Sophomore Keanu Dawes’ career performance wasted in Utah’s 87-72 loss to UCF in Big 12 tournament

KANSAS CITY — Interim University of Utah basketball coach Josh Eilert will never forget his first impressions last summer of Rice transfer Keanu Dawes.

Suffice it to say, it wasn’t a great one.

But the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward from Houston, who had transferred in from Rice, slowly changed Eilert’s mind with his steady growth and dedication to improvement.

It reached a pinnacle — for Eilert, anyway — on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Center, as Dawes put together the best game of his two-year college career on an otherwise forgettable outing for the Utes in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

Getting his first start in a Runnin’ Utes uniform, Dawes posted a double-double — 21 points and 15 rebounds — but it wasn’t enough as Utah fell 87-72 to Central Florida in its first-ever Big 12 tournament game.

“KD is a special player. I will never forget coming into the program and thinking — questioning KD’s value,” said Eilert, who will now give way to permanent coach Alex Jensen if the Utes choose not to participate in a postseason event.

“He has just continued to improve each and every day. He has got the right mindset. He’s got that growth mindset in so many ways. He doesn’t force the game, but he is playing with so much more force than he did when I first got here,” Eilert continued.

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Dawes started in the place of junior forward Ezra Ausar, who sustained a knee injury in the 85-74 loss at BYU on Saturday and was not able to go. Ausar had 20 points in Utah’s 76-72 loss at UCF on Feb. 23 and was clearly missed.

“We were monitoring the situation. (Ausar) kinda got his knee buckled up there in Provo, and so they did an MRI on him late that night,” Eilert said. “We were trying to work through that, night and day, 24-7, we were trying to get him ready, but he just wasn’t quite there yet. So we were hoping to get through this first game and have him for tomorrow.”

Utah started as if it planned to meet Kansas on Wednesday, instead of UCF, in a second-round game. Four of Utah’s first five field goals were dunks, and the Utes rolled out to a 21-9 lead.

But the Utes stopped attacking the rim late in the second half, and then didn’t put up much of a fight in the final 20 minutes as UCF pulled away, similar to the way BYU dominated the second half three nights ago in Provo.

Utah (16-16) finished with a whopping 12 dunks, but ultimately frostiness from beyond the arc doomed it to the loss.

Not having Ausar “certainly played an impact because he has played really good basketball for us. Probably our leading scorer, I would imagine, our last five games,” Eilert said. “So not having him have that force at the rim and put that pressure on the rim, that hurt us.”

Dawes was almost able to make up for the loss singlehandedly. The nephew of former BYU center Derek Dawes was 8 of 13 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. The Utes won the rebounding battle 40-35.

Where does the performance rank in Dawes’ college career?

“I would say it is definitely up there but at the same time we didn’t really win, so in my opinion it doesn’t really mean anything,” he said. “There’s not really much to say. We didn’t win.”

UCF coach Johnny Dawkins acknowledged that Ausar not playing “hurt them” and was “a big miss for them,” but wasn’t surprised that Dawes filled in admirably.

“He’s been a really good player in college basketball for a number of years. He is very active. He rebounds the ball very well, especially offensive rebounding. He finishes well around the basket. He understands how to play,” Dawkins said.