Whatever message Alex Jensen and his coaching staff delivered to the Utah basketball team in between their two games at the Acrisure Series in Palm Desert, California, it worked.
One night after a disappointing effort led to a 68-58 loss to Grand Canyon, the Runnin’ Utes put together their best game of the young season and beat the SEC’s Ole Miss 75-74 in a game that tipped late Wednesday night and crept into the early minutes of Thanksgiving.
Utah took control of the game midway through the first half and built as much as a 14-point lead before the Rebels rallied and eventually tied the game with just over four minutes remaining.
After the lead changed hands multiple times in the final four minutes, the Utes’ Terrence Brown delivered the game-winning points on a pair of free throws with 4.4 seconds to play.
“I’m happy for our guys. It always feels a lot better after losing the game last night to come back,” Jensen, Utah’s head coach, said in a postgame interview on ESPN 700 AM. “I’ll give them credit, because that’s not easy to do well.”
How the game transpired
The game was largely back and forth over the 12 ½ minutes before Don McHenry led an inspired effort that helped Utah lead by as many as eight in the first half, as they went into the break up 42-34.
McHenry hit his second 3-pointer of the day to give Utah a 22-19 lead with 7:24 until halftime, and though both teams traded a pair of 3s over the next minute and a half, the Utes forged ahead after that.
Following a 6-0 Utah run that was met by an Ole Miss dunk, McHenry’s third 3-pointer of the half made it 34-27 and the Utes outscored the Rebels 8-7 over the half’s final three minutes to lead by eight.
Utah opened the second half strong and used a 12-2 run to go up a game-high 14 points at 56-42, a stretch that included back-to-back 3-pointers from McHenry and Brown.
After Ole Miss fell behind 55-42, coach Chris Beard called for a mass substitution, taking all five of its starters out.
The tactic worked, as the Rebels began their rally after that. It started with an 8-2 run and Ole Miss eventually got the score down to 62-56, as its defense picked up the intensity.
Utah’s Jacob Patrick hit a clutch 3 from the corner as the shot clock expired with eight minutes to play to give the Utes a nine-point edge at 65-56, but Ole Miss kept battling back.
Then things started to get stagnant for Utah on both ends, as the Utes only scored two points on a Keanu Dawes layup over the next 4:50 of game time.
Ole Miss took advantage of that slump, tying the game at 67-67 on an Ilias Kamardine 3 with 4:21 to play, and on the Rebels’ next possession, he scored on a layup to give Ole Miss its first lead since 9:57 remained in the first half.
That set the stage for a back-and-forth final minute and change.
With Utah trailing by two, McHenry nailed a contested corner 3 to put Utah up 73-72 with 1:12 to play, but Ole Miss’ Kamardine countered with a bucket in the lane to push the Rebels ahead 74-73.
After an empty possession for both teams, Utah got the ball back with nine seconds to play.
Following timeouts from both coaches, the Utes put the ball in Brown’s hands off the inbound and he drove upcourt, where he was tripped by AJ Storr around the 3-point line.
With 4.4 seconds remaining, Brown nailed both free throws, giving Utah the lead back.
Ole Miss didn’t have any timeouts, forcing the Rebels to attack the rim with little time to shoot. Ole Miss never got a shot off, as Storr ended up with the ball in his hands as time ran out.
“There’s enough time just to give space and TB did a good job, and we were fortunate he got fouled,” Jensen said, of Utah’s final offensive possession. “At the end, we put Don back there in case that failed. I mean, that’s hard to go hit those free throws. So give (Brown) credit for that.”
Utah’s best half of the season set the stage
While there have been plenty of trying moments in the early going for Utah, which was on a two-game losing streak heading into Wednesday, the Utes looked the most confident they have all season against Ole Miss.
There was chemistry and effort on both ends — while it wasn’t perfect, it was certainly enough to earn a win.
That was set up by Utah’s best half of the year, as the Utes took a 42-34 lead into the break.
McHenry ended the night with 27 points, and that included 19 first-half points. He shot 7 of 8 from the field in the opening 20 minutes, made 3 of 3 from 3-point range and was 2 of 2 from the free-throw line.
