After starting strong, the Runnin’ Utes quickly cooled off against the Baylor Bears, who eventually coasted to a 76-51 victory. Utah has followed up their three game winning streak with two consecutive losses that were expected.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
Baylor’s adjustments worked, Utah’s didn’t
The Utes started the game making a statement, going on a 9-2 run. This led Baylor coach Scott Drew to briefly bench two of his starters as a reality-check, including VJ Edgecombe, to get them to pause and reset. Three of Utah’s first four buckets came right at the rim. Baylor then made an adjustment and Utah couldn’t do much going forward.
Baylor soon ran off 13 consecutive points. At one point, Utah was so cold that they went 1-17 from the field before a three pointer from Miro Little with just under three and a half minutes left in the first half made it 34-24. Despite Utah’s strong start, Baylor still led in the opening half for 12:55.
Utah’s opening strategy worked perfectly at first, and Utah topped Baylor in points in the paint, 32-26. Ezra Ausar delivered another strong performance with 19 points. He scored his first six points in the first five minutes of the game and got the rest after Baylor had a comfortable lead.
The Utah staff will continue to be tested on their in-game adjustments. On Saturday, they were out-coached by a coaching staff that’s going to be superior to the majority of coaching staff they’re up against.
Utah needs consistency from Madsen and Ausar
When your top two players can’t deliver consistent performances, that’s a problem. When Ausar and Gabe Madsen are on, Utah has a chance in almost any game. The problem is, they can’t be fully relied on, on a every game basis. Since the start of the year, Ausar has had games of 21, 26, and 19 points. Mixed in between, he’s also had 4, 8, and 1. Madsen, Utah’s sharpshooter, has been anything but sharp in recent weeks. Madsen has only two double-digit scoring games in 2025: 20 and 17. In his other five games he’s averaging 6.8 points per game.
While Ausar had a strong 19 point performance against Baylor, Gabe completely disappeared. He had five total points, after drilling the first bucket of the game.
Up next
Utah now has a winnable three game stretch coming up that should define their place in the middle or the bottom half of the Big 12 standings. Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, and Colorado are all games that the Utes should be competitive in, but they need Gabe Madsen to break out of his long funk that he’s found himself in.
