Utah got its first-hand taste of what it’s like to play No. 7 Houston at the Fertitta Center.
It’s safe to say, the Runnin’ Utes have nothing good to remember from this one.
Utah was thoroughly outplayed by the Cougars in a 70-36 loss, as Houston won its nation-leading 33rd straight game at home on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of teams that come in here and feel like this, but we’ve got to be better. That didn’t look look like how we’ve been playing,” Utah coach Craig Smith said in his 700 AM postgame interview. “And that’s credit to them, but it’s also some of us. It just felt like our mindset.
“When we got punched, some of our guys looked almost shellshocked. At this point, when you’re seven games in, you’ve got to have a feel for what Big 12 play is like.”
Houston’s 11th straight victory was decided early, as the Cougars used an 18-0 run to go up 26-5.
It never got better for Utah, as the Utes were outworked in nearly every possible statistic.
The Utes’ turnover issues were especially troubling — Utah gave the ball away a season-high 26 times, and that led to 29 Houston points.
“Their pressure and athleticism really got to us,” Smith said. “I mean, 26 turnovers, seven assists, and you know, we gotta be able to handle the ball better. Our point guard play was lacking tonight, to say the least, but it was for everybody. We just go right down the line.”
By halftime, the Utes trailed by 24 points. Their largest deficit of the day was 37.
All this came in Utah’s lowest-scoring game since December 2011, when the Utes lost 73-33 against Colorado, according to ESPN stats. It was also the Utes’ second-lowest scoring game since 1980.
Houston had 19 steals and 11 blocks.
After Utah (11-7, 3-4 Big 12) had done a good job owning the paint during a three-game winning streak over Oklahoma State, TCU and BYU, the shorter Cougars instead set the tone against the Utes.
Houston ended up with a 28-14 advantage in points in the paint in a game where the rebound battle was nearly even — the Utes had a slight 36-33 edge there, though it was tied 15-15 in offensive rebounding.
“They went at us early and often and we’ve got to make it harder. We just need more effort plays, more tough guy stuff, because those are the things you can control,” Smith said.
One game after scoring 26 points in an overtime over BYU, Houston held Ezra Ausar to a single point.
The Utes, as a whole, shot 30.2% and, at one point, missed 12 of their first 13 shots in the second half.
No Utah players ended up in double-figures. Gabe Madsen scored a team-high eight points, though it came on 3 of 10 shooting.
A rare bright spot for Utah was Keanu Dawes, who had seven points and nine rebounds.
Even though Houston was missing its top scorer, Emanuel Sharp, and had its own shooting struggles in the second half, the Cougars ended up shooting 43.3% for the game.
That included shooting 51.4% in the first half.
Houston had four players in double-figures, paced by 14 points and five assists from Milos Uzan.
Terrance Arceneaux, who was filling in for Sharp in the starting lineup, had 10 points, six rebounds, four blocks, three assists and three steals.
If there’s any sort of silver lining from Wednesday afternoon’s game — which had been postponed by a day because of a storm that was passing through the Houston area — it’s that the Utes won’t have to face the Cougars again during the regular season.
The tough challenges continue this week, as Utah returns home to face Big 12 power Baylor on Saturday (2:30 p.m. MST, ESPN2).
“You’ve got to have a short memory — you’ve got to be able to somewhat flush it,” Smith said. “But we’ve got to watch film and learn, too.”