Utah leaned on a pair of upperclassmen in the first half and continued to pour the rout on in the second half of its 94-48 win over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center.
The win kicks off the first of two games at home this week for the Runnin’ Utes as part of the Mountain to Sea Showcase.
3 takeaways
Utah gets its two tallest players back on the floor. The 7-foot Lawson Lovering and 6-foot-10 Zach Keller made their season debuts Tuesday — both missed the previous five games due to injury.
That gave the first glimpse of what Utah could have in the post this year, after the Runnin’ Utes were forced to adjust without the starter Lovering and reserve Keller.
Lovering, in particular, was impressive — he had 12 points, seven rebounds (including four offensive rebounds) and two assists in 12 minutes.
Keller, a Wake Forest transfer, had three points, three rebounds and an assist in 16 minutes.
Gabe Madsen had himself another solid night. The Utes’ leading scorer got going early Tuesday night and finished with 27 points on 10 of 13 shooting.
Madsen, who had 19 points at halftime, ended the game with seven made 3-pointers while adding three rebounds, three assists and a steal.
It’s his fourth game scoring 24 or more points this season — the 27 points tied his season high.
Mississippi Valley State is extremely familiar with Big 12 teams. The Delta Devils, who entered the night ranked 364th (or last nationally) in KenPom’s college basketball rating, are a familiar team to Big 12 programs this nonconference season.
Utah was the fourth Big 12 team to face them so far this season, and like its conference counterparts, the Utes easily beat visiting Mississippi Valley State.
Just for a little fun transitive property math, Iowa State beat Mississippi Valley State 83-44 (39 points), Kansas State beat the Delta Devils 74-56 (18 points) and BYU won by a score of 87-43 (44 points).
By comparison, the Utes scored the most points against Mississippi Valley State and had the largest margin of victory.
What’s next
The Utes (5-1) will play the second game of the Mountain to Sea Showcase on Saturday at the Huntsman Center, when they host Eastern Washington. Tip off is at 3 p.m. MST — the game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on 700 AM.
The Eagles are 1-5 on the season and were playing at UC Santa Barbara later Tuesday night.
Following the home game against Eastern Washington, the Utes will host their biggest home nonconference game on Dec. 7, when Saint Mary’s comes to Salt Lake City.
The Gaels are 6-0 on the season and will host USC and UTSA before playing at Utah.