#4 Sun Devils Escape Huntsman Center with 80-77 Win Over Utes

Sunday, January 7

Salt Lake City, Utah

6:00 PM

University of Utah

10-5, 2-2

Arizona State

13-2, 1-2

Arizona State

Utah

#4 Sun Devils Escape Huntsman Center with 80-77 Win Over Utes

1/7/2018 9:36 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Utah-Arizona State | Box Score (PDF)

Utes move to 2-2 in Pac-12 play

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah men's basketball team took the No. 4-ranked Arizona Sun Devils to the wire on Sunday, but the Runnin' Utes came up short in an 80-77 loss at the Huntsman Center.

Senior Justin Bibbins registered a game-high 22 points and junior Sedrick Barefield chipped in with 21 points, while ASU was led by Shannon Evans II's 22-point effort and another 20 points from Kodi Justice on the evening.

Utah erased an 11-point first half deficit with a 16-4 run, that ended with dunk from David Collette, and gave the Utes its first lead of the game at the 4:49 mark of the first period. ASU regained the lead late in the period and led by five, up 35-30, with 1:34 to play in the half, but Utah countered with a three-pointer from Barefield and the Utes closed out the half on a 6-0 run to take a 36-35 lead into the locker room.

Despite ASU opening the second half on a 10-3 run and taking a six-point lead (45-39), Utah again managed to go on another run – this time a by a 15-8 margin – to regain the lead 54-43 at the 10:53 mark. Both teams would end up trading buckets and the game ended with the Sun Devils knocking down three of four free throws to earn the three-point win.

Utah and ASU were tied on 11 different occasions, which included four ties over the final 5:30 to play, and there were 18 different lead changes overall.

The loss drops Utah to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in Pac-12 play, while ASU improved to 13-2 on the season and 1-2 in the conference.

Utah will be back on the road next week taking on both Los Angeles-based squads. The Utes will open the week at UCLA next Thursday, Jan. 11 and will then close out the week taking on USC next Sunday, Jan. 14.

GAME NOTES
• With the loss, Utah snapped a five-game winning streak against the Sun Devils, but still lead the all-time series 32-21. It was ASU's first road win over the Utes since 1975.
• Utah is still looking for its first win over an AP top-five ranked team, dating back to 2001.
• Both teams shot right at 44 percent in the first half, but Utah shot 30 percent from three-point range and was 10-of-13 from the charity stripe to make up the difference and lead by one point at the break. Utah finished the game shooting 48 percent, but had just 16 field goal attempts compared to the 25 attempts it put up in the first half.
• Barefield, who tallied 20 points or more for the third time this season, notched the 20-point barrier in two straight games for the first time in his career. Bibbins also tallied at least 20 points in a game for the third time this season.
• Tyler Rawson had 11 points and led the Utes with nine rebounds – just one rebound shy of a double-double.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak

On an emotional loss…
Well, it's kind of hard to decompress a little bit, you know? Hard fought game, basketball's a game of mistakes, at the end of the day it comes down to probably taking a little bit better care of the ball and not getting out-rebounded by a team that's significantly smaller than us in terms of what we can do differently next time. It was a heck of a game.

On Justin Bibbins' missed three at the end of the game…
I think it's quite a bit more heartbreaking for me when I see that to be honest with you. It's a lot of fun to have a three-pointer like that in the importance of it, there's no feeling in the world like when it goes in and no feeling in the world like when it bounces out. That's the beautiful part about the opportunity to be a coach. I told our players at the end of that game I'd give anything to be able to flashback in time and have an opportunity to seize the moment and make some plays. I feel very fortunate to have a chance to keep those juices flowing when I'm 53. We put a lot of work in it, and it's fun to try to do it collectively, and the other side of this crazy business in regard to that shot is the same analogy takes place with wins and losses. There's nothing like pulling off a big win and there's really not a lower low. If I quit caring as much as I do I'll find something else to do, but it still smarts pretty significantly.

Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley

On getting the win tonight…
It just proves what we've been through as a team. Our non-conference schedule got us ready, and we've been in every game, every game we have answered the bell. Even with the two that we lost to start off, we had our chances to win. I just love the determination of the team.

On how Remy Martin played tonight…
I just wanted him to be confident and be himself, he knew that he had two games that he wasn't at his best and he didn't play to his full capabilities. He takes things very personal, I had a pretty good indication yesterday when he was practicing and shooting around that he would have a good game today. He knew that he needed this game. We have to start off with three games on the road against three difficult opponents. It's amazing that we were able to reach deep and find a way to get a win tonight.