@UtahMBB Opens Homestand with Win Over UC Davis

Friday, November 29

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

5-2,0-0Pac-12

UC Davis

2-7,0-0Big West

Team	1	2	F
UC Davis	27	46	73
Utah	40	37	77

Photo by: Rob Gray

@UtahMBB Opens Homestand with Win Over UC Davis

11/29/2019 10:13 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Rylan Jones Postgame Interview

The Utah men’s basketball team opened its homestand with 77-73 win over UC Davis behind four players in double-figures.

SALT LAKE CITY – Team ball and a good night shooting from the floor saw the University of Utah men's basketball team open its homestand with a 77-73 victory over UC Davis Friday night in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

The Utah (5-2) offense got off to a great start and jumped out to an 11-2 lead, forcing UC Davis to call a timeout 2:41 minutes into the game. The Utes continued to find the bottom of the basket heading into the media timeout, hitting 6-of-6 from the floor for the 16-9 lead.

#Utes are 4/4 from 3FG so far..??????

?? 16 | ??09 #GoUtes???? pic.twitter.com/jZmk6kIgh7
— Utah Basketball?? (@UtahMBB) November 30, 2019

It wasn't until the 12:49 mark until UC Davis grabbed its first rebound due to Utah hitting seven of its first eight shots. The one time the Utes did miss before the Aggies' first rebound, Mikael Jantunen grabbed an offensive board and dumped it out to Rylan Jones – who buried the 3-pointer.

As well as the Utes were shooting, the Aggies were shooting just as well and trailed Utah by just 37-25 with 3:59 left in the first half. However, it was 3-point shooting for Utah that gave it the 40-27 edge heading into the locker room after connecting on 7-of-12 from downtown compared UCD's 3-of-6 from deep.

UC Davis (2-7) came out of the break focused on the offensive end of the floor, cutting the Utah lead down to 45-40 after Elijah Pepper and Joe Mooney combined for 13 points before Jones was able to knock down a triple to bring the lead back up to 48-40 at the 15:31 media break.

Mooney then got the Aggies within 48-43 out of the break when he hit all three free throws but the Runnin' Utes were able to push their lead back up to 60-47 on a triple from Riley Battin. However, UC Davis would not back down and trimmed the lead back down 66-62 with 2:29 remaining after Ezra Manjon hit 1-of-2 from the line.

All we see are threes. ??@battin_riley launches a triple for @UtahMBB to push the lead to 13.

Watch #Pac12Hoops live: https://t.co/K5RVEIvaqR pic.twitter.com/juagROFjl6
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 30, 2019

That Utah lead went back up to 70-62 after Timmy Allen drained a fade-away jumper and a pair of free throws the next possession down. From there, things went back-and-forth with Utah trading free throws with three's from UC Davis. However, time became UCD's biggest opponent before a pair of free throws from Jones put the game away, 77-73.

Solid through and through to earn the W. ??@rylanjones15 and @timmybuckets35 combined for 3??8?? points in @UtahMBB 77-73 win over UC Davis. #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/jJCQn3UnEq
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 30, 2019

Allen led the game with a quiet 20 points while Jones chipped in with a new season-high 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range to go with his five assists. Battin added 15 points and six rebounds of his own while Both Gach rounded things out as the fourth Ute in double-figures with 11 points and six assists.

BY THE NUMBERS
Utah opened the game perfect from the floor, hitting its first six shots … as a team, the 17 assists is the highest this season not counting the Mississippi Valley State game … Friday night was the fifth time in seven games where Utah has had four players reach double-figures in scoring … Allen has now scored 20-plus points in three games through seven contest, matching his season total of three last year … Jones has now dished out at least five assists in 5-of-7 games so far … Utah moves to 4-0 all-time against UC Davis with the win.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Larry Kyrstkowiak…

Opening statement…
"They're better than their record, they've got a nice combination of some shooters and their freshman point-guard is very good. The leading scorer on their team, their five-man, I thought we did a good job with double teams and turned him over, we kind of took him out of the game a little bit. That team is capable of doing some good things and they hit a rough patch, but we had a heck of a time defending the three-ball at times, and I thought we did a good job at sharing the ball and we did well at moving the basketball. We had some glimpses of playing together, I thought we started the game really well and finished the game really well. It was a good win for us."

On the starting line-up change…
"Well Carlson is hurt, he's got a knee issue. We're banged up. I don't think there is too many people in America that would have played, in talking about Rylan with his sprained ankle. On Wednesday, at the end of practice he went down. I never would have guessed that he would have played today, based on the injury, and that's the second time this season that he's taped it up. He's old school and he's tough as nails, and for him to have the floor game that he had with the injury that he sustained on Wednesday is pretty impressive. We've got to take advantage of the days off in the next couple days and get ready for BYU on Wednesday. Hopefully, we can find a little bit of balance and have a productive couple of practices, but also get our guys some much needed rest."

UP NEXT
The Utes remain at home, as it now prepares to play host to in-state rival BYU on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Ted Robinson will have the call between the Runnin' Utes and Cougars while Matt Muehlebach serves as the analyst in the Pac-12 Network broadcast.

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