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Utes drop fourth in a row

Utah rolled into Palo Alto to face Stanford at Maples Pavilion, who had defeated the Utes 87-56 earlier in the season. In two games against Stanford, Utah has lost by a combined total of 49 points, evidence that Stanford has been Utah's toughest match-up all season long.
"We don't match up very well against them. They've got some athleticism at some spots. They start Powell at the center and he's a tough match-up off the bat," Krystkowiak acknowledged. "Gage is a great shooter. They've got some guys and for whatever reason they've got our number."
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Sunday's contest brought a similar result as the Utes dropped to 11-17, 3-13 with the 84-66 loss. Stanford seemingly played cat and mouse with the Utes, allowing them to hang around before pulling away again. The pattern repeated itself throughout the game, as well as throughout the Utes' entire season.
Utah's stayed with Stanford through just under the mid-way point of the opening half, trailing by as few as four points at 9:55 before Stanford launched a 16-6 run over the next six minutes to pull out to a 17 point lead with 3:40 remaining.
In the final three minutes of the half, Utah out-scored Stanford 12-8 but went into halftime trailing 44-31. Stanford was able to build its lead on the strength of 53 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent (7-14) shooting from long range for which the Utes had no answer.
After halftime adjustments, Utah came out in man defense and managed to stifle Stanford's outside shooting game, and went on a 13-5 run of its own inside the first five minutes of the half. Stanford countered again with a 19-4 run, building an 18 point lead at 8:37 which the Utes would cut down to 13 before letting the game slip away for good.
Though Utah struggled with turnovers all season long, ball security was held in check in the first half with just four. Utah's good ball handling continued through the first five minutes of the half, but fell apart in the final 15 minutes of the contest, which saw Utah commit eight turnovers.
The turnovers came in seemingly rapid-fire succession, which helped spark each of the Stanford runs.
"We had a couple more turnovers. That has been the state of our team right now. I don't know if there's something that will suck the life out of our team more than turning the ball over," Krystkowiak said. "And when they take it down and score, it compounds the issue."
Offensively, Utah senior Jarred DuBois scored 22 points and freshman Jordan Loveridge scored 11 points and tallied six rebounds. Jason Washburn scored 10 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Point guard Brandon Taylor put together a quiet eight points, four rebounds and four assists in the game.
The Bay Area road trip wraps up road play for the Utes this season. Utah returns home to host Oregon State and Oregon for its final two home games of the season.
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