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Thursday, February 14
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 PM
University of Utah
14-10, 8-4
83
vs
76
Arizona
14-11, 5-7
1
2
F
Arizona
32
44
76
Utah
31
52
83
Photo by: Steve C. Wilson
Van Dyke and Johnson Lead Utes Past Wildcats, 83-76
2/14/2019 10:29 PM | Men's Basketball
Utah defeats Arizona for first time since 2016
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah's Parker Van Dyke and Jayce Johnson both tallied new career-highs, while guiding the Utah Runnin' Utes past the Arizona Wildcats, 83-76, Thursday night at the Huntsman Center. Van Dyke scored 15 points in the first half on the way to a new career-high 23 points and Johnson scored all 17 of his points in the second half to notch a new career-high, as well.
Utah, who won for the third straight time, moved to 14-10 overall, while moving to 8-4 in the Pac-12 Conference standings. Arizona dropped its sixth-straight game, falling to 14-11 on the season and 5-7 in league play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Utah and Arizona would total seven ties and four lead changes in a first half that saw the Wildcats take a 32-31 lead into the locker room. Arizona would outscore the Utes 14-4 in the paint, but Utah countered with 21 points from downtown, while giving up just three three-pointers through the first 20 minutes.
Parker Van Dyke jump-started Utah's scoring with a three-pointer and later, would head into locker room leading all scorers with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting overall and a 5-of-5 effort from downtown. Ira Lee led the Wildcats with nine points at the break.
Both teams traded buckets over the course of the next eight and a half minutes before a pair of free throws from Van Dyke, with 11:35 to play, sparked an 18-2 run. Down 49-48, Van Dyke drained both free throws and later hit a three-pointer, while Johnson followed with back-to-back buckets to push the Ute lead to 57-59. Arizona scored on the next bucket, but Van Dyke hit another three-pointer at the other end of the court – his seventh three-pointer of the game – and Johnson capped off the run with a dunk.
Utah led by as many as 16 points with a little over six minutes to play and Arizona was forced to foul down the stretch. The Utes would close out the final six minutes of the game going 12-of-14 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Parker Van Dyke scored a career-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting overall and 7-of-10 from three-point range. He was a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. Jayce Johnson set a new career-high scoring all 17 of his points in the second half. He was 8-of-10 from the field overall. He notched 10 boards for his third double-double in the past five games.
UP NEXT
Utah wraps up its two-game home stand this week hosting Arizona State, this Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off between the Utes and Sun Devils is set for 8 p.m. MT at the Huntsman Center.
GAME NOTES
- Utah moved to 30-34 all-time when facing Arizona, but it was just the second win over the Wildcats since Utah became a member of the Pac-12 in 2011-12. This is Utah's first victory over Arizona since Feb. 27, 2016, in Salt Lake City.
- Parker Van Dyke finished the game with seven three-pointers made, just one shy of the school's all-time mark in a single game. He is now tied for second-place with Justin Bibbins (2017), Johnnie Bryant (2006), Nick Jacobson (2004), Phil Cullen (2002) and Phil Dixon (1990).
- Van Dyke set a new career-high with his 23 points on the night, surpassing his previous mark of 20 points that he totaled against Florida A&M (12/17/18) earlier this season.
- Jayce Johnson finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and the third in his past five games. Johnson has now totaled double-digit rebounding efforts in five straight games and six of the past seven.
- Sedrick Barefield finished the game with 15 points. He now has 989 career points, just 11 points shy from becoming the 39th player in Runnin' Utes history to record 1,000 points in a season at Utah.
- Utah registered just 10 turnovers in the game, marking the first time the Utes have totaled 10 turnovers or less since giving up just seven turnovers against Northern Arizona back on Dec. 21, 2018.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak
On beating Arizona …
"They have had our number. We have had a lot of close games. We had a really good stretch from the 12-minute media timeout until the 8-minute media timeout. The guys were really making some plays defensively and then we ran. I thought maybe the elevation could have kicked into gear. We talked about it being a heavyweight fight and it seemed like both teams were a little bit sluggish. This is that time of year where it is kind of the survival of the fittest deal and just talked about staying in the fight. I thought some of their shots started to come up short, we rebounded them, got out in transition, and we had a number of guys that played really well."
On Parker's carryover from the UCLA game …
"I was asked that question a lot this week, how do you think we are going to respond, and offensively we struggled a little bit trying to find our niche. Arizona is one of the best defensive teams in the league and I know they have been struggling right now, but Sean does a really good job and you don't get easy baskets against them and so it was slugging rats a little bit. Parker, 7-for-10 from three, he's obviously in a nice place right now. I thought our guys did a nice job of finding him. For us to have 16 assists and 10 turnovers, that's the number that we are talking about. You guys have witnessed some of our turnover issues and that was one of the big keys and guys were a little more solid and slowed down. I'm real happy for Parker."
