Kenneth Ogbe scored 11 points and Chris Reyes and Dakarai Tucker added nine points apiece for Utah (22-5, 12-3 Pac-12), which never trailed in bouncing back from Sunday’s loss at Oregon with its 18th straight home win. The Utes – who also received eight points, six rebounds and six blocks from 7-foot freshman Jakob Poeltl – shot 63.3 percent from field, including 8-of-14 3-pointers, and swatted away 11 shots in completing the sweep of the regular-season series.
Gerry Blakes and Willie Atwood each scored 12 to pace Arizona State (15-13, 7-8), which saw its three-game win streak come to a halt. Savon Goodman added seven points and a team-high six rebounds for the Sun Devils, who hit season lows in scoring and field-goal percentage (28) while committing 14 turnovers.
Utah scored the game’s first eight points and didn’t look back, taking a 41-9 lead into halftime and finishing the opening 20 minutes with more blocked shots (10) than Arizona State had points. The Sun Devils actually pulled within 15-7 after back-to-back Goodman buckets with 9:53 remaining in the first half, but the Utes closed the stanza with a 26-2 run.
Arizona State, which shot 15.4 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, was only able to get as close as 30 points in the second half. Utah led by as much as 46 points at 70-24 following a 3-pointer from reserve Isaiah Wright with 6:15 remaining and turned its sights toward Saturday’s rematch against conference-leading Arizona.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Only one of Utah’s 16 home wins this season – a 69-68 overtime victory over Wichita State – has been decided by 14 or fewer points. … Arizona State has had more or as many turnovers than the opposition in 13 of its 15 Pac-12 games this season. … Poeltl now owns the Utah freshman blocked-shot record with 51.
Arizona St. | Utah | |
Willie Atwood 12 | Scoring | Delon Wright 12 |
Chance Murray 3 | Assists | Isaiah Wright 6 |
Savon Goodman 6 | Rebounds | Jakob Poeltl 6 |
Willie Atwood 6 | Free Throws Made | Kenneth Ogbe 6 |
Savon Goodman 2 | Steals | Delon Wright 3 |
N/A | Blocks | Jakob Poeltl 6 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Arizona St. | 41 | 28.0 | 3-16 | 10-13 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
Utah | 83 | 63.3 | 8-14 | 13-20 | 16 | 29 | 11 | 8 | 9 |