The Runnin’ Utes faced off against the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night looking for the regular season sweep. However, the Wildcats came into the game with revenge on their minds after a 15-point Utah upset back in November.
Utah led by four early-on, but the game got out of hand quickly, as Arizona ran away with a 88-62 victory.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
Arizona got hot first and ran away with it
The game started off slow. Both Utah and Arizona were ice-cold from the field with Utah at 2-7 and Arizona at 1-7, then Arizona went on a 10-0 to take a 18-9 lead and never looked back.
Utah shot 32.2% from the field and 33.3% from long distance, while the Wildcats shot a scorching 56.9% from the field and 50% from long range.
Even when Utah got in a brief groove, the Wildcats stayed hot. Kerr Kriisa led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points and six assists on an efficient 6-8 shooting and 4-4 from long distance. Former Ute Pelle Larsson also had a big impact for Arizona off of the bench with 11 points and four assists.
Utah had three players in double figures: Branden Carlson (19 points), Marco Anthony (12) Will Exacte (10).
Utah lost the battle of the paint, the bench, and more
It just wasn’t Utah’s night. Add to the fact that they were playing a Top-10 team and you get a 26 point blowout. The Wildcats hammered Utah in the paint to the tune of 38-10 in scoring. They also had 18 fast break points to Utah’s five. The game also exposed Utah’s lack of depth without Gabe Madsen, as Arizona’s bench outscored Utah’s 30-15 — with two-thirds of those Utah points coming from Exacte.
The Wildcats led for all but just over three minutes of the game.
Kriisa is clueless about the Krystkowiak situation
After Arizona won the game, Kriisa was interviewed by the Pac-12 Network. During that time, he mentioned that Utah “screwed over” the Krystkowiak family. It’s obvious where this is coming from, as he’s roommates with Luc Krystkowiak and another former Ute Pelle Larsson.
Krystkowiak was fired after trying to back away from a previously talked about buyout. He made two NCAA Tournaments in just over a decade and beat up inferior teams in non-conference play to pad any winning. Not only that, the eye-sore of the black curtains went up, players left the program at an alarming rate and alumni from previous coaches felt shunned. During his last year, he’d constantly make excuses or throw his players under the bus. Krystkowiak acted burned out and over it, and his bosses and the donors were over his antics, too.
Even with the loss, Craig Smith has his Utah squad in fourth place in the Pac-12 and fighting for that first round conference tournament bye. The curtains are down for now and there’s revived excitement around the program.
Up next
The Runnin’ Utes travel to Tempe for a 4 PM MST matchup on Saturday against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Bobby Hurley’s team is one game behind Utah in the Pac-12 standings as the Utes have both them and Oregon on their tail fighting for the day-one Pac12 Tournament bye.