On Jayce's career night …
"Jayce has been playing very well. I think Jayce is one rebound away from having maybe four straight double-doubles, or four out of five double-doubles. He is logging a lot of minutes, conditioning through some injuries has always been a little bit of an issue. He had a foot, an Achilles, an ankle last year, so we have never really seen the best of him. I think he is a great rim protector and obviously a really solid rebounder. He's undoubtedly our best rebounder and did a nice job on Jeter. He got an early foul and that gets a little problematic. He's slowing down offensively and I think you see it. Maybe in years past he has been a little bit sped up and confidence is a big thing. Whether its Parker or Jayce, when guys start feeling good that is a big part of the game of basketball and I think those guys are both in a good place."
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
On how he admires Utah's program …
"I thought Utah did a great job and they have a tremendous program. One of the things that I really admire about their program is their recruiting. They get guys that often times aren't five stars getting out of high school, but they sure look like five star players in college. They also develop their players, you know, guys that are maybe quiet as freshman, role players as their careers move on at Utah, they seem to be more confident and more productive and the ability to develop players to recruit to Larry's system is something I really admire about their program and they have an excellent team right now. I think they are hitting on all cylinders and often times we are judged during November and December by who you beat and Utah is one of those teams in college basketball who are better now than they were then. They have a senior backcourt and Parker Van Dyke was tremendous. At the half, I think the rest of their team had five field goals but he carried them. Then in the second half Jayce Johnson was obviously too much for us and I think at one point they were 15-19 from the field and that's tough to compete against, so we are moving on."
On if they could've defended Van Dyke better …
"I mean you always feel that way and if you are an excellent defensive team, what you are able to do is quiet a guy like him where he can get going to a period of time, but then all of a sudden he kind of goes away. Right now, with who we are defensively, the players on the other team that hurt other teams, generally hurt our team and tonight was another example of that."
On what he can do mentally to help his team after losing 6 straight …
"You know we don't want to lose our seventh in a row, but it is a possibility. I think for us it is controlling the things that we can control. We had a couple good days of practice on the heels of last week and I thought we came into the game ready to go. That was evidence by I would say about 28 maybe 30 minutes of the game and that other 10-minute segment, we were overwhelmed by Utah's execution, shooting, and physicality. I thought they were the bigger, stronger team, and that really showed as the game wore on."
Utah, who won for the third straight time, moved to 14-10 overall, while moving to 8-4 in the Pac-12 Conference standings. Arizona dropped its sixth-straight game, falling to 14-11 on the season and 5-7 in league play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Utah and Arizona would total seven ties and four lead changes in a first half that saw the Wildcats take a 32-31 lead into the locker room. Arizona would outscore the Utes 14-4 in the paint, but Utah countered with 21 points from downtown, while giving up just three three-pointers through the first 20 minutes.
Parker Van Dyke jump-started Utah's scoring with a three-pointer and later, would head into locker room leading all scorers with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting overall and a 5-of-5 effort from downtown. Ira Lee led the Wildcats with nine points at the break.
Both teams traded buckets over the course of the next eight and a half minutes before a pair of free throws from Van Dyke, with 11:35 to play, sparked an 18-2 run. Down 49-48, Van Dyke drained both free throws and later hit a three-pointer, while Johnson followed with back-to-back buckets to push the Ute lead to 57-59. Arizona scored on the next bucket, but Van Dyke hit another three-pointer at the other end of the court – his seventh three-pointer of the game – and Johnson capped off the run with a dunk.
Utah led by as many as 16 points with a little over six minutes to play and Arizona was forced to foul down the stretch. The Utes would close out the final six minutes of the game going 12-of-14 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Parker Van Dyke scored a career-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting overall and 7-of-10 from three-point range. He was a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. Jayce Johnson set a new career-high scoring all 17 of his points in the second half. He was 8-of-10 from the field overall. He notched 10 boards for his third double-double in the past five games.
UP NEXT
Utah wraps up its two-game home stand this week hosting Arizona State, this Saturday, Feb. 16. Tip-off between the Utes and Sun Devils is set for 8 p.m. MT at the Huntsman Center.
GAME NOTES
- Utah moved to 30-34 all-time when facing Arizona, but it was just the second win over the Wildcats since Utah became a member of the Pac-12 in 2011-12. This is Utah's first victory over Arizona since Feb. 27, 2016, in Salt Lake City.
