The Runnin’ Utes hadn’t beaten UCLA in five years.
But Thursday night’s win over the Bruins should erase a lot of those bad memories from that seven-game losing streak.
Utah crushed UCLA, 90-44, the Utes’ largest margin of victory since joining the Pac-12.
“It was a great win for us. [UCLA’s] Mick Cronin is a really, really good coach. … That’s a team that had a real chance to win the national championship last year,” Utah coach Craig Smith said. “I thought our guys did a really good job all night long following the game plan. We had an excellent week of practice coming into tonight. And we needed to. We had to tighten up some things and get a lot better after the road trip last week. I thought we played out of character a bit.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.
The contest was relatively close to start the second half, with Utah holding a 33-27 advantage. But over the next 13 minutes, the Utes went on a 49-6 run.
“One thing about going on a huge run, you’ve got to do it by getting stops,” Smith said. “It’s easy to talk about the offense, but if you’re not getting stops it’s hard to separate from people. That’s where I thought tonight started: the way we guarded and defended as a team.”
Utah’s Branden Carlson had 12 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Guards Gabe Madsen (11 points, five rebounds) and Deivon Smith (11 points, eight assists) also finished in double figures.
The Utes will next travel to Stanford for a Sunday afternoon game against the Cardinal. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.
