Utes Run Over, Kill Dawgs on Montlake Blvd

The Utah Utes slashed and gashed the Huskies in the paint tonight all the way to a 94-72 win in Seattle. It’s not a new problem for this team, but poor D, early foul trouble for some key Huskies, and three Utah players reaching 20+ points spelled doom for the Dawgs. All that, and the Huskies shot only 37% from the field. No bueno los Dawgies, no bueno (sorry, I took French).

24 points from Devon Daniels and Lorenzo Bonam, as well as a 22-point effort from Kyle Zuma, all helped lead Utah to a relatively easy win over the Huskies. Utah hit on 60% of their field goals, including 58% from 3 and 71% in the first half. The first half saw Daniels repeatedly carve up the Huskies’ interior defense with ease, while the Huskies struggled to keep pace offensively. In short, the Huskies gave up too many uncontested layups to a team that doesn’t make many mistakes.

In the second half, the Huskies were able to trim an 18-point deficit down to 8, before Utah responded with a 10-point run of their own. From that point, the game seemed decided with just under 10 minutes to go. Early in the second half, we did see some life out of redshirt freshman Sam Timmins on the defensive end of the floor with 3 quick blocks, but it was nothing more than a brief positive sign of growth in an otherwise throw away game by the Dawgs.

Markelle Fultz had his third straight game with 30 or more points, however only his career high 37 against Colorado earlier in the week ended in a win. Like most games this season, his line tonight was another impressive display of the young freshman and potential No. 1 overall draft pick’s skill. Specifically, he had 30 points, with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. He shot 10-18 from the field, including 4-7 from deep. David Crisp was the only other Husky to score in the double digits with 14 points.

Up Next: The Huskies will try and put this one behind them as they head down to face Arizona State on Wednesday.

Go Dawgs.