Utes Fall to Bruins on the Road

Thursday, January 11

Los Angeles, Calif.

9:00 PM

University of Utah

10-6, 2-3

UCLA

13-4, 4-1

Utah

UCLA

1/11/2018 11:44 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score UCLA-Utah | Box Score (PDF)

Collette leads the way with 15 points

LOS ANGELES – The Utah men's basketball team dropped its first Pac-12 Conference road game of the season, falling 83-64 to the UCLA Bruins Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA shot 57 percent from the field in the first half, which included a 55 percent effort from downtown, to take a 41-33 lead into halftime. Justin Bibbins led the Utes with nine points at the break and David Collette chipped in with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.

The Bruins registered an early 11-0 run and led by as many as 12 points, up 19-7, before a Utah countered with a 19-9 push and cut the deficit to just three points. UCLA would score 13 of the final 21 first-half points though, to take the eight-point lead into the break.

The Bruins later pushed its lead to 15 points after opening the second half with a 9-2 run and never looked back. Utah would get back within nine points, down 57-48, following a Bibbins three-point at the 12:18 mark, but UCLA's 8-0 run would put the game out of reach.

Utah shot 46 percent from the field overall, but was just 27 percent from three-point range on the night. The Bruins countered converting 52 percent overall and going 12-for-23 from beyond the arc to finish at 52 percent from downtown.

Collette led the Utes with 15 points, which included hitting a three-pointer in the second half – his second three-pointer of the season. Bibbins followed with 12 and Chris Seeley led the Utes off the bench with nine points.

Utah wraps up its trip through L.A. later this weekend as Runnin' Utes take on the USC Trojans on Sunday, Jan. 14. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. PT at the Galen Center.

GAME NOTES
• Utah moved to 7-10 all-time against the Bruins, which includes a 3-7 mark when playing in Los Angeles.
• Seeley got his first extended action of the season since having gallbladder surgery back in November. He finished the game posting a new career-high and scoring nine points off the bench.
• Seeley also led the team on the boards, pulling down seven rebounds – his most since totaling 12 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State back on Nov. 13.
• Tyler Rawson led the Utes with seven assists. He had led Utah in assists in seven of 16 games this season. He has tallied five assists or more in six of those seven games.