National Basketball Association
Utah 86, Southern California 64
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Officials:
# Verne Harris, # Michael Irving, # Randy Heimerman
Attendance:
12470
By The Sports Xchange
SALT LAKE CITY -- Figuring out which Utah player to stop on defense is quickly becoming a chore for other Pac-12 teams.
The Utes have six different players who average double figures in scoring. Attempting to shut one or two down often means opening things up for the rest. It becomes a little like selecting between various varieties of poison. No choice is correct.
USC could not find a solution that worked. Utah raced to an 86-64 victory over the No. 25 ranked Trojans on Thursday night after five different players scored in double figures for the Utes.
"When you go into a game where you got so many guys averaging double figures, who do you guard?" Utah forward David Collette said. "For us, we try to take the best two players out on the other team, but it's impossible to take the best six players out of a team."
Devon Daniels scored 17 points while Lorenzo Bonam and Collette added 15 apiece to lead the Utes. Kyle Kuzma added 12 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season and Sedrick Barefield chipped in 14 points off the bench.
Utah (12-4, 3-1 Pac-12) claimed an eighth straight victory over the Trojans.
Chimezie Metu scored 17 points to lead USC. The Trojans (15-3, 2-3) lost for the third time in four games after struggling to slow down the Utes' offense.
Utah made 32 of 58 shots from the field (55.2 percent) and 9 of 17 (52.9 percent) from the perimeter. USC, on the other hand, was just 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) from the floor.
"When you're not shooting the ball that well, it affects you in the defensive end," Trojans coach Andy Enfield said. "You got a little more excitement and a little more energy on the defensive end when you're making shots. That was our problem tonight. We missed a lot of layups, we missed a lot of open threes and we took some contested shots as well."
USC opened the game on a 10-0 run, capped by Jordan McLaughlin's driving layup.
Utah, on the other hand, endured a sluggish start on offense. The Utes missed five straight shots and committed two turnovers before Bonam broke the ice with a layup.
Bonam's basket shook the cobwebs out of Utah's offense in a major way. It marked the first of five baskets on five straight possessions. Kuzma capped the spurt with back-to-back baskets, handing the Utes their first lead at 11-10.
"We've got young kids that need to trust the process," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "It's not instant. The gratification and the success doesn't happen overnight."
Once Utah found the right rhythm, the music didn't stop for the Utes for the rest of the first half. Utah rattled off nine consecutive baskets without a miss, starting with a jumper from JoJo Zamora. The Utes carved out a 39-26 lead with 1:49 left before halftime when Sedrick Barefield capped off the spurt with a 3-pointer near the top of the key.
Utah shot 18 of 23 (78.3 percent) from the field through the final 16 minutes of the first half.
"The rim was just closed for us at the start," Kuzma said. "Then it finally opened up."
USC twice cut the lead to 10 points after halftime, the second time after Jonah Mathews made a 3-pointer to trim Utah's lead to 55-45 with 13:17 remaining. That's as good as it got for the Trojans.
Utah used an 11-0 run to bury USC for good. Barefield finished the spurt with a 3-pointer, giving the Utes a 66-45 lead with 10:27 left in the half.
"We have quite a few players on our team that are struggling offensively, so they're getting frustrated in themselves," Enfield said. "We were trying to keep their confidence high. They're good kids, good players."
NOTES: Utah posted a 0-6 mark in six previous meetings with USC when the Trojans were ranked in the Top 25. ... USC committed six first-half turnovers, leading to 10 points for Utah. The Trojans led the Pac-12 with 121 total steals and 7.1 steals per game before Thursday. ... The Utes led the Pac-12 and ranked 14th in the nation with a plus-8.7 rebounding margin before Thursday. They outrebounded USC 37-34. Utah is 10-1 this season when winning the rebounding battle.
Top Game Performances
Southern California |
|
Utah |
Chimezie Metu 17 |
Scoring |
Devon Daniels 17 |
Shaqquan Aaron 3 |
Assists |
Lorenzo Bonam 5 |
Shaqquan Aaron 6 |
Rebounds |
Kyle Kuzma 11 |
Chimezie Metu 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Sedrick Barefield 4 |
Shaqquan Aaron 2 |
Steals |
Sedrick Barefield 2 |
Chimezie Metu 2 |
Blocks |
Devon Daniels 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Southern California
|
64 |
36.7 |
6-16 |
14-26 |
11 |
30 |
3 |
6 |
11 |
Utah
|
86 |
55.2 |
9-17 |
13-17 |
10 |
32 |
2 |
7 |
10 |