In its second overtime thriller of Pac-12 play, Stanford men’s hoops (16-6, 5-4 Pac-12) succumbed to struggles across the board and fell to Utah (12-9, 3-6 Pac-12) 64-56 on Thursday. The matchup in Salt Lake City is the first of two meetings during Stanford’s mountain trip; the second is set for Saturday afternoon against No. 24 Colorado (18-5, 7-3 Pac-12).
Just as stats from nearly all of Stanford’s conference contests have reflected, the Cardinal found little offensive success in the opening minutes of action and allowed the Utes to get comfortable on their home court. Though freshman guard Tyrell Terry answered Utah’s first basket of the night — a layup by freshman center Branden Carlson — with a deep jumper of his own, the Utes were quick to respond with six more points, four of which were the products of Carlson.
Carlson continued to be a threat to Stanford’s defense, which had troubles with turnovers and fouls from the get-go, and ended the night with 15 points to his name. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Carlson was not the only Ute to find himself in double-digit territory; Timmy Allen and Riley Battin knocked in another 15 and 11 points, respectively. Stanford was unable to combat the Utes’s scoring distribution, as only Terry and junior guard Daejon Davis managed to break the 10-point barrier by the end of the night.
Despite owning 11 of the visiting Stanford’s 22 points at the half, Terry managed to pick up only three more by the end of the contest for a total of 14. Though Terry’s contribution was less than his 15.3 average heading into the game, it paced Cardinal scoring, with Davis’s 12 points coming in second. Junior forward Oscar da Silva, who made a statement last Saturday against No. 11 Oregon with a career-high 27, was held to a mere eight points on 4-for-12 shooting from the field.
To further hinder Stanford’s attempts to lessen the six-point gap the Utes had pushed by the half, sophomore Bryce Wills, who had added nine to Stanford’s side of the scoreboard, was sent crashing to the floor with an ankle injury. After being assisted off the court, the guard remained confined to the bench for the final nine minutes of regulation and the entirety of the extra time.
An opportunity to bounce back from its fourth loss in five games, Stanford now travels to Colorado to face the No. 24 Buffaloes on Saturday. The basketball action is set to tip-off at 3 p.m. PT.
Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew ‘at’ stanford.edu.