Recap: Utah edge Huskies 80-75 in Overtime

It took an extra five minutes, but ultimately the Utah Utes, led by their front court, were too much for the Washington Huskies to handle, as they fell 80-75. Utah's big man Jakob Poeltl has been the leader for the Utes all season, and he was as good as advertised Sunday,as he scored 29 points and also pulled down 10 rebounds. Poeltl knocked down eight of his fourteen field goal attempts and also knocked down 13 of his 16 free throw attempts, including four free throws in the last ten seconds to ice the game.

Marquse Chriss and Noah Dickerson led the team in scoring, with 15 and 14 points respectively. Dejounte Murray led the team in rebounding with 13.

The game got off to a choppy start as both teams combined for 12 fouls through the first eight minutes. Eight of those fouls were called on the Huskies during that span and all three of the Huskies front court-Marquese Chriss, Noah Dickerson, and Malik Huskies- all had two fouls before the half way point of the first half. Freshman forward Matisse Thybulle picked up his second foul at the 11 minute mark of the first half, and the Utes seemed poised to take advantage of the Huskies' foul trouble. To their credit, the Huskies big men responded well, as Chriss and Dime both played for relatively long stretches to end the half without picking up their third foul. Well, that was before Malik Dime picked up his third with three seconds left, when he fouled Poetl to prevent a transition layup. It was poor defensive execution by the Huskies and Dime, and forced him to pick up is third foul before the half. Still, the fact that only one of the three big men went to the locker room with three fouls, after they all picked up two fouls in the first eights minutes of the game, is some sort of progress.

It was an ugly half for both teams offensively, particularly from the three point line. The Huskies only knocked down two of their twelve first half three point attempts. The Utes were slightly worse from three, knocking down just one of their twelve attempts from three. Both teams slugged their way to a 26-26 tie at half.

The second half opened as a battle between the two teams' front-courts, as Dickerson and Chriss traded baskets with Poeltl and Kuzma throughout the start of the second half. The Huskies took their first lead since before half time when Dime converted a lay up with 10 minutes to play, giving the Huskies a 48-46 lead.

After a back and forth sequence, it seemed that the Utes were finally going to take control, as they went on a 6-0 run following a time out, to take a 63-59 lead with just under three minutes. However, a made jump shot from Andrews, followed by a pair of free throws, allowed the Huskies to cut the lead to 66-63 with 56 seconds left in the game.

After forcing a missed jump shot, the Huskies corralled the defensive rebound and came down the floor looking to tie the game. That tie came from freshman spark plug David Crisp, as he sank a left corner three to tie the game at 66 all and forcing overtime.

The Utes took control of the overtime period, holding the Huskies scoreless for the first two minutes of the overtime period, taking a 70-66 lead in the process. The Huskies were able to close the gap and tie the game at 73-73 with a less than a minute to go. That was as close as the Huskies would come to victory however, as the Utes would score seven of the games final nine points en route to an 80-75 victory.

The Huskies fall to 5-2 on the season with the loss, into a tie for first place with the Oregon Ducks. The Huskies next game will be at UCLA on Thursday.