Utah
Larsson scores 27 to lead No. 8 Arizona past Utah 105-99 in triple overtime
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Pelle Larsson had 27 points and eight assists to lead No. 8 Arizona to a 105-99 victory over Utah in triple overtime Thursday night.
Caleb Love added 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wildcats (18-5, 9-3 Pac-12) earn their third road win in conference play. Keshad Johnson had 17 points and Kylan Boswell scored 16. Oumar Ballo grabbed 16 rebounds to go with 10 points.
Branden Carlson led the Utes with 27 points and 15 rebounds. Keba Keita had 18 points and Gabe Madsen added 17. Deivon Smith finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
After rallying from a double-digit deficit, Utah (15-8, 6-6) could not overcome 10-of-21 shooting at the free-throw line.
UAB 76, NO. 20 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 73, OT
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg had 17 points and a season-high 21 rebounds, and Efrem Johnson made a big 3-pointer in overtime to lift UAB over Florida Atlantic.
It was the second victory for the Blazers (15-8, 7-3 AAC) against a ranked American Athletic Conference opponent in less than two weeks. They also beat then-No. 19 Memphis on Jan. 28.
Florida Atlantic had a chance to tie it, but Johnell Davis missed a contested 3 in the final seconds. The Owls (18-5, 8-2) fell a game behind league-leading South Florida in the standings.
Eric Gaines had 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists for UAB. Christian Coleman and Johnson scored 14 apiece, and Alejandro Vasquez added 13 points.
Davis led Florida Atlantic with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists despite 5-of-21 shooting.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Utah
Family rejoices Utah woman’s safe return amid unanswered questions
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Relieved loved ones of Danielle Staley—the Holladay woman found safe after being missing for two weeks—hurried to reunite with her Sunday evening, as her stepfather deferred questions on circumstances surrounding her mysterious disappearance.
“We barely got to California,” said Slade Holtry. “We need to talk together to discover what happened.”
A release from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Staley had been located and was uninjured, but did not release details.
“We just want to hang out as a family and rejoice,” Holtry said. “We’re so relieved. I’m going to eat my first real meal in two weeks.”
In early November, Staley vanished, and her belongings, including a purse and backpack, were left on a California beach about 40 miles south of San Jose.
She was last seen near the location, and soon after her disappearance, investigators did not rule out foul play.
Family members reportedly had concerns about her boyfriend, describing him as abusive and manipulative.
Her stepfather said the boyfriend was not with Staley Sunday evening, and Holtry praised news coverage of the case.
“That’s the only way we found her,” he said. “Somebody saw the news and told her she was all over the news, and she contacted the sheriff’s department. Thank you to all the media.”
Statement from Danielle’s family:
“At this time, we are not releasing specific details as we focus on Danielle’s well-being. Our family asks that there is a continued focus on domestic violence victims, and that people bear in mind the sensitivity of circumstances like my sister’s.
Thank you to the Aptos community for the incredible outpouring of support, for sharing her information, and for coming together to help bring awareness to her case.
Thank you to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office for their unyielding dedication to finding my sister safe, and for their tireless search for Jeanne Burke, as well as other missing persons.
I also want to show gratitude to the Missing in America Network, and Jaz in particular for her advocacy at any time of the day or night, aiding our family through this hard time and giving us much needed direction.
Additionally, I’d like to highlight that November is Native American Heritage Month, and support for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is very much needed.
The entire family is forever grateful for the kindness and unity shown during this difficult time. Community is everything.”
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Utah
Kansas State’s Chris Klieman fights back tears after loss to Utah: ‘One of the greatest efforts I’ve been a part of’
Kansas State coach Chris Klieman fought back tears in his postgame news conference following his team’s loss to Utah on Saturday.
Klieman had to pause to gather himself before his opening statement. In it, he praised the valiant efforts of his team in the 51-47 loss. The Wildcats rushed 42 times for 472 yards as RB Joe Jackson set a school record with 24 carries for 293 yards.
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The seventh-year coach defended his team and himself after the game and said he was proud of the way the Wildcats had played against the No. 12 Utes. As Klieman trailed off and became emotional after praising his team, athletic director Gene Taylor walked up to the podium, put his arm around the coach and told him “you ain’t going anywhere, brother.”
Here’s Klieman’s opening statement in full.
