Runnin' Utes Top Montana Tech in Exhibition, 95-45

Wednesday, November 1

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Montana Tech (Exhibition)

Montana Tech

Utah

Runnin' Utes Top Montana Tech in Exhibition, 95-45

11/1/2017 10:18 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Utah-Montana Tech Box Score Photo Gallery

Barefield and Collette lead the way with 15 points each.

SALT LAKE CITY – David Collette and Sedrick Barefield both scored 15 points each Wednesday evening as the Utah Runnin' Utes topped Montana Tech 95-45 in an exhibition contest at the Huntsman Center.

"It wasn't bad, it was a good starting point for us," said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. "I thought we played pretty hard overall, we had 10 turnovers, which was a goal. I thought that the energy was there, everybody that played in the game scored, except for Popoola because he got put in late. It's a marathon, and this was our first one where people were in the building. We'll break down the film and figure out what we aren't doing.

"Defensively I thought we were pretty good, they did a nice job. They played really hard and they were physical, and they were able to take us out of some of the stuff that we wanted to do. Our defensive mentality was not quite as much pressure as they brought, with bodies being in our faces. We got taken out of our space a little bit, and when the going gets hard, you need to be tough. So, we need to add some things to toughen up and do a better job of dealing with pressure."

Utah opened the game with an 8-2 run and later put together an 11-0 run to push its lead up to 29-11. The Utes would outscore the Orediggers 22-6 over the final nine minutes of the first half to take a 51-17 lead into halftime after shooting 52.6 percent from the field and limiting the Orediggers to just a clip of 31.8 percent. Utah out-rebounded MTU 24-13, tallied seven steals and forced 14 total turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play. Barefield scored Utah's final seven points of the first half and led all players with 15 points at the break. Collette had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting as the teams headed into the intermission.

The Utes opened the second half with an 8-0 run later pushed its lead to 77-27 following a 12-4 run, which included the Utes connecting on a pair of three-pointers from Gabe Bealer and Jake Connor. Utah continued to lead by at least 50 points the majority of the way and led by as many as 53 points following a three-pointer from Beau Rydalch with 1:05 left to play.

Bealer was one of four Utah players to score in double-figures on Wednesday, finishing the game with 10 points. Tyler Rawson chipped in with 10 points as well, while 14 of Utah's 15 players scored at least two points on the night.

Donnie Tillman led Utah on the boards with a team-high eight rebounds, while Collette and Jayce Johnson added seven rebounds each. Utah would finish the evening out-rebounding the Orediggers 48 to 27. Barfield led the team with eight assists and two steals, while Collette, Rawson and Johnson each collected a blocked shot.

The Utes finished shooting 50.7 percent from the field, which included a 37.9 percent effort from three-point range. After going 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half, Utah knocked down just 7-of-12 from the charity stripe in the second half, to finish shooting 63.6 percent on the evening. Utah totaled 29 points off 20 MTU turnovers.

The Utes open the regular season at home against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 10. The game will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks and tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT.