3 takeaways from the Runnin’ Utes’ perspective in loss at No. 13 BYU

The University of Utah was a sizable underdog going into its second matchup of the season against rival BYU on Saturday at the Marriott Center, but the Runnin’ Utes made the Cougars work for the win.

For 25 minutes, Utah bucked those odds and kept things close with BYU — until a decisive second-half run was enough to give the No. 13 Cougars some breathing room in an eventual 91-78 win.

That makes it five straight losses for the Utes in Provo, with their last win in the series at the Marriott Center coming in 2014.

Here are three takeaways from the loss that dropped Utah to 9-11 overall and 1-5 in Big 12 play.

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The lull that ended the threat for Utah

Utes coach Alex Jensen talks a lot about avoiding 2-3 minute lulls, something that consistently plagues Utah as it goes through a transition year.

Outside of their win over TCU when Jensen said the team didn’t have many peaks and valleys, the Utes are prone to stretches of high and low play.

In the case of the rivalry game, the most critical lull came in the second half after Utah had climbed to within 55-53.

The Utes went over three minutes before their next bucket and fell behind eight before Keanu Dawes hit a 3.

From there, BYU further extended its lead out to a game-high 13, at 69-56, as part of a 14-3 run over a five and a half-minute stretch.

Utah was scorching from outside for a long while

One of the reasons Utah was able to stick around for so long Saturday was its ability to connect from 3-point range.

The Utes made 5 of 11 from 3 in the first half, then hit their first five in the second half.

For the game, Utah hit 13 of 21 3-pointers and 8 of 10 in the second half.

Dawes, who led the Utes with 23 points, made four of those 3-pointers, while Terrence Brown had 22 points and four 3-pointers of his own.

Utah didn’t have an answer for AJ Dybantsa

The Utes “held” BYU’s freshman sensation, AJ Dybantsa, to 20 points in the first game between these two schools two weeks ago.

This time, though, Dybantsa had a career game.

He finished with a career-high 43 points, shooting 15 of 24 from the field.

His back-to-back 3-pointers, the second coming with 3:12 to play, sealed Dybantsa breaking the school freshman record for points in a game.

Behind Dybantsa’s dominance, the Cougars outscored Utah 48-18 in the paint.