Takeaways: Runnin’ Utes at Cal

The Cal Bears fought off a pesky finish by the University of Utah on Saturday, with a 86-79 overtime victory. The Utes went in to the extra period without Rylan Jones and soon lost

Both Gach, making Utah run a patchwork offense in the closing minutes.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

“Gach ya again”... Just in time for March

It had been nearly a month since Both Gach scored in double-figures. However, he broke out in a big way on the Utes' northern California road swing.

Averaging 34.5 minutes on the trip, Gach averaged 17 points and most importantly committed only two turnovers per game. He shot an efficient 13-22 from the field during those two games, but it was against Cal that his contribution was desperately needed, when Rylan Jones suffered an early concussion.

High expectations aren’t going to follow the Utes into March, but Gach is the linchpin to any potential success.

Slow starts continue to doom Utah

Just over five minutes into the start of the game, the Utes only had two points on the board, going 0-6 and struggling with turnovers. After closing the first half on a late surge and starting the second half only down two, the Utes then went nearly three minutes with only one field goal. Is that just the game or is it the execution? No one is going to throw each other under the bus, but if the Utes could actually start the first and second halves strong, they’d be sitting much better than one game over .500, right now.

So what’s the solution? Do they make a conscious effort to be as aggressive as possible right out of the gate? Do they start Alfonso Plummer? Whatever it is, they need to be searching for that magic pill.

Allen and Plummer go for 20+ and it’s not enough

This one goes back to the hole that they dug early on… Allen (26 points) is a model of consistency while Plummer (23 points) is a major spark plug, all of the sudden. WithJoness in concussion protocol and Gach fouling out at the start of overtime, these two did everything they could to keep them in the game, with the play of the game being Plummer’s 27-foot three-pointer to bring Utah down one with 10 seconds left.

Unfortunately, the Utes couldn’t pull it off with their two point guards out in overtime and Allen having to run the show. However, if all of Gach, Allen, Jones, and Plummer can step it up in March, the Utes could suddenly be a Pac-12 tournament threat. Should that be expected? Absolutely not, but the potential is there.

Up next

The Utes will close out the 2019-20 regular season at home on Saturday at 12:30PM. The best the Utes could finish is in eighth place, yet they could also drop to eleventh for the tournament.