Utah came up empty on its Arizona road trip Saturday night, falling 67-59 to Arizona State on Senior Night at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
Utah led 26-25 at halftime, but fell for the first time this season after having a lead at the break. Arizona State finished the game on a 12-2 run.
Marco Anthony, Branden Carlson and Lazar Stefanovic scored 12 points apiece for the Utes, who fell to 17-11 overall, 10-7 in Pac-12 play.
Arizona State improved to 19-9 and 10-7 and moved into a tie with the Utes in the league standings.
Here are 3 keys to Utah’s 67-59 loss to the Sun Devils in the only matchup between the schools this season:
• Utah led 57-55 after Wil Exacte’s rebound dunk with 3:12 remaining, then scored just two points the rest of the way — a jumper by Stefanovic. Utah shot 38% from the field and 24% (6 of 25) from 3-point range.
• Utah trailed 7-0 early, then recovered nicely to take a 26-25 halftime lead. The Utes are now 17-1 when they have the lead at halftime. Warren Washington led ASU with 28 points. The Utes finished with 17 turnovers — which ASU turned into 20 points — and missed their last five shots. Also, Utah point guard Rollie Worster suffered a left ankle injury with 16:32 remaining in the game and did not return.
• Two nights after giving up 88 points to Arizona in an embarrassing 26-point loss, its worst since 2019, Utah showed up with its defense in the first half, but not quite the second half. The Sun Devils shot 34% in the first half and 55% in the second half.