The Runnin' Utes are running low on Quad 1 wins.
And their opportunities are dwindling, too, after West Virginia defeated Utah 72-61 on Saturday.
“You can’t afford to have empty possessions on the road,” Utah head coach Craig Smith said.
Utah cut the Mountaineers' lead down to six points with less than 8:30 remaining in the second half. But its offense ultimately ran dry in the final moments of the contest, however, allowing WVU to cap the game off on an 8-0 run.
Keanu Dawes was Utah’s lone bright spot on offense. He finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
The Runnin' Utes shot 41.1% on the game and, once again, struggled from 3-point range, shooting 26.1% from beyond the arc.
“I think it really just came down to running out of time,” Dawes said of the final moments of the game. “I don’t think it was really anything we did. Yeah, we have to take a little bit better care of the ball there at the end. I think it’s just one of those things where we ran out of time.”
Utah is now 13-10 overall and 5-7 in conference play.
With the loss Saturday, Utah is now 0-7 in Quad 1 games. A road win over TCU on Jan. 15 has been reduced to Quad 2 as the Horned Frogs have fallen off in the NET Rankings.
Utah has five Quad 1 games remaining on its schedule before the Big 12 tournament in March:
Feb. 11 — at Cincinnati
Feb. 15 — vs. No. 16 Kansas
Feb. 23 — at UCF
Feb. 26 — at No. 20 Arizona
March 8 — at BYU
If Smith and the Runnin' Utes want to make the NCAA Tournament, picking up wins in those contests will be crucial.
“You’ve got to play well on the road, certainly,” Smith said. “You’ve got to eliminate losing. They just made a few more plays than us to come out on top.”
