GAME 25 | Utah (15-9, 7-6) at Washington (17-8, 7-5)
Date/Tipoff:Â Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018 | 6 p.m. PT
Location:Â Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)
Television:Â Pac-12 Networks
TALENT: Darron Sutton (PxP), P.J. Carlisemo (Color)
Radio:Â Utah Radio Sports Network
TALENT:Â Bill Riley (PxP),Â
Jimmy Soto (Color)
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THE GAME
The Utah Runnin' Utes (15-9, 7-6) will travel to Washington for it final road trip of the 2017-18 regular season. The Utes will take on a pair of Pac-12 teams, first taking on the Washington Huskies this Thursday, Feb. 15. Tip-off between the Utes and Huskies is set for 6 p.m. PT at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.
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Utah will close out the road trip taking on the Washington Cougars this Saturday, Feb. 17, in Pullman, Wash. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PT at Beasley Coliseum.
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COVERING THE RUNNIN' UTES
Thursday's contest against the Huskies will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks. Darron Sutton will call the action and P.J. Carlesimo will be on-hand to offer color commentary for the broadcast.
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Fans can also follow the action on-line by logging onto Pac-12.com/live or watching via smart phones and tablets using the Pac-12 Now App, which can be downloaded at the Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon Apps Store.
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Additionally, the contest can be found on the Utah Sports Radio Network (ESPN 700). Bill Riley will provide play-by-play commentary, with the assistance of in-game analyst
Jimmy Soto.
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Live stats will be provided for the game with links found at www.UtahUtes.com.
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LAST TIME OUT
Utah finished off a sweep of the Bay Area schools, downing the California Golden Bears, 77-43, this past Saturday evening at the Huntsman Center.
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Utah led 19-12 with less than 10 minutes to play in the half before a 5-0 Cal run pulled the Bears back to within three-points, down 19-16. The Utes countered though, outscoring the Bears 21-6 over the final nine minutes of the period to take a 40-24 lead into halftime.
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Utah scored 16 of the first 23 points scored in the second and did not look back en route to the 34-point victory. Utah, who defeated Cal by almost the exact same score at home last season (77-44), has now defeated Cal by an average of 33.5 points in the last two meetings at the Huntsman Center.
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David Collette finished with a game-high 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting and
Justin Bibbins chipped in with 15 points for the Utes.
Sedrick Barefield notched his second-straight double-digit scoring effort, pouring in 13 points with a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range.
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Collette was 6-of-6 in the first half. He had made 12 straight field goals dating back to the Stanford game. His first miss came at the 19:45 mark of the second half. Â
Tyler Rawson tied a career-high, dishing out eight assists in the game.
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Utah totaled 24 assists as a team to Cal's seven assists. The Utes assisted on 24 of its 28 field goals on the evening. Utah matched its season-high with the 24-assist effort. Utah finished the contest knocking down 13 total three-pointers, which ranks tied for third most in a game this season. The Utes have now drained at least 10 three-pointers in 12 games this season. Utah also went onto register a season-high 54.9 shooting percentage. It is the highest single-game shooting percentage since totaling a 55.3 shooting percentage against Colorado back on Feb. 23, 2017.
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SCOUTING WASHINGTON
The Huskies are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since falling to Stanford and Utah earlier in the Pac-12 season. UW fell in road games to both Oregon (65-40) and Oregon State (97-94, 2OT) this past weekend, snapping a four-game winning streak.
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Despite the two losses over the weekend, UW is still tied for fourth-place in the Pac-12 standings with a conference record of 7-5. Washington is 17-8 overall on the season, which includes a 13-2 mark in games played at Alaska Airlines Arena. UW's only home losses came to Gonzaga (97-70) and Stanford (73-64). Since the loss to the Cardinal, UW has won three straight at home, which included top-25 wins over Arizona State (68-64) and Arizona (78-75).
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Jaylen Nowell leads a quartet of players averaging in double figures for the Huskies, with a 16.5 points per game average. Noah Dickerson follows with 15.5 points per game and has a team-best 8.4 rebounds per game average. Matisse Thybulle ranks first in the Pac-12 and third in the nation with 77 steals on the season. He has also tallied a team-high 37 blocked shots.
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UW shoots 46 percent from the field, 34.2 percent from three-point range and 68.8 percent from the charity stripe.
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SERIES HISTORY WITH THE HUSKIES
Utah has won five straight against Washington and leads the all-time series 14-9 overall. Since joining the Pac-12, Utah is 9-3 against the Huskies, which includes an 8-2 mark in the previous 10 meetings. Utah is just 4-6 all-time when facing the Huskies in Seattle, but the Utes have won two straight at Alaska Airlines Arena. Utah's last loss to UW was a 77-68 defeat in Seattle back on March 7, 2015.
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UP NEXT
The Utes will return home next week to close out the 2017-18 regular season with a three-game home stand. Utah will host the Los Angeles-based schools next week, first taking on UCLA next Thursday, Feb. 22. Tip-off between the Utes and Bruins is set for 7 p.m. MT at the Huntsman Center.
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