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Sunday, February 23
Salt Lake City, UT
4:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
USC
Runnin' Utes Conclude Weekend Hosting Trojans Sunday Afternoon
2/21/2020 3:50 PM | Men's Basketball
The Utah men’s basketball team closes out the weekend hosting the USC Trojans on Sunday at 4 p.m. (MT).
OPENING TIP
The University of Utah men's basketball team concludes the weekend homestand with a 4 p.m. (MT) battle against the visiting USC Trojans this Sunday, Feb. 23, inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Eric Rothman has the call between the Utes and Trojans in their second meeting this season while former head coach Ben Braun serves as the analyst on ESPNU.
#VIVALASVEGAS
With the Pac-12 Tournament (March 11-14) on deck and just three week's out, the Utes are sitting in 10th right now in the league standings but still have an opportunity to move up to the middle of the pack. Since joining the league in 2011-12, Utah is 6-8 all-time in the conference tournament, 6-7 since it was moved to Las Vegas and 0-3 when playing inside T-Mobile Arena the last three seasons.
Utah has won its opening game of the Pac-12 Tournament 4-of-8 times with two of those instances occurring in the second round after earning a bye on the first day of action. Unfortunately, the Utes have been eliminated by Oregon in five of the last eight tournaments, including the 2016 Pac-12 Tournament Championship game.
Since the current configuration, Colorado (2012) and Oregon (2019) are the only teams to have won the tournament that weren't a top-3 seed. The top-seed has won three times (2015, 2016, 2018) while the No. 2 has won twice (2014, 2017) and the No. 3 seed taking the crown once (2013).
Below is Utah's record in the Pac-12 Tournament sorted by seed…
No. 2: 2-1
No. 3: 1-3
No. 4: 0-1
No. 8: 1-1
No. 10 2-1
No. 11: 0-1
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Utah will look to salvage the weekend with a split against the LA schools at home and avoid a four-game sweep against the LA schools for the first time in program history when it takes the floor Sunday. The Utes have only been swept by USC and UCLA in their first two years in the league, but only played each team once those two seasons.
The Trojans enter Sunday's match-up 19-8 on the season and 8-6 in league play after their near upset of No. 18/17 Colorado in Boulder. USC trailed by as much as 12 in the second half, in two separate instances, before a dunk from Onyeka Okongwu cut it down to 67-66 before falling 70-66 to the Buffs.
Despite going 2-3 in their last five games, five different Trojans are averaging in double-figures during that stretch with Okongwu leading the way with 16.3 points per game and 6.3 rebounds with an impressive .704 shooting clip. Daniel Utomi is not far behind, averaging 15.4 points and 5.0 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jonah Mathews is averaging 13.6 points with a team-high 11 steals in those five games. Lastly, but not least, is Nick Rakocevic, who is nearly averaging a double-double the last five games with 13.0 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game to go with a .500 shooting clip.
Through 27 games, Okongwu's 16.6 points per game, 8.8 rebounds and .617 shooting paces the team to go along with his 70 blocks. Mathews is second on the team in scoring and averages 13.0 points and 2.3 rebounds thanks to his team-high 59 made 3-pointers. Rakocevic rounds out the double-digit scorers on the year, averaging 11.3 points and ties Okongwu for the team-lead in rebounds averaging 8.8 boards per game. Ethan Anderson is the team's floor general and averaging 5.6 points 2.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
LAST TIME OUT
A late rally by the Utah men's basketball team Thursday night fell short as it dropped a 69-58 decision at home to the UCLA Bruins – handing the Utes just their second loss at home this season. Despite bringing the deficit down to single-digits nearing halftime, an offensive rebound by UCLA that led to a three saw the Utes trail 33-21 at the half – which was too much to overcome.
Alfonso Plummer nearly matched his season-high of 18 points Thursday night, posting 16 points on 3-of-6 from 3-point range in just 17:11 minutes of action. Meanwhile Timmy Allen added 11 points and seven rebounds, but was just 4-of-12 from the field while Branden Carlson chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Carlson only saw 12:31 minutes of action due to foul trouble and left the game after picking up his fifth with 4:42 remaining. Mikael Jantunen saw a lot of the floor with Carlson in foul trouble, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and 2-of-3 from the line with three steals.
