The 6-2 Runnin’ Utes narrowly escaped defeat for an 88-86 win on Tuesday night after a furious second half rally from the 2-6 SUU Thunderbirds.

Utah was without star big man Branden Carlson, as they nearly surrendered a seven-point lead with 2:11 to play.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

This is a bad win

A win is a win, but with or without Branden Carlson, the Runnin’ Utes should have run the two-win SUU Thunderbirds out of the gym.

The Thunderbirds never led throughout the entire game and trailed in the second half by as many as 17 points with 16:14 to play. They’d go on an eight-point run with just under 13 minutes left in the second half, reducing Utah’s lead to nine points, and then continued to chip away from there.

Utah had no answers for Braden Housley, Dominique Ford, and Parsa Fallah. The trio had 23, 23, and 20 respectively. The Thunderbirds shot 50% from the field and 46.2% from three-point range.

There’s no way to spin it, Utah’s defense was bad.

Keita continues his emergence

With Carlson out, Utah needed a go-to guy to emerge and that presence came from sophomore Keba Keita. The bruising big man scored a career high 23 points on 11-12 shooting and seven rebounds in 24 minutes of play.

For the season, in six games, Keita has scored in double-figures four times, despite coming off the bench. His emergence has given the second unit a stabilizing force. His role is likely going to continue to grow due to his hustle and extremely physical presence.

Mixed results from the starters

With Branden out, Ben Carlson got the start and had one of his best games as a Ute, contributing a double-double. Carlson went 6-8 from the field and 1-3 from three-point range for 15 points. He also had 10 rebounds.

Gabe Madsen was second in the team in scoring with 19 points, but he only went 2-7 from three-point range. Rollie Worster had mixed results with a 12 point and 10 assist double-double, but he had three turnovers and 3-9 from the field (6-7 on free-throws). Lawson Lovering and Cole Bajema went a combined 3-11 from the field.

Up next

The Runnin’ Utes will face the No. 14 BYU Cougars in a rivalry showdown on Saturday night at 5 PM MST. The Cougars head into the matchup at 8-0 with two big wins over No. 17 SDSU and NC State.