Coming off of a surprising loss on Thursday night, the Runnin’ Utes got back to their winning ways on Sunday, against a bad Cal Bears squad. After a slow start Utah was able to get into a rhythm and pull away convincingly, 61-46.
Here are the takeaways from tonight’s win:
Slow start offensively for the Utes
Utah found themselves trailing 18-14 midway through the first half as their shooting fell flat. Then, Jaxon Brenchley and Lazar Stefanovic had 11 unanswered points against the Bears to put the Utes on top by five points heading into the half.
Utah extended their lead in the second half after a 12-1 run against the Bears with 14 minutes left to play. Brenchley lengthened the lead 52-35 after a steal on a fast break layup with 9:42 left to play.
Four players finished the night in double digits for the Utes. Stefanovic had 15 points and six assists, Branden Carlson finished with another double, double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Ben Carlson had 11 points hitting 3-4 from the three-point line. Brenchley followed with 10 points and three rebounds.
The Bears would beat the Utes with 24-18 points in the paint and 15-10 bench points but a solid performance in the second half for the Utes defense cut the Bears chance to rally.
Utah delivered a strong defensive effort
Heading into halftime, the Utes held a five point lead. From that point on, the Bears would trail by double digits for most of the second half. Cal remained cold without making a single field goal for the first six minutes in the second. Cal would shoot 28.6 percent from the field and 2-9 from the three point line.
For the game, the Bears shot 33.9 percent overall and hit only 4-17 three-point attempts.
Lars Thiemann led Cal with 12 points and four rebounds while Kuany Kuany followed with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Jaxon Brenchley steps up with Madsen out
Without Gabe Madsen for the next 4-6 weeks, Stefanoic has moved into the starting lineup and provided a big spark. Of course, that took away a valuable bench player, which was noticeable in their loss to the Stanford Cardinal. With the Utes desperately needing someone to step up coming off the bench — for at least one night — Brenchley filled that void.
The Utes trailed 18-11 with 8:05 in the first half left to play. After a missed three-point jumper by Branden Carlson, Brenchley grabbed the rebound and hit a second chance layup and landed a foul for a one-of-one.
Brenchley continued to bring back life to the offense, hitting two more lay-ups and a three-point jumper to cut the lead to one with 6:07 to play in the first. As mentioned above, Brenchley finished the night with 10 points, shooting 4-9 from the field and a pivotal three-pointer.
Up next
The Runnin’ Utes have a light week next week, with a single game this week against the Colorado Buffaloes at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game will tip off on Saturday, February 11th at 8 PM MST on FS1.
