Utah extended its season by building a big lead, then holding on for a 98-95 victory over Washington during the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The No. 7 seed Utes now face No. 2 seed USC on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. MST in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals. It’s Utah’s first Pac-12 Tournament victory since the 2015-16 season, when the Utes advanced to the tournament championship.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
- The No. 7-seeded Utes (12-12) made a season-high 14 3-pointers to beat the 10th-seeded Huskies (5-21), and in the end, Utah needed every one of them. Alfonso Plummer, who hit 11 3s in the Utes’ tournament loss to Oregon State last year, made 6 of 11 to lead Utah from long range, while Riley Battin (three), Pelle Larsson (two) and Mikael Jantunen (two) also hit multiple 3-pointers. The Utes made 14 of 26 3s in the game, and that included hitting five of their first seven. Washington was also impressive from 3-point range, making 11 of 28.
- Utah used a 20-2 run early in the first half to establish control. The Utes made four 3-pointers during the run, including two from Plummer, and led 26-10 less than eight minutes into the game. The Utes led by double-digits nearly the entire second half before Utah survived a late rally by Washington, which shot 52.9% from the field and scored 60 points in the second half.
- The Utes, who shot 60.4% and made 20 of 27 free throws — though Utah missed four free throws in the final minute — had six players reach double-figures. Timmy Allen led the way with 24 points (on 8-of-13 shooting) and added 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Plummer had 21 points, followed by Branden Carlson (13), Larsson (12), Jantunen (12) and Battin (11).