Runnin' Utes Entertain Golden Gophers Friday Night

Friday, November 15

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Minnesota

Runnin' Utes Entertain Golden Gophers Friday Night

11/13/2019 2:09 PM | Men's Basketball

Utah Game Notes Minnesota Game Notes Pac-12 Weekly Notes Big Ten Weekly Notes

The Utah men’s basketball plays host to Minnesota on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

OPENING TIP
The University of Utah men's basketball team entertains Big Ten foe Minnesota this Friday, Nov. 15, for a 7 p.m. contest inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Meme Night. Krista Blunk will have the call on the Pac-12 Networks broadcast while Matt Muehlebach serves as the analyst.

GAME DAY PROMOTIONS
The first 500 fans in attendance for Meme Night will get a Swoop Spiderman meme poster while the first 200 students get a Swoop Spiderman meme t-shirt. In addition, the first 300 students in attendance will also get free pizza!

Meme Night This Friday... pic.twitter.com/oa2ImaOZVp
— Utah Utes Marketing (@UtesMarketing) November 13, 2019

SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
Sitting at 1-2, Minnesota comes to Salt Lake City on a two-game skid in the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign after falling to Oklahoma (71-62) in a neutral site game and at Butler this past Tuesday, 64-56. As a team, Minnesota is 15th in the country in blocks, with 18 so far on the year.

Taking the season-opener out of the equation, Minnesota has struggled in the second-half against its last two opponents and has been outscored 80-60.

The Gophers are paced by sophomore Daniel Oturu, who is averaging 18.3 points and 9.7 rebounds through three games with a .697 shooting clip. The 6-10 big man is tied for fourth in the NCAA through games on Nov. 12, with two double-doubles while his 11 blocks checks in at No. 6 in the country.

Redshirt junior Payton Willis is second on the team in scoring with 15.0 points per game while redshirt sophomore Marcus Carr rounds out the double-digit scorers for Minnesota, averaging 14.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists. Willis' 10 shots from downtown is tied for 24th in the NCAA so far. Carr, the team's floor general standing at 6-2, is ninth in the country with 21 assists on the year

ON THE RADAR
After a 2-0 start to the season that included wins on the road against Nevada and 143-49 throttling of Mississippi Valley State, Utah received 14 votes in the latest Associate Press poll released on Monday, Nov. 11.

In addition, the Pac-12 had four teams ranked in the AP Top-25 after going a combined 17-0 against non-conference opponents to start the season. Oregon was the highest ranked team in the league at No. 14 while Arizona (No. 19), Washington (No. 20) and Colorado (No. 25) rounded out the list of Pac-12 teams ranked in the AP Top-25.

LAST TIME OUT
The Utes had a record-setting night in their last game against Mississippi Valley State at home. With its offense clicking on all cylinders, Utah defeated the Delta Devils 143-49 and set the new NCAA record or largest margin of victory with its 94-point victory, breaking a record held by Tulsa back on Dec. 7, 1995, when it defeated Prairie View A&M 141-50.

In addition, 143 points in a game broke a 59-year old program record while the 73 points in the second half also broke the record for most points in a half. Both records were set against Evansville back on Dec. 7, 1960.

Speaking of offense, sophomore Both Gach (12pts, 10rebs, 10asts) and freshman Rylan Jones (10pts, 10rebs, 11asts) each recorded a triple-double – which is the first of its kind dating back to the 1996-97 season when those stats were kept per STATS. The triple-double was the first in Ute history since current Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen did it for Utah against Fresno State on Jan. 25, 1999. Jones also became the second freshman ever in Pac-12 history to record a triple-double since Jelani McCoy did it against Maryland on Dec. 9, 1995.

Per @StatsBySTATS, no team has had 2??players record a triple-double in a game dating back to the 1996-97 season. #GoUtes???? pic.twitter.com/6R2goU9k6K
— Utah Basketball?? (@UtahMBB) November 9, 2019

Sophomore Timmy Allen led all scorers with 26 points while eight other Utes reached double-figures in the blowout victory. The Utes assists on 41 of the team's 57 made field-goals, which is also nearly double the amount of field-goals made by MVSU. Both 41 assists and 57 made field-goals were new single-game records for Utah while the 17 shots made from beyond the arc tied the program record.

RECORDS FALL
With last Friday's record night, here is a list of some notes from the 143-49 win over Mississippi Valley State…

The 57 made field goals was just the 11th time a team has made 55-plus in a game since the 2010-11 season and first between Division I programs since Butler made 56 against Citadel (11/14/15).
Also a new program record
The 41 assists were a new program record, besting the 37 assists set back on Dec. 19. 1985.
The 68 rebounds are the most in a single-game since hauling in 68 against St. Katherine (12/28/13).
The 63.3-percent shooting was the most since the Utes shot 60-percent at Washington (1/27/17).
The 70 points in the first half was actually then the second-most points in a half before moving to third when Utah broke the record with 73 in the second half.
The 34 triples attempted is tied for fourth in program history, last occurring at San Diego State (1/16/99).
Rylan Jones' 11 assists and Both Gach's 10 assists was the first time a Ute had dished out 10-plus dimes since Brandon Taylor had 10 at USC (2/21/16)

The Utah Utes had 2 players with triple-doubles tonight, the 1st time a D-I team has done that in a game over the last 20 seasons.

The Utah Jazz have gone 923 games without a triple-double, the longest such streak since rebounds were first recorded (1950-51). @EliasSports
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 9, 2019

UP NEXT
The Utes head off to South Carolina for the Myrtle Beach Invitational (Nov. 21-24) where they'll open up against host Coastal Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 21, at 5 p.m. (MT) with Rich Hollenberg on the call and Fran Fraschilla serving as the analyst on ESPNews. Utah will then play either #24 Baylor or Ohio the following day on ESPNU or ESPNews.

LOOKING AHEAD
After the week in South Carolina, the Utes return home to the friendly confines of the Jon M. Huntsman Center where it'll play host to a trio of games beginning with UC Davis on Friday, Nov. 29, followed by a battle against in-state rival BYU on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and wrapped up with Central Arkansas on Saturday, Dec. 7.

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