BOULDER, Colo. – Despite a late rally by the Utah men's basketball team, it couldn't make enough stops on Saturday in its loss to Colorado 69-60 inside the CU Events Center.
After a back-and-forth between the two teams to start the game, Colorado got hot from down range and drained three-straight 3-pointers to go up 15-7 – forced a Utah timeout with 11:25 left in the first half.
Rollie Worster answered for the Utes out of the break, first knocking down a three before cleaning up a blocked shot for the put-back to bring Utah within 15-12 of the buffs at the 7:48 media break.
Turnovers hurt the Utes (17-14, 10-10 Pac-12) down the stretch to end the half with Utah only hitting 3-of-9 from the field out of that 7:48 media break before heading into the locker room down 33-21. The biggest difference in the first half was the 10-0 edge in fast-break points for the Buffs and the 16-8 edge they had over the Utes in points in the paint.
It took a minute, but
Gabe Madsen found his rhythm in the second half and knocked down back-to-back triples to force a Colorado timeout with 14:38 on the clock. The sharpshooter answered the heat check on Utah's first possession out of the break and drained his third-straight to get Utah within 44-36.
Utah battled the Buffs (16-15, 8-12 Pac-12) until to the very end, cutting the lead down to single-digits (66-60) with 21.9 ticks left to play after
Lazar Stefanovic hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game but time wasn't on its side.
Worster led the Utes on the scoring column his first game back with 15 points and four rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting.
Branden Carlson finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double while Stefanovic added a dozen points of his own.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah had its two starters return to the line-up with
Rollie Worster making his first start after missing the last two games while
Gabe Madsen came off the bench at the 16:17 mark in the first half … Worster picked up his first points in hi return to injury at the 14:16 mark in the first half … Carlson's double-double marked his fifth of the season and 11th of his career … Carlson has now reached double-digits in scoring in 21-straight games.
UP NEXT
With the loss Utah will enter the Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 7 seed and will face the No. 10 seed Stanford next Wednesday, March 8. Ted Robinson will have the call alongside Bill Walton as the Utes take on the Cardinal at 7 p.m. (MT) / 6 p.m. (PT) local on Pac-12 Networks inside T-Mobile Arena.
For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at
www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on
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