TAKEAWAYS: Runnin' Utes Fall Short of Cardinal

The Runnin’ Utes suffered their first bad loss of Pac-12 play on Thursday as the Stanford Cardinal came out red-hot and the Utes couldn’t overcome their early struggles.

The Utes — who will be without Gabe Madsen for the next 4-6 weeks due to injury — struggled to a 78-72 home loss.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

Stefanovic is ready for a bigger role

The Utes announced some difficult news before the start of the game, as starting wing Gabe Madsen is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks with a lower leg injury.

Lazar Stefanovic stepped into the vacated starting role and had a career night with 26 points, five assists and two rebounds. He also drilled 6 of 14 three-pointers. The sophomore from Serbia has been a reliable and crucial piece for Utah off the bench.

Now, it’s time to see what he can do with an expanded role. If Thursday was any indication, he’s more than up for it, as he also scored 10 straight points at the start to give Utah an early 19-17 lead. He’ll need to take on the bulk of the minutes for Madsen, due to the next takeaway…

The depth just isn’t there

When a teammate goes down, it’s up to his teammates to pick up where he left off without missing a beat. Stefanovic has that covered. However, who steps in for Stefanovic’s crucial bench role?

The Utes already punted to play the season without one available scholarship to use. Now, they’re relying on a walk-on to play a significantly increased role.

This is nothing at all against Eli Ballstaedt. Utah coach Craig Smith has had praise for him, saying Ballstaedt is the second best three-point shooter on the team in practice. Practice and games, however, are two different things. The reality is, the injury to Madsen couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The hope should be that Stefanovic can increase his minutes. The same should be hoped for freshman wing Will Exacte — or that Ballstaedt improves on his regular season 22.2% on threes, with his increased time.

For at least one game, it didn’t increase the role of Mike Saunders Jr., who saw only one minute of action.

The cold start doomed Utah

The Utes shot 35.7% from the field and 30.8% from three in the first half. Stanford scorched the nets in that same timeframe, shooting 55.6% from the field and 70% from long distance. In the first half, everything just seemed to be going right for the Cardinal, who aren’t known for their three-point shooting. This all led to a 17-point lead for the Cardinal just seconds into the second half.

With Stefanovic moving to the starting lineup, the Cardinal won the bench matchup easily, 20-6. The Utes outscored Stanford 41-32 in the second half, but the Cardinal’s blazing hot start was too much to overcome.

Up next

The Runnin’ Utes will have one more day off than typical going into their weekend game, as they host the Cal Bears at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Sunday at 4PM MST. The game should be an easy bounce-back game for Utah, as the Bears are a brutal 3-19 on the season.