In a season of doldrums for the Utah men’s basketball team, Thursday provided a glimmer of hope.
It wasn’t hope for Utah to turn its season around. At 10-16, and 3-13 in the Pac-12, that ship left long ago.
But maybe Utah’s road win over Stanford, 60-56, was hope for the future. Or at least something positive. It was Utah’s first road win in over a year, ending a streak of 12-straight losses dating back to Feb. 11, 2021.
“Obviously, it has been a while, winning on the road,” first-year head coach Craig Smith said.
Utah has felt the pain of being in the throngs of a rebuild. It returned just 23.1% of its minutes from 2021, ranking No. 349 out of 358 Division I teams. The lack of experience has been evident as Utah has lost six games by six points or less.
But a four-point win at Stanford might be something for Utah to take heading into Cal on Saturday.
“We’ve been knocking on the door,” Smith said. “We just hadn’t found a way to get over the hump. In the second half, we played real steady.”
Smith has talked about breaking through for weeks. At times — like in a three-point loss to Oregon — it seemed plausible. At other points — like a blowout loss to Washington State — it felt further away.
In the win at Stanford, Utah outscored the Cardinal 20-9 in the final ten minutes. It also came up with nine stops in the last 11 possessions to steal a game Stanford needed for its NCAA tournament resume.
Looking at the schedule, Cal remains Utah’s best shot to latch onto something ahead of the offseason. After Cal, Utah will play nationally ranked Arizona and contending Colorado. Arizona State will also visit Salt Lake City.
So, at Cal, Utah is a chance to string road wins together. It is a tall task. But so was Stanford, with four Quad I wins on its resume.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Smith said after Stanford. “It [was] a big win for the Utes.”
