The Runnin’ Utes hosted the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors for a neutral site game at the Delta Center on Thursday night. Utah started the game strong, withstood a Hawaii run, and then cruised comfortably for most of the second half, winning 79-66.

Here’s are the takeaways from the game:

It was mostly the Erickson Utah has been expecting

During the offseason, UteNation had been told by sources close to the program that Hunter Erickson was expected to play a big role for 2023-24. For one reason or another, that hadn’t materialized until Thursday night. Before the game, his highest points total of the season was seven. He had 12 points in the second half including a spurt of six in a row.

It wasn’t all pretty though, as the hope had initially once been for him to be their best playmaker. That hasn’t materialized yet and he struggled again with it on Thursday with two turnovers and four assists in 23 minutes.

For now though, there’s hope that he’s broken out of his shooting woes, and maybe the assist to turnover ratio will come around.

Utah’s bigs dominated

Utah's senior leader, Branden Carlson, got hot early on with nine quick points in the first four and a half minutes of the game. Once he sat down for a breather, Keba Keita came in and made his physical presence felt with two quick buckets.

Hawaii never really had an answer for either, as their 7-footer was just too raw for the more polished games of Carlson and Keita. Carlson finished with 17 points and six rebounds on 8-15 shooting. Keita was a perfect 6-6 from the field for 14 points and seven rebounds.

Everyone knows what the presence of Carlson already does for the offense, but Keita has proven to be a vital piece to the Utes on both ends of the floor. His contributions to the team’s success far outweigh the box score.

They withstood the Hawaii run

After jumping out to a 10 point lead with 12:14 left in the first half, it looked like Utah was going to be well on their way to a blowout, but Hawaii had other plans. They went on a 12-3 run in four and a half minutes to briefly lead by one.

Keita would quickly get the lead back for Utah, then assisted Carlson on the next basket, and the Utes were off and running again.

Utah shot 52.6% from the field and 35.7% from deep on the night. They also went an impressive 14-27 from the free-throw line.

Up next

The Utes head back to the Huntsman Center for in-state battles against Southern Utah (12/5), BYU (12/9), and UVU (12/16).