UP NEXT
Utah hits the road for the final time in the regular-season as it travels to Stanford (Feb. 26) for an 8 p.m. (MT) tip-off at Maples Pavilion before facing off against Cal (Feb. 29) at 4 p.m. (MT) inside Haas Pavilion. Both games scheduled to air on Pac-12 Network.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Utes head home after their trip to the Bay Area to conclude the regular-season with Colorado on Saturday, March 7, at 12:30 p.m. (MT) inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center to honor lone senior Marc Reininger. Utah will then get a short turnaround as it prepares for the Pac-12 Tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday, March 11, in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
The University of Utah men's basketball team concludes the weekend homestand with a 4 p.m. (MT) battle against the visiting USC Trojans this Sunday, Feb. 23, inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Eric Rothman has the call between the Utes and Trojans in their second meeting this season while former head coach Ben Braun serves as the analyst on ESPNU.
#VIVALASVEGAS
With the Pac-12 Tournament (March 11-14) on deck and just three week's out, the Utes are sitting in 10th right now in the league standings but still have an opportunity to move up to the middle of the pack. Since joining the league in 2011-12, Utah is 6-8 all-time in the conference tournament, 6-7 since it was moved to Las Vegas and 0-3 when playing inside T-Mobile Arena the last three seasons.
Utah has won its opening game of the Pac-12 Tournament 4-of-8 times with two of those instances occurring in the second round after earning a bye on the first day of action. Unfortunately, the Utes have been eliminated by Oregon in five of the last eight tournaments, including the 2016 Pac-12 Tournament Championship game.
Since the current configuration, Colorado (2012) and Oregon (2019) are the only teams to have won the tournament that weren't a top-3 seed. The top-seed has won three times (2015, 2016, 2018) while the No. 2 has won twice (2014, 2017) and the No. 3 seed taking the crown once (2013).
Below is Utah's record in the Pac-12 Tournament sorted by seed…
No. 2: 2-1
No. 3: 1-3
No. 4: 0-1
No. 8: 1-1
No. 10 2-1
No. 11: 0-1
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Utah will look to salvage the weekend with a split against the LA schools at home and avoid a four-game sweep against the LA schools for the first time in program history when it takes the floor Sunday. The Utes have only been swept by USC and UCLA in their first two years in the league, but only played each team once those two seasons.
The Trojans enter Sunday's match-up 19-8 on the season and 8-6 in league play after their near upset of No. 18/17 Colorado in Boulder. USC trailed by as much as 12 in the second half, in two separate instances, before a dunk from Onyeka Okongwu cut it down to 67-66 before falling 70-66 to the Buffs.
Despite going 2-3 in their last five games, five different Trojans are averaging in double-figures during that stretch with Okongwu leading the way with 16.3 points per game and 6.3 rebounds with an impressive .704 shooting clip. Daniel Utomi is not far behind, averaging 15.4 points and 5.0 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jonah Mathews is averaging 13.6 points with a team-high 11 steals in those five games. Lastly, but not least, is Nick Rakocevic, who is nearly averaging a double-double the last five games with 13.0 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game to go with a .500 shooting clip.
Through 27 games, Okongwu's 16.6 points per game, 8.8 rebounds and .617 shooting paces the team to go along with his 70 blocks. Mathews is second on the team in scoring and averages 13.0 points and 2.3 rebounds thanks to his team-high 59 made 3-pointers. Rakocevic rounds out the double-digit scorers on the year, averaging 11.3 points and ties Okongwu for the team-lead in rebounds averaging 8.8 boards per game. Ethan Anderson is the team's floor general and averaging 5.6 points 2.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
LAST TIME OUT
A late rally by the Utah men's basketball team Thursday night fell short as it dropped a 69-58 decision at home to the UCLA Bruins – handing the Utes just their second loss at home this season. Despite bringing the deficit down to single-digits nearing halftime, an offensive rebound by UCLA that led to a three saw the Utes trail 33-21 at the half – which was too much to overcome.
Alfonso Plummer nearly matched his season-high of 18 points Thursday night, posting 16 points on 3-of-6 from 3-point range in just 17:11 minutes of action. Meanwhile Timmy Allen added 11 points and seven rebounds, but was just 4-of-12 from the field while Branden Carlson chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Carlson only saw 12:31 minutes of action due to foul trouble and left the game after picking up his fifth with 4:42 remaining. Mikael Jantunen saw a lot of the floor with Carlson in foul trouble, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and 2-of-3 from the line with three steals.
UP NEXT
Utah hits the road for the final time in the regular-season as it travels to Stanford (Feb. 26) for an 8 p.m. (MT) tip-off at Maples Pavilion before facing off against Cal (Feb. 29) at 4 p.m. (MT) inside Haas Pavilion. Both games scheduled to air on Pac-12 Network.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Utes head home after their trip to the Bay Area to conclude the regular-season with Colorado on Saturday, March 7, at 12:30 p.m. (MT) inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center to honor lone senior Marc Reininger. Utah will then get a short turnaround as it prepares for the Pac-12 Tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday, March 11, in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
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Players Mentioned
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