“Heartbroken for the kids and for the loss,” Klieman said. “But it’s one of the greatest efforts I’ve been a part of. One of the greatest efforts I’ve been a part of as a coach and it’s hard to say this because we lost the game.
“We’re down so many players. And I know a lot of people thought we’d come over here and lay down. And that maybe the kids had cashed it in because I’ve heard it enough. That I’ve cashed it in, I’ve heard the players have cashed it in. We need to get new leadership here, we need to get new players, coaches. I’m tired of it. I’ve gotta be honest with you, I’m tired of it.
“I’ve given my friggin-ass life for this place for seven years. I’ve given everything for seven years. And I think I deserve a little bit of respect. Because I’m frustrated like everybody else is but I love those kids. I’d go to friggin’ battle with those kids. Any day. That’s a top-10 team in the country, one of the best offenses in the country and one of the best defenses in the country that we rushed for 472 yards on. Because we told the guys that we were going to commit to running the football and we told the guys that buy into it, believe in it, we are running the football against these guys because nobody’s tried it like we’re going to try it and the kids bought into it.
“Kids don’t buy into it if they’ve given in. Kids don’t buy into it if they’re a half-foot out the door. Our kids bought into it and we stuffed it down their throat the entire game running the football and we lost. And I’m crushed because of that. But I’m going to stand up here with frigging pride and say we battled our ass off against a really good team and I’m crushed we lost the football game but I’m more upset with … “
Kansas State scored 24 points in the second quarter and had a 12-point lead with seven minutes to go in the game when Jackson scored on a 24-yard run and the Wildcats went for two and a 14-point lead. But Tao Johnson intercepted a pass on the conversion attempt and ran the ball back for a 2-point conversion for the Utes.
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That cut KSU’s lead to 10 before Utah went on a 12-play, 75-yard drive to make it a 47-44 game. After Kansas State went three-and-out and took just 22 seconds off the clock, Utah had a seven-play drive that went 70 yards as QB Devon Dampier scored the game-winning touchdown with 56 seconds to go.
Thanks to the interception on the conversion attempt, the extra point put Utah up four and meant Kansas State needed to score a TD to have any chance of a win. Utah then intercepted QB Avery Johnson on the second play of KSU’s final possession.
The loss kept Utah in the hunt for the College Football Playoff while Kansas State fell to 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12. The Wildcats need to beat Colorado at home in Week 14 to get to a bowl game.
Utah
OKC Thunder Dominate With Scorching Hot Shooting in Utah
Oklahoma City is proving it might not have any weaknesses this season.
On Friday night, the Thunder secured a dominant 144-112 victory against the Utah Jazz in their second NBA Cup game to further take control of the race for the top spot in the West. Despite the Thunder trailing by as much as 18 in the first half, they always seemed in control en route to a 50-point turnaround.
After a slow start from beyond the arc this season, the Thunder had begun to round into form from outside, and that was as clear as ever on Friday. While the Thunder’s absurd defense deservedly stole the headlines for holding the Jazz without a field goal for over half of the third quarter, their 3-point shooting was unstoppable all night.
Against the Jazz, the Thunder shot 23-of-37 from deep, their most makes in a game this season. While their 62.2% mark from beyond the arc will be nearly impossible to replicate this season, it was the fourth time in the past six games the Thunder had nailed at least 40% of their threes.
Although the Thunder are unlikely to nail nearly two-thirds of their threes again this season, their outside shooting display once again showed just how dangerous they can be when shots are falling. While the Thunder have shown again and again that they can grind out tight games with their defense when shots aren’t falling, they’ve also shown that they are virtually unbeatable when those shots are going down.
After Friday night’s action, the Thunder are up to 18th in 3-point shooting after spending most of the first couple of weeks at the bottom of the league. Sure, the Thunder still have some room to grow to get where they want to be in that category, but they’ve clearly proven that they have the ability to nail a plethora of threes on any given night.
Perhaps most importantly for the Thunder, they’re getting those contributions from deep from just about everywhere. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went 3-of-3, Jaylin Williams nailed a career-best five threes and Lu Dort continued his bounce-back from deep, nailing 3-of-4.
It won’t be easy for the Thunder to keep up their hot shooting, but knowing they’re capable of outbursts like this from beyond the arc might be enough to scare the rest of the league even more. After not being able to hit from outside to start the year, the Thunder might have solved their lone weakness as they’ve streaked to 16-1.
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