Takeaways: Runnin’ Utes vs. Washington

The Runnin’ Utes came out victorious against the Washington Huskies on Thursday night, in a game that both teams struggled mightily. While someone who watched the game, might think the Utes had no business winning this game, a deeper dive into the stats, gives a much better understanding of the Utes’ 67-66 Pac-12 win.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

Offensive rebounds were key

The Utes out-rebounded the Huskies 38-29 overall, but the key to this statistic was their 18-5 offensive rebounding advantage. Timmy Allen just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards—four of those being on offense. Mikael Jantunen also had four offensively. While the Utes shot atrociously from the field, those rebounds were huge as they had 15 more shots than Washington and made only three less field goals.

Does it still make sense on how the Utes pulled this off? If not, here’s another reason…

The Huskies were sloppy with the ball

That’s right, they were really sloppy. So sloppy in fact, that it gave the refs all the more reason to call a charge with a second left in the game that most refs usually don’t have the guts to call.

Hameir Wright, Nahziah Carter, and Isaiah Stewart all had at least three turnovers—Carter led the way with five. As bad as it is for a player to have that many, it was Jamal Bey who went flying to the hoop out of control, for their final turnover.

On the night, Washington committed 17 turnovers while Utah committed 10… and that still wasn’t why Utah won the game…

Free-Throws and the challenge won the game

Wright and Jaden McDaniels committed a total of three fouls in under 30 seconds, with McDaniles getting a technical for hitting Jantunen in the head—a play that Larry Krystkowiak had to ask for a review on.

The last field goal Utah made was by Allen at the 3:59 mark in the second half. From there, the Utes made 12-13 at the line, as Rylan Jones went 8-9. Utah shot 75% on free-throws, three percent less than Washington, but shot 18 more foul shots.

Their trips to the charity stripe, more than anything, won a game that plenty of fans left early. What a finish.

Up next

The Utes close out this week’s home stand with a 5PM matchup on Saturday against the Washington State Cougars. At 12-8 on the season and 3-4 in conference play. At 2-4 in conference play, the Utes need a win to work their way closer to the upper half of the Pac-12 standings.