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The University of Utah Athletics
Saturday, March 19
Tucson, Ariz.
1:40 PM
University of Utah
67
at
58
Oklahoma (NCAA Second Round)
Utah Advances To Sweet 16 With Victory Over Oklahoma
3/19/2005 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2005
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Andrew Bogut makes everyone around him better, and his Utah teammates were at their best Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Utes capitalized on the 7-foot Aussie's skilled passing and Justin Hawkins' 20 points to beat No. 3 seed Oklahoma 67-58 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
"We're excited as can be," said Utah's Marc Jackson.
The Utes (29-5) advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Kentucky in the national championship game. They had been knocked out in the early rounds five of the last six years, but move on to play the Cincinnati-Kentucky winner next in the Austin Regional.
"It's the happiest day I've had in coaching," said Utah's Ray Giacoletti, who was hired last April to replace Rick Majerus. "Probably only 20 of us believed, but it was the right 20."
Although the beefy Sooners (25-8) did their best to beat up Bogut in the low post, they couldn't overcome 32 percent shooting. Except for hitting the first basket, they trailed the entire game and got no closer than seven points in the second half.
"Bogut made a lot of good passes," Oklahoma's Johnnie Gilbert said. "I thought a lot of times we would pick it off, but somehow it got through."
Utah opened the game on a 16-4 run and never looked back despite getting forced into 20 turnovers.
"I don't understand our start," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "We had a lot of good looks. Too many balls stayed on that rim and didn't go down. I felt like we could hurt Utah with our pressure, but you have to make shots. We just didn't."
Bogut had a career-high seven assists and tied his season low with 10 points, taking just seven shots. He scored 24 points in Utah's 60-54 opening-round win over 11th-seeded UTEP. The sophomore has been mentioned as a potential No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft.
"The bottom line with Andrew Bogut is he's a winner and it's about the team," Giacoletti said. "I don't know what the price tag is on that value."
Taj Gray had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Sooners, who had won eight of their previous nine games. Terrell Everett added 17 points.
"He made a lot of great passes, he made us alter our shots going into the paint," Gray said about Bogut. "He did a lot of little things to help his team out."
Bogut's defense on Kevin Bookout neutralized the 6-foot-8, 260-pounder, who got in early foul trouble and scored four points.
"For us to not come ready to play really hurt us," Bookout said. "We had some good looks down low, but we just couldn't finish them."
Gilbert, the Sooners' imposing backup forward, had three fouls and nine points.
"It was extremely frustrating," he said. "You keep going down and getting stops, but you're not making buckets at the other end."
The Utes don't have a consistent No. 2 scorer to Bogut, but Hawkins and Jackson proved more than capable. Jackson added 17 points and Bryant Markson 16. Hawkins grabbed 13 rebounds and Bogut 11.
Bogut found Markson cutting through the lane and delivered sharp passes that led to dunks on consecutive possessions in the final 6{ minutes. Then Bogut scored, giving Utah a 55-42 lead.
"These guys slashed and I hit them for some of the best finishes I've seen in a while," Bogut said.
He showed class in the closing seconds when he caught a long pass and dribbled out the clock instead of dunking. During a timeout, Giacoletti told Bogut the team would continue putting him in position to score.
Bogut's response? "I don't care, we're winning."
Drew Lavender's performance showed how badly Oklahoma struggled offensively. He scored 17 points in a first-round win over Niagara, but was 1-of-6 for just three points Saturday.
Oklahoma took 29 more than shots than the Utes, but made just 21-of-66. Utah hit 59 percent from the floor and 64 percent from the line.
The Sooners rallied to get within four before Utah used a 10-5 run, including six by Hawkins, to end the half ahead 30-21. Oklahoma shot a woeful 8-of-31 from the floor in the half and had no one in double figures. Bookout was limited to seven minutes after picking up his third foul.
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