The University of Utah got a much needed and hard fought 79-65 win over the USC Trojans on Sunday night. It was a game in which the Utes seemed to have control throughout, although it wasn’t until the closing minutes that Utah finally blew the game out of reach.

Here are the takeaways from the victory:

Solid contributions throughout the lineup

The Utes improved to 11-2 at home, defeating a Trojans team that was on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Over Utah’s up and down season, they typically have struggled to have more than a couple guys really contribute in a noticeable way. You can usually count on Rylan Jones or Timmy Allen—or at least one of them and one other Ute—but Sunday was different. Allen, Mikael Jantunen, Branden Carlson, and Alfonso Plummer all scored in double-digits. Allen led the way with a 21 points and 10 rebound double-double, while Plummer tied his career high of 18 points on 5-8 from three-point range. Carlson continues to get comfortable down low while also becoming a threat from long-range, and Jantunen was efficient in all aspects of his game.

If the Utes have any hope for the Pac-12 tournament, they need these kinds of contributions throughout the box score.

Jones does the dirty work

The freshman sharp-shooter only took six shots in 24 minutes of action, connecting on 2-4 from three for eight points overall. However, Jones also had four assists, four steals, and three crucial charges. Now everyone will hold their breath to see how he’s feeling from the third and final Trojans’ charge, as he left the game clutching his leg, only to re-emerge from the locker room on crutches.

Jones is the type of player who can get hot and carry a team during March. He’s also the type of leader and energizer that a team can’t go without.

Both teams will need to improve on free-throws

The Trojans lost this game in many areas: four more turnovers than Utah, seven more fouls, and they were out rebounded as Nick Rakocevic played only five minutes due to being sick. There were plenty of other areas that the Utes won the battle, but the glaring stat for USC was going 6-16 at the free-throw line. The Utes were also awful there, going 15-24.

This has been a bad trend for the Utes and something that needs to be fixed before the Pac-12 tournament.

Up next

The Utes finished the regular season against the Southern California schools, going 1-3. This week, they’ll now look for a season sweep against Cal and Stanford.