Runnin' Utes Cage Tigers in Home Win

Thursday, November 16

Salt Lake City, Utah

6:00 PM

University of Utah

3-0

Missouri

2-1

Missouri

Utah

11/16/2017 9:46 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Utah-Missouri Box Score (PDF)

Collette scores game-high 17 points; Tillman notches double-double

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Runnin' Utes (3-0) wrapped up its three-game home stand with a 77-59 win over the Missouri Tigers (2-1) Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.

Utah had five players score in double-figures and were led by senior David Collette's 17 points overall. Senior Tyler Rawson chipped in with 12 points, freshman Donnie Tillman added 11 points, while both senior Gabe Bealer and sophomore Jayce Johnson tallied 10 each on the evening.

Utah shot 46 percent from the field, which included a 32 percent effort from downtown, and limited the Tigers to a just a 34 percent effort on the evening. The Runnin' Ute defense forced 14 turnovers that led to 17 points and blocked five shots on the evening.

After both teams struggled from the field early, Utah got things going and ended the first half on a 12-3 run to take a 35-19 lead into halftime. Back-to-back three-pointers from senior Justin Bibbins and Bealer pushed Utah's lead to 45-21 in the second half and the Utes never looked back on the way to the 18-point victory.

The Utes return to action next week competing in a pair of games at the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas. Utah will face Ole Miss in the opener on Monday, Nov. 20, and then take on either Rice or UNLV on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Tip-off between the Utes and Rebels is set for 9:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. MT and the contest will be televised on AT&T SportsNet.

GAME NOTES
• Collette matched his early season-high with 17 points. He was 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.
• Bealer scored in double-figures for the second straight game, giving him back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts for the first time in his career.
• Tillman led the way with 10 rebounds to notch the first double-double of his career.
• Barefield led the Utes and matched his career-high with eight assists on the night.
• Johnson made his season debut after sitting out the first two games with an injury, totaling 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
• Utah yielded just six turnovers in the game – its lowest output since registering just six turnovers against California back on March 5, 2014.
• Utah moved to 3-0 all-time against Missouri. It was the first contest between the two teams since 1978 and the first time a contest had been played on either of the team's home court.
• Utah moved to 15-19 all-time in games against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It was the first win over an SEC team since downing LSU, 91-61, back on Jan. 6, 2009. The Utes have won three straight over SEC opponents, with its last loss coming back in 2003 (at LSU, 51-65).

POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah vs. Missouri | November 16, 2017

Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On the Utah defense vs. Missouri missing shots…
There was a combination. We dodged some bullets certainly. I was really proud of the trapping scheme we put in place this week. You will see that team later and they have some big boys and a lot of size as they witnessed. They have an emphasis to get the ball inside and we did a really nice job and turned them over. At the end of the day, like I told the guys before the game, know personnel and as coaches we always expect them to be perfect with stuff but we know there's going to be breakdowns, but as long as you bring energy to the game, it can bail you out of a lot of situations. I thought there was an awful lot of energy. I think we have had this one circled on the calendar for a little while and we had some guys step up. It was a combination. They missed some open looks but that's what happens when you go on the road too. This is their first time being on the road and it's not always easy to hit shots. I'll give our guys a lot of the credit but I'm sure when we look at the tape there will be many open shots that they missed.

On the adjustment for Porter Jr's absence…
There's no adjustment because we didn't ever see him play. It would be different if we had a sample size where he had five games or 10 games, whatever the case may be, but the two games I watched them play this year, they are really good and you didn't see the best performance by that team. They are a good basketball team and they are only going to be better when they get that man in the roster but we didn't talk about it. We can only go with the evidence we have and a lot of what they do offensively, you could see where he could be put in those positions to succeed and whether he played or not, we had the same plan in place. It is a bonus to not have to play against a player of that caliber. I watched him play a lot in AAU and I know he is a heck of a player. Injuries are a part of it and we didn't have the best week ourselves. Jayce [Johnson] has been beat up and we have had the stomach flu and virus running through us that I got hit with for a couple days. Sedrick [Barefield] was out for three days and Donnie [Tillman] has been sick. We are fortunate to have a good week in practice overall and am glad our guys responded really well.

On turnovers being cut down…
Missouri is a good defensive team too and brought a lot of pressure. I can think of two or three of the possessions where we got sloppy, again we aren't seeking perfection, but that's been a little bit of an Achilles heel and a focal point for us after our first two games. Some of it can be the newness of the season and we haven't had a normal amount of practices in this building and certainly not making excuses, but there are some guys that haven't played in this building under those circumstances. So, a little bit of it was the jitters and we just got sped up by the pressure. Missouri is a great pressure, physical type of team and so we put some things in place and it is more of a mindset than anything tactical. Like quarterbacks, if you throw an errant pass or one's that not perfect, you have a responsibility on the receiver to make sure the ball isn't picked off. I think that was half of our early season woes with those two games is just complacency and not coming to me. We have cleaned some of that up so that was important.

Missouri Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
On the first loss of the season …
It was a learning experience. We talked about it as a staff. We had two sub-par days at practice. We had talked about it, but we have to be better in practice. I am excited about two home wins and that we still have plenty of work to get done, it showed tonight. You have to practice and prepare as far as you can all the time. You know, I understand to be excited but by the next day, we have to continue to play.

On the game itself …
Consistency and understanding. Our first three shots were three point shots. That's one thing we talked about on a good offense. You take the open three's because then you are ready to play some defense. They think they are open and then you are two feet behind the three-point line and they aren't falling, now it's a ball game. Now we are getting into foul trouble, not getting the post reduction, not getting the ball inside like we needed to. They made some plays. I thought we were sound after a while. We were making stops, making stops so we could make baskets.