Utah shows BYU what the road looks like when the 3-pointers don’t fall

Utah showed BYU what it looks like when the 3-pointers don’t fall.

Utah’s Keba Keita got key putbacks and blew up BYU’s attempt to tie the game with nine seconds to play as the Utes held on to knock off the previously undefeated No. 14 Cougars 73-69 Saturday in the Huntsman Center before a sold-out crowd of 15,648.

On a night BYU (8-1) made just 7 of 30 from distance, including just three from beyond the arc in the second half, Utah (7-2) took advantage of BYU’s smaller lineup to control the game 99% of the night. The Utes did it with great efficiency.

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The Cougars, who’d enjoyed a No. 1 NET ranking most of the week, discovered how tough it is to win on the road with this, their first true road trip. It was a perfect tuneup and learning experience for what lies ahead in the Big 12.

The game proved to be another rivalry classic.

Great crowd, a packed arena, a lot of emotion and effort from both sides.

For the Utes, it was a satisfying one-up on the Cougars, who’d had Utah’s number of late with wins in the last three meetings. It marked the first time Utah had beaten an 8-0 team since 2002 and the first win over a BYU-ranked team since 1993.

BYU came in riding high, winning by an average margin of nearly 30 points a game. But the Cougars couldn’t keep any kind of consistency going to chase the Utes until the final four minutes when Utah struggled to score.

This is when Keita’s length paid off with some strong offensive rebounding and the key block of a Hall bomb attempt.  

Utah led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but when the Utes cooled to an eight-minute drought in the second half, BYU could not take advantage.

Utah caught BYU trying to swarm the ball on rebounds and outlet passes and scored 15 first-half points in transition by creating matchups or breakaway lay-ins on breaks. 

“That’s not us and we’ve never done that,” Cougars head coach Mark Pope said on KSL radio afterward.

With nine seconds to play, BYU moved the ball down the court and got the ball into the hands of Aly Khalifa, who handed off to Dallin Hall. But Keita used his superior physical presence to disrupt Hall’s handle on the ball, and Hall’s dribble went harmlessly out of bounds.

That play was part of BYU’s strategy most of the second half. Where the Cougars had led the nation in made and attempted 3-pointers this season they were not falling, and Pope wasn’t about to lean on it for a game-winner with the score Utah 71, BYU 69 and everything on the line.

As it turned out, the Utes simply ran out the Cougars’ 3-point acumen, called them on it and when it abandoned Pope’s squad, used a 49-37 field-goal percentage advantage to win.

Utah used a nifty two-man game with point guard Rollie Worster and Keita to break an eight-minute scoring drought and keep its lead.

When Gabe Madsen buried a trey with a minute to play, it boxed up the Cougars, who got a last-gasp chance with 40 seconds to play when Hall stole the ball in a press situation and Richie Saunders buried a 3 to close Utah’s lead to 71-69.

The Cougars got off 14 more field goal attempts than the Utes and were fouled on five 3-point attempts, but a paltry 10 of 18 for 57% effort at the line proved costly for BYU.

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Khalifa had a career-high 6 assists and Spencer Johnson’s 11 rebounds against the tallest team in the country was the best of his career.

But Madsen’s display of archery from outside may have outshone it all. Two of BYU’s best shooters from outside, Noah Waterman and Trevin Knell, were a combined 0 for 10.

Jaxson Robinson made 3 of his 8 attempts, but Madsen showed up all BYU’s archers with an impressive 5 of 9 effort from downtown — ultimately a key reason Utah led the entire game.

Utah took it to the Cougars from the opening tip, using its size and length underneath to score consistently as BYU’s attempt to keep up its season-long success from outside failed.

Branden Carlson scored 13 points as the Utes peeled off a 10-0 run and led by 14 at intermission on an easy lay-in by Carlson. In that half, Utah dominated the boards 22-14 as BYU made just 4 of 18 from distance. 

BYU’s bread-and-butter abandoned itself as Madsen made three bombs of his own to allow Utah to keep momentum and stay on attack. 

Madsen had 11 points in the first half.

Utah’s efficiency and easy buckets off transition in the first half, Madsen’s 3s and the early Utah high-low effective scoring sets offset BYU advantages in turnovers 7 to 13; points off turnovers 20-13, rebounds 42-41, second chance points 20-6, bench scoring 34-20, points in the paint 38-34 and steals at 6-3.

This game marked the final time these two rivals will play just one game in a season. The next time they play, barring some postseason weirdness, it will be in the Big 12 as partners in trying to chisel a presence in the best league in the country.