth in his career.
“I thought Marco was really good tonight, with 14 points,” Smith said. “But the number that really stands out to me is the 12 rebounds with three assists and guarding whomever on the other team.”
The Utes had 18 assists and just eight turnovers. They shot 47% from the floor. Gabe Madsen and Lazar Stefanovic also reached double figures, each scoring 13 points.
“When you have that kind of production, that’s what we need to be on a consistent basis,” Smith said.
Carlson, a proponent of Thursday’s throwback jerseys because they produced a win, unlike a few weeks ago when some new jerseys weren’t that effective at BYU, said there’s a different vibe surrounding this group, and urged fans to check out the 2022-23 Utes before it is too late.
“It is good to set some new history that is not negative like last year’s history. So it is good to have a little change with that,” Carlson said, when asked about the Utes’ first-ever 5-0 start in Pac-12 play.
“It is good to be a part of this amazing program and university and great that we can add to our resume.”