Lawson Lovering, Gabe Madsen seal Utah basketball’s win over frustrated Colorado squad

Lawson Lovering has been an inside force for the Utah men’s basketball team. Since transferring from Colorado, the 7-foot-1 senior has played an important role as the Utes adjust to playing a Big 12 Conference schedule.

Lovering, however, has an Achilles' heel. It’s free-throw shooting. In his inaugural Ute season, he made 50.2% of his charity shots and this year that success rate has dropped to 41.1%.

That statistic was mostly forgotten Wednesday night, though, after Gabe Madsen scored 17 points and Lovering added 12 in a 72-59 victory over the Buffaloes in front of 7,581 fans at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

The Utes led most of the game but finally put it away with an 18-6 scoring run over a three-minute span late in the fourth quarter to improve to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in Big 12 play. Colorado fell to 9-13 and 0-11.

“It’s a game we needed to win,” said coach Craig Smith. “It felt good to finish like that. It was a choppy game. I know their (the Buffaloes’) record isn’t as good as they would like but they’ve had a lot of close games.

“Good teams know how to finish and I was really proud of how we finished, especially in that last stretch of the game.”

With the end of the regular season only a month away, Smith is still hoping his team can find enough rhythm to make this a memorable one for Lovering, Madsen and the rest of the squad. With the Utes tied for eighth place in the 16-team league (and likely facing a Top 25 team early in the post-season tourney), changes need to happen soon.

Free throws, however, again were the Utes’ nemesis. Smith said Utah has size and outside shooting but its players are a combined 63.1% from the line. Many red-clad fans, in fact, booed as the Utes missed eight of their first nine charity shots. Despite dominating their so-called league rivals from Boulder, they held just a small lead until Mason Madsen, Lovering, Jake Wahlin and Ezra Ausar found their shooting stroke and Gabe Madsen put the finishing touch on the first half with a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“That was a big play,” said Smith. “To hold them to 20 (first-half) points and then get that shot was a big momentum boost for our team. That’s the Gabe we know. We’ve got to keep that momentum going.”

1 of 23

2 of 23

3 of 23

4 of 23

5 of 23

6 of 23

7 of 23

8 of 23

9 of 23

10 of 23

11 of 23

12 of 23

13 of 23

14 of 23

15 of 23

16 of 23

17 of 23

18 of 23

19 of 23

20 of 23

21 of 23

22 of 23

23 of 23

It didn’t happen — initially.

After the teams returned from their locker rooms, Colorado started with a 7-0 scoring run behind Javon Ruffin (13 points) and Bangot Dak (11). The Utes fought back but the fans didn’t feel confident until Lovering was fouled and stepped to the free-throw line with 2:46 left and a 60-52 lead.

Despite his reputation — and being 2-of-8 from the line so far — Lovering’s first shot rolled around the rim and through the net.

And the crowd cheered.

His second shot was more of a heave. It had too much arch, caromed off the backboard and swished through the net. An exclamation point in a game against his former team.

“We knew their weakness,” said CU coach Tad Boyle. “Their big guys are good around the basket and we had to make them beat us from the (free throw) line. “But they got their shots down low and at the line.”

Colorado didn’t find anything to build on for its future at the Huntsman Center and Boyle was quick to focus his team’s attention on their next game — at home Saturday against fifth-ranked Houston. Utah, meanwhile, is on the road at West Virginia and Cincinnati before its highlighted home contest against Kansas Feb. 15.