The home portion of the Utah basketball season ended with another loss on Tuesday night, as the Runnin’ Utes fell 92-78 to visiting Colorado at the Huntsman Center.
That leaves Utah with a losing record at home this season, at 8-9, as the Utes never led against the Buffaloes.
Here are three takeaways from the loss that dropped the Utes to 10-20 overall and 2-15 in Big 12 play.
A massive run put the game out of reach
The Utes and Buffaloes were tied at 13-13 with 14:46 left in the first half after an Obomate Abbey jumper.
Then, back-to-back Utah turnovers started a long, dominant stretch for Colorado.
Over the game’s next 11 minutes, the Buffaloes met little resistance offensively and outscored the Utes 31-8 in that stretch to build a 44-21 lead.
Utah had six turnovers in that stretch, and 12 of Colorado’s points in that span were scored on fast break opportunities, while six were scored in the paint.
The Buffaloes, who led 51-25 at halftime, ended up with a 13-5 advantage in fast break points in the first half and 15-14 for the game. Colorado also shot 60.8% from the field.
Colorado had four players in double-figures, led by 22 points apiece from Bangot Dak and Isaiah Johnson.
Turnover issues strike again
Utah has been plagued with turnover troubles this season, and that was the case again Tuesday night, as the Utes finished the game with 10 turnovers that Colorado turned into 15 points.
Most of that damage came in the first half. Utah had nine turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, which the Buffaloes turned into 13 points.
Those giveaways were one of the major catalysts to the run that ultimately gave Colorado control of the game.
It was costly, as Utah put up a more-spirited effort and climbed within nine points multiple times in the second half before falling.
The Utes shot 51.9% for the game, but only 34.5% in the first half, and managed to tie Colorado at 36 points in the paint after being down 26-16 in that stat at halftime.
Terrence Brown led Utah with 26 points and four assists, with 17 points in the second half, while Don McHenry added 19 points, with 15 after halftime.
The No. 16 seed is sealed
No matter what happens in Utah’s regular-season finale at Baylor on Saturday, the Utes will be the No. 16 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament.
Utah entered the night in a tie with Kansas State at the bottom of the Big 12 standings, but the Wildcats, who fired coach Jerome Tang a little over two weeks ago, beat West Virginia for their third conference win of the season.
By doing so, Kansas State ensured itself the No. 15 seed and Utah the No. 16 seed, because the Wildcats own the tiebreaker over the Utes after beating them in their only regular-season meeting.