FORT WORTH, Texas — Utah picked up its first road win of the season on Wednesday night, and it came at a good time for the Runnin’ Utes.
Utah went into Schollmaier Arena and beat TCU 73-65 for the Utes’ second straight win, helping continue to right the ship a bit before a big rivalry matchup this weekend.
3 takeaways
The Utes locked in defensively and moved things well again on offense. Utah never trailed in beating the Horned Frogs, and that helped the Utes earn their first true road win of the season.
The Utes held TCU to 37.5% shooting, and even when the Horned Frogs had a 15-9 edge in offensive rebounds, that only translated to a 10-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Then on offense, one game after Utah outscored Oklahoma State 46-24 in the paint and had 14 assists from its big men, the Utes again relied on a lot of their ball movement from the post.
Utah shot 49% for the game and 54.2% in the second half. A 7-0 run to start the second half gave the Utes enough cushion to weather a TCU comeback.
Keanu Dawes again was solid on both ends, and he scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half while also collecting a key block and a steal on back-to-back possessions in the final minute of the game as Utah was trying to hold off TCU.
Gabe Madsen added 17 points and added a team-high five assists, as Utah had four players finish in double-figures.
A road win this early in league play is huge. After Utah’s win, there are now seven teams who are still looking for their first win in Big 12 play.
That can’t be understated.
Last season, Utah only won one Pac-12 road game, and it came at UCLA on a last-second winner.
While the Utes have games at Houston, West Virginia and Arizona still remaining on their schedule, they also have some winnable ones, like at Oklahoma State, UCF and BYU.
Getting an early road win — especially if the Utes can play well at home and protect their home court most nights — is a big accomplishment for a team that was picked to finish last in the league.
Free-throw shooting was not great for both teams, but especially TCU. Both teams struggled mightily at the free-throw line in the first half and had so-so nights overall.
At the break, Utah was 5 of 11 from the charity stripe, while TCU was just 2 of 8.
For the game, the Utes were 19 of 29, while the Horned Frogs finished under 50% at 10 of 21.
On this night, the poor free-throw shooting early in the game didn’t end up costing Utah, but it could in other Big 12 games.
What’s next
Utah (10-6, 2-3 Big 12) returns home this weekend to face rival BYU on Saturday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) at the Huntsman Center.
The Cougars (11-5, 2-3 Big 12) beat Oklahoma State 85-69 in Provo on Tuesday, three days after the Utes beat the Cowboys 83-62 in Salt Lake City.