Runnin’ Utes ‘destroyed on offense,’ fall flat in 82-70 loss to Solar Devils

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TEMPE, Ariz. — It simply wasn’t Utah’s evening.

Exterior of forcing Arizona State right into a shot clock violation on the primary possession of the sport and a fast dunk on the opposite finish by Lawson Lovering, Utah struggled to piece collectively any consistency late Thursday evening at Desert Monetary Enviornment.

Arizona State received sizzling from behind the arc and made 12 3-pointers en path to an 82-70 win to remain undefeated in convention play.

“They got here out and so they performed quick and livid,” Utah head coach Craig Smith. “And we hadn’t seen a crew like that since St. John’s and Houston. That is who these guys extra resemble when it comes to their type, and so we have got to deal with that higher.”

Utah (11-3, 2-1 Pac-12) could not hit pictures at a constant fee, turned the ball over an excessive amount of (15), and could not restrict the Solar Devils (9-5, 3-0 Pac-12) on the opposite finish of the ground to permit a often mediocre taking pictures crew right into a 50% efficiency in opposition to the Utes.

Briefly, Utah received outplayed and did not look the half within the crew’s first highway sport since November. Smith summed it up merely, saying his crew was “destroyed on offense.”

“I assumed they performed excellent, in all probability the most effective sport of the 12 months,” Smith mentioned. “A few of that is us, however credit score them, they performed unbelievable. I imply, they performed actually, rather well. They’re at all times a crew that is going to stress and deny, create every kind of havoc, swarm to the ball, bringing 3-4 guys to the ball.

However regardless of the struggles, Utah managed to maintain it to not more than a two-possession deficit for a lot of the evening — it was 55-53 with 10:55 left within the second half — till Arizona State ultimately pulled away and constructed up a 17-point lead with 1:31 left in regulation.

Arizona State managed 15 factors off 15 Utah turnovers, shot 43% from 3-point vary, and had 18 quick break factors within the successful effort.

However greater than that, Jose Perez and Frankie Collins made Utah’s evening extraordinarily tough in a mixed 44-point effort. The 2 veteran gamers had seven of the crew’s 12 3-pointers, whereas Collins added seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Perez led the Solar Devils with 26 factors on 4-of-5 taking pictures from behind the arc, and had 4 rebounds and three assists within the residence win.

For Utah, Branden Carlson led the scoring effort with 19 factors, together with two made 3-pointers, on an evening when Utah shot under 40% for a lot of the evening till ending at 41% from the sphere.

“We did not do a adequate job discovering BC on a constant foundation,” Smith mentioned, whereas including that his crew missed too many “level clean pictures across the rim all evening lengthy.”

Utah guard Deivon Smith added 13 factors — his first double-figure efficiency at Utah — and 4 rebounds, and showcased his dynamic play a number of occasions all through the evening. However his effort wasn’t sufficient to will the visiting crew to a win.

Every time Utah tried to recover from the scoring hump, Utah discovered a solution to commit a turnover, miss a simple layup, or discovered one other solution to give the ball again to Arizona State regardless of a primary half that had 11 lead modifications.

Utah will look to regroup in a ranked matchup in Tucson in opposition to No. 10 Arizona Saturday (6 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks).

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