The Utah men’s basketball team stayed unbeaten ahead of its first out-of-state test of the season, as the Runnin’ Utes took down Queen 96-65 on Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center.
While the Utes weren’t as 3-pointer happy as they were during the first week of the season — when Utah made 19 3-pointers each in its first two wins — they took control down the stretch before cruising to another definitive win.
Here’s a few takeaways from the game.
Mike Sharavjamts shined again
For the second straight game, 6-foot-9 guard Mike Sharavjamts led the Utes in assists, finishing with five in 31 minutes.
He is making it a nightly routine to complete at least one no-look assist — in the second half, he found a cutting Miro Little for a layup.
Sharavjamts also had an ankle-breaking jumper late in the first half, setting up a wide-open 15-footer that swished through the net.
In addition to his passing numbers, Sharavjamts had 19 points while adding seven rebounds, a block and a steal.
Until Gabe Madsen got his shot falling late in the contest, Sharavjamts looked like he would lead the team in scoring. Still, it was a career scoring night for the two-time transfer, who’s previously played at San Francisco and Dayton.
His mastery of the offense — and ability to make it run — has been a valuable asset in the season’s early going, and was on full display Tuesday night.
“He’s super, super intelligent,” Utah coach Craig Smith said of Sharavjamts. “And I think he just keeps getting better all the time.”
The Utes faced adversity and fought through it
Through the first three-quarters of the game, Queens was more aggressive than Utah’s previous two opponents and presented a bigger challenge to the home team.
It was a 14-point contest with 8:38 to go, and while Utah wasn’t in danger of losing, things were a bit more choppy and inconsistent for the Utes on both ends of the floor.
Utah, though, started to find answers both on offense and defense to pull away, going on a 15-1 run and eventually went up by 30 on a Madsen 3-pointer with 3:47 to play.
The Utes held Queens to 4 of 13 shooting after Bryce Cash’s made 3-pointer at the 8:38 mark, and Utah only allowed the Royals to shoot 35.9% on the night.
Utah, meanwhile, made 11 of their final 17 field goals, or 64.7%, and finished the night shooting 48.6% from the field and 14 of 30 (46.7%) from 3.
“We would shoot ourselves in the foot at the wrong time, if felt like, and then obviously last 10 minutes we really separated,” Smith said. “So, a lot of good things tonight, even though it felt like not as good for a stretch.”
In its previous two games, Utah had 29 and 23 assists — with an assist on 84% of their made shots during the week.
Tuesday night was different, as Utah had 15 assists on 35 made baskets, though that area improved as the night went on.
It wasn’t just adversity on the court from the opposing team the Utes faced — Smith mentioned second-year forward Jake Wahlin battled through illness and managed to have another solid outing. He finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds, while adding two blocks and a steal.
The balance of the team was on display again
While Madsen is expected to be the team’s leading scorer most every night and Sharavjamts has already established himself as one of the most selfless guys on this team, there were several other notable standouts in the contest.
“I think we’ve just got to hang our hats on every night, being the most together team,” Madsen said.
Smith pointed to Ezra Ausar helping get the Utes on track early in the second half — he had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the game, while leading Utah to a 52-33 edge on the boards.
Utah also had the advantage on offensive rebounds, at 17-9, and turned that into a 23-13 edge in second-chance points.
While Utah’s coach would have liked to have seen a better assist-to-turnover ratio — it was 15 to 13, guys like Little also found ways to contribute.
He scored five early points before finishing with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal.
Keanu Dawes also made a handful of splash plays, including one monster dunk, while putting up eight points and seven rebounds.
Of course, then there was Madsen.
While his twin brother Mason Madsen had a relatively quiet night with 6 points and it looked like Gabe Madsen would allow Sharavjamts to pace the team offensively, the Utes’ senior guard finally got cooking.
Over a five-minute stretch that began with just over eight minutes to play, Gabe Madsen scored 15 of his team-high 24 points. He was cold from the field early in the game before finishing 7 of 15, including 5 of 12 from 3.
What’s next
The Utes (3-0), after three games at the Huntsman Center to start the season, head outside of Utah for a neutral-site game this weekend.
Utah will play Mississippi State (3-0) in the Mid-South Showdown at Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi, on Sunday. Tip time is at 2 p.m. MST — the game will be televised on ESPN2.
The Bulldogs have easily beaten West Georgia, Georgia State and Southeastern Louisiana so far this season.
Mississippi State entered Tuesday at No. 21 in the KenPom ratings, the highest of Utah’s 11 nonconference opponents.