The Runnin' Utes hosted the #17 Kansas Jayhawks in the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Saturday night on ESPN, and Utah held on to win 74-67 in a game in which they never trailed.
Utah jumped out of the gates to take an early lead before Kansas settled in to make it a 39-37 game in Utah's favor at the half. The second half followed a similar script, with Utah being the aggressor again early until cold streaks hit both teams. Kansas chipped away to eventually tie the game at 60 before the Utes pulled away in the closing minutes, highlighted by a Gabe Madsen three that was the final dagger.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
Gabe Madsen re-writes the record books
As noted all season, when Madsen plays well, generally it means the Utes are playing well. Gabe found his shot early and often in this big match up, hitting two threes early and helping get the team to a good start. Unfortunately, when he sat on the bench or went cold for a little bit, Utah could not seem to create any other offense.
However, in the second half, Madsen found ways to attack the basket for easy buckets, again sparking an early Utah run. Eventually, he hit his fifth three-pointer of the night to give the Utes a 67-60 lead with 1:58 to go, but he also passed Nick Jacobsen in the Utah school record books for most made three-pointers in a career with 288. He will surely add to that total by the time the season ends.
It was a fitting moment for Utah, as Madsen's three all but gave the Utes enough of a cushion to finish the game as he finished with 24 points to lead all scorers.
Free throws remain a focal point
The game closed with Utah making five straight free throws to end the game, and for the most part seemed like the team found its stroke at the line. Utah finished just 17 of 28 from the line for the game (60.7%), but most of those misses were from Lawson Lovering, who was 1 for 9 and became a bit of a liability in the final minutes of the game. Throughout this game, Utah showed it has the size and skill to compete on a national stage with a perennial NCAA Tournament contender. However, continuing to tighten up things at the free throw line could be the difference in tight games as the Runnin' Utes prove they can consistently get to the line, but they need to make teams pay when they do.
Hot and cold streaks defined this game
Similar to the ups and downs at the line, this game was an excellent example of Utah's hot and cold streaks throughout the game. Both halves were highlighted by great starts in the first eight minutes followed by offensive stagnation after the 12-minute media timeout. Again, Utah has shown it seems to have the firepower and abilities to show against good teams, but the Utes also let teams back into games when the offense freezes. Particularly finding ways to generate offense when Madsen is on the bench will be crucial for any sort of potential conference tournament run.
At one point, the Utes went about 7 minutes without scoring a point to help Kansas claw back from a 60 to 49 deficit. Again, Utah appears to have all the tools to compete with some of the better teams, but consistently putting it all together or having alternative ways to generate scoring when the first options are not working will determine if this team can make a Big 12 Tournament run.
Up next
Utah will host the Kansas State Wildcats on Monday night on ESPN2 while Kansas travels down to Provo to play BYU on Tuesday night on ESPN.