- Parker Van Dyke finished the game with seven three-pointers made, just one shy of the school's all-time mark in a single game. He is now tied for second-place with Justin Bibbins (2017), Johnnie Bryant (2006), Nick Jacobson (2004), Phil Cullen (2002) and Phil Dixon (1990).
- Van Dyke set a new career-high with his 23 points on the night, surpassing his previous mark of 20 points that he totaled against Florida A&M (12/17/18) earlier this season.
- Jayce Johnson finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and the third in his past five games. Johnson has now totaled double-digit rebounding efforts in five straight games and six of the past seven.
- Sedrick Barefield finished the game with 15 points. He now has 989 career points, just 11 points shy from becoming the 39th player in Runnin' Utes history to record 1,000 points in a season at Utah.
- Utah registered just 10 turnovers in the game, marking the first time the Utes have totaled 10 turnovers or less since giving up just seven turnovers against Northern Arizona back on Dec. 21, 2018.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak
On beating Arizona …
"They have had our number. We have had a lot of close games. We had a really good stretch from the 12-minute media timeout until the 8-minute media timeout. The guys were really making some plays defensively and then we ran. I thought maybe the elevation could have kicked into gear. We talked about it being a heavyweight fight and it seemed like both teams were a little bit sluggish. This is that time of year where it is kind of the survival of the fittest deal and just talked about staying in the fight. I thought some of their shots started to come up short, we rebounded them, got out in transition, and we had a number of guys that played really well."
On Parker's carryover from the UCLA game …
"I was asked that question a lot this week, how do you think we are going to respond, and offensively we struggled a little bit trying to find our niche. Arizona is one of the best defensive teams in the league and I know they have been struggling right now, but Sean does a really good job and you don't get easy baskets against them and so it was slugging rats a little bit. Parker, 7-for-10 from three, he's obviously in a nice place right now. I thought our guys did a nice job of finding him. For us to have 16 assists and 10 turnovers, that's the number that we are talking about. You guys have witnessed some of our turnover issues and that was one of the big keys and guys were a little more solid and slowed down. I'm real happy for Parker."
On Jayce's career night …
"Jayce has been playing very well. I think Jayce is one rebound away from having maybe four straight double-doubles, or four out of five double-doubles. He is logging a lot of minutes, conditioning through some injuries has always been a little bit of an issue. He had a foot, an Achilles, an ankle last year, so we have never really seen the best of him. I think he is a great rim protector and obviously a really solid rebounder. He's undoubtedly our best rebounder and did a nice job on Jeter. He got an early foul and that gets a little problematic. He's slowing down offensively and I think you see it. Maybe in years past he has been a little bit sped up and confidence is a big thing. Whether its Parker or Jayce, when guys start feeling good that is a big part of the game of basketball and I think those guys are both in a good place."
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
On how he admires Utah's program …
"I thought Utah did a great job and they have a tremendous program. One of the things that I really admire about their program is their recruiting. They get guys that often times aren't five stars getting out of high school, but they sure look like five star players in college. They also develop their players, you know, guys that are maybe quiet as freshman, role players as their careers move on at Utah, they seem to be more confident and more productive and the ability to develop players to recruit to Larry's system is something I really admire about their program and they have an excellent team right now. I think they are hitting on all cylinders and often times we are judged during November and December by who you beat and Utah is one of those teams in college basketball who are better now than they were then. They have a senior backcourt and Parker Van Dyke was tremendous. At the half, I think the rest of their team had five field goals but he carried them. Then in the second half Jayce Johnson was obviously too much for us and I think at one point they were 15-19 from the field and that's tough to compete against, so we are moving on."
On if they could've defended Van Dyke better …
"I mean you always feel that way and if you are an excellent defensive team, what you are able to do is quiet a guy like him where he can get going to a period of time, but then all of a sudden he kind of goes away. Right now, with who we are defensively, the players on the other team that hurt other teams, generally hurt our team and tonight was another example of that."
On what he can do mentally to help his team after losing 6 straight …
"You know we don't want to lose our seventh in a row, but it is a possibility. I think for us it is controlling the things that we can control. We had a couple good days of practice on the heels of last week and I thought we came into the game ready to go. That was evidence by I would say about 28 maybe 30 minutes of the game and that other 10-minute segment, we were overwhelmed by Utah's execution, shooting, and physicality. I thought they were the bigger, stronger team, and that really showed as the game wore on."
Team Stats
ARIZ
UTAH
FG%
.452
.500
3FG%
.333
.417
FT%
.667
.750
RB
35
33
TO
7
10
STL
5
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
7
3FGM
7
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF/C
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