Utah’s momentum builds with another home blowout win

Utah has found a good bit of its stride again as the men’s basketball season has reached March.

The Runnin’ Utes easily ran past Cal 88-59 at the Huntsman Center on Saturday night, their second blowout win in three nights as they wrapped up their home slate of the regular season.

Utah coach Craig Smith said his veteran team “played super, super connected all week.”

“Proud of our guys, how we responded, because there’s certainly been some tough times here recently and our guys really galvanized,” he said.

Utah’s third win in the past four games sets it up with momentum heading into the final week of the regular season and gives some renewed hope to its NCAA Tournament bid.

It was an especially sweet night for Utah’s seniors, as the school honored Branden Carlson, Gabe Madsen, Ben Carlson and Cole Bajema before the game.

Then Branden Carlson displayed so much of what Utah fans have come to love about him during his time on the hill. He finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks while shooting 12 of 17 from the floor and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

“It’s Senior Night — it’s his last game in the Huntsman — and it means something to him. I mean, that dudes a five-year guy here growing up in this state, just means a little bit more and (he) played like you’d expect that kind of guy to play,” Smith said.

Carlson scored 17 of his points in the first half.

His first 3 of the night put Utah ahead 15-7, then later in the first half he knocked down his second 3, added a block on the other end, then got a putback slam shortly thereafter to give Utah its first double-digit lead.

By night’s end, when Carlson subbed out for the final time, the hometown fans gave their fifth-year senior a hearty cheer.

“Damn good. It’s feels good,” Carlson said when asked about his night. “I’m pretty emotional, last game in the Huntsman Center.”

As tears welled up in his eyes, Carlson continued, “You know, I love this program and my time here, just to be able to get another win with this team. We’ve still got more to go and accomplish.”

“You know, I love this program and my time here, just to be able to get another win with this team. We’ve still got more to go and accomplish.”

—  Utah center Branden Carlson

The Utes (18-11, 9-9 Pac-12) set the tone in the paint, outrebounding the Golden Bears 47-29, including 13-7 on the offensive glass. That helped Utah own a 15-2 edge in second-chance points.

Combine that with a tough defensive effort that held Cal to 34.4% shooting from the field, and there was plenty to celebrate at the Huntsman Center on the cold, wintry night.

“I think a big key to being a good rebounding team is your guards (have) got to be able to rebound and I thought we showed a lot of discipline tonight,” Smith said.

Cal lost a starter with just over five minutes left in the first half when Keonte Kennedy was assessed a flagrant 2 foul after review. He appeared to hit Utah’s Hunter Erickson below the belt while driving to the hoop.

It was an overall effective first half for Utah, which went into intermission with a 42-32 lead. While Cal never fully went away, the Utes never let them get too close, either.

Deivon Smith got to 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and finished the night with yet another solid stat line, with 18 points, 10 assists and four rebounds.

The Utes then put the game away in the second half, breaking the contest open with a 7-0 run over a three-minute stretch that pushed their lead to 58-41.

After the Golden Bears kept it relatively even over the next few minutes, Utah again went on a run, this time an 11-2 spurt, to put the matchup on ice as the Utes built a game-high 27-point lead.

Two nights after a posterizing moment landed him in SportsCenter’s top 10 plays, Deivon Smith had another highlight-reel play, throwing down a thunderous dunk off a Madsen assist in transition with 7:25 to go.

Madsen, too, had a memorable second half, as he scored 14 of his 17 points after the break.

With the postseason looming, it was an important win in another way as well.

The Utes jumped past Cal, who only has one regular-season game remaining, by a half-game in the Pac-12 standings and will have the head-to-head advantage when it comes to Pac-12 tournament seeding.

Utah also moved into a tie with UCLA for fifth in the conference standings after the Bruins lost at No. 19 Washington State on Saturday. By virtue of their 2-0 sweep of UCLA this season, Utah’s hold the head-to-head advantage on UCLA, too.

It sets the Utes up for the opportunity to improve their Pac-12 tournament seeding even further when they hit the road to play at Oregon State and Oregon this week to cap the regular season.

“With everything this team has to play for, if we can’t get together and take this on the road, then I think we don’t deserve it,” Madsen said. “Like I said, we’ve just got a lot to play for and we’ve got a veteran group and we know exactly what we need to do. I think it will show a lot in these next two games.”