“Don, along with James (Okonkwo), is one of our older guys. We’ve been telling them we expect a lot for them, not just the scoring, but the verbal leadership role, because they’ve been there, they they’re older. Don did a great job,” Jensen said.
“I think this is probably the most he’s played off the ball in his career, and I’ll give him credit for, it’s not easy. But I think he does a good job of letting the game come to him and playing off others.”
That headlined a first half where Utah shot 55.6% from the field. The Utes had fewer turnovers at halftime — 7 to 5 — and were ahead 6-2 in points off turnovers, after losing that battle 17-0 the previous night in the loss to Grand Canyon.
Kendyl Sanders also had 8 points and 4 rebounds at halftime in what was his best half of a promising start to his true freshman season
Utah had a 6-1 advantage in fast-break points as well and made 6 of 11 3-pointers in the first half.
“The turnovers for us, I don’t know how many we had in the second half, but we did a good job in the first half. I think that one point off turnovers in the first half, (we were) not beating ourselves. I mean, I keep repeating it, but it’s just those turnovers, the dumb fouls (that have hurt us before), and we did a we did a good job,” Jensen said.
“We made plays enough to come back and TB was great pushing the ball at the end and give him credit for making those two free throws.”
Utes withstood the Ole Miss rally and showed poise
Utah showed a much better effort and intensity on the defensive end against Ole Miss, and that helped the Utes build their lead as high as 14 at 58-44 minutes into the second half.
When Beard mass-subbed his entire starting five out of the game with 16:13 to play, it sent a message to the Rebels — and it was one that landed.
Ole Miss also picked up its intensity and eventually eliminated Utah’s lead and turned the final minutes of the contest into a back-and-forth thriller.
To the Utes’ credit, they weathered that rally and never trailed by more than two while finding ways to counterpunch every blow from Ole Miss.
Brown and McHenry delivered big moments down the stretch, and Sanders, who had 9 points and 8 rebounds in the game, was trusted to be on the floor late in the contest.
The biggest moment of trust was allowing Brown, who had 14 points, four assists and three turnovers, to take the ball into his hands on Utah’s final possession and make a game-winning play.
His two free throws left him at 6 of 8 from the free-throw line in the game, as Utah made 15 of 20 from the line.
It was a successful bounce-back game for Brown after he was held to 9 points the previous night.
“Obviously, the defense is loading up on me, trying not to give me paint touches, so just knocking down open shots, seeing my teammates, which I did (and) I tried to do as much as possible today,” he said in a postgame interview on CBS Sports Network.
While the Rebels slightly outshot Utah from the field — at 50% to 47.2% — the Utes made 10 3-pointers to just four for Ole Miss.
In addition to Brown and McHenry, Josh Hayes also scored in double-figures, adding 10 points, three rebounds and an assist for the Utes.
Malik Dia led four Rebels in double-figures, as he had 17 points and nine rebounds on the night.
It was an exciting end to Utah’s multi-team event trip this season.
“I’ll give it to our guys, like I said, they made plays. They never gave up (and) made plays when they counted,” Jensen said. “It’s the balance of keeping them aggressive but not rushing and turning it over and not being tentative. But we’ll continue to get better.”
What it means for Utah
The Utes were looking for a better effort after their uninspiring loss the night before.
Jensen and his group of fresh new faces delivered that, and it gives some confidence to Utah (6-2) after early-season lapses were driving the conversation about this team.
Ole Miss entered the game ranked No. 35 by KenPom, while Utah had seen its stock drop all the way to No. 137 after starting the year in the 80s.
After the game, the Utes jumped 11 spots to No. 126, while Ole Miss fell seven spots to No. 42.
It’s easily Utah’s most impressive win of the season.
This kind of game should give Utah fans hope going forward that the Utes can start to grow together as a team as the year goes on, after two straight contests where that was in question.
Up next is a difficult road trip to Cal next Tuesday. The Golden Bears are coming off an 80-72 win over No. 18 UCLA and are 6-1 on the season.
“We have our work cut out for us. It doesn’t get easier,” Jensen said.