Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Nevada [Exh] on October 17, 2025
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Men's Basketball
vs Nevada [Exh]
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Sunday, February 18
Los Angeles, CA
5:00 PM
University of Utah
16-10,7-8Pac-12
70
at
69
UCLA
14-12,9-6Pac-12
1
2
F
Utah
34
36
70
UCLA
36
33
69
Team Stats
Utah
UCLA
FG%
.421
.397
3FG%
.321
.238
FT%
.722
.933
RB
36
37
TO
9
5
STL
4
2
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Carlson's Game Winner Lifts Utah Past UCLA Inside Pauley Pavilion
2/18/2024 9:23 PM | Men's Basketball
A put-back from Branden Carlson with .2 left on the clock gave Utah the 70-69 victory over UCLA inside Pauley.
LOS ANGELES – On a night where Branden Carlson had already added his name a couple more categories inside the Utah record book, the South Jordan native cemented his name into Runnin' Ute lore even more when the 7-footer secured the offensive board and put-back with .2 left on the clock to give Utah the 70-69 victory over UCLA inside Pauley Pavilion.
The win gave Utah its first in-season sweep of UCLA since Parker Van Dyke's gamer back in 2018-19. It also gave the Runnin' Utes their first road victory in Pac-12 play and snapped a 10-game skid that dated back to last season. Meanwhile, Utah also snapped the Bruins' six-game winning-streak – who had also won eight of their last nine since losing to the Utes in Salt Lake City.
Opening minutes of the half had a nice flow to the game for both teams with Carlson giving Utah (16-10, 7-8 Pac-12) the 8-5 lead out of the first media timeout (16:00). However, a shooting slump saw UCLA take advantage and reel off a 6-2 run to go up 11-10 with 12:27 left to go.
Another 5-2 run by the home team pushed their lead up to 16-12 before UCLA's Sebastian Mack was ejected from the game at the 9:53 mark for throwing his elbow towards Carlson's lower neck region trying to get through the screen. Gabe Madsen would hit the two ensuing free throws to get Utah within 16-14 before the senior knocked down two more on the next trip down to knot things up, 16-16, with 7:58 remaining in the half.
After the game had settled down, UCLA's head coach was assessed a technical, which Madsen managed to knock down 1-of-2 to bring Utah within 21-19 before a Utes timeout at 4:55 down 24-19. UCLA then went on another 5-0 spurt to push its lead to 26-19 before the Runnin' Utes answered with a 5-0 run of its own to get within 26-24 at the 3:10 break.
Utah got a couple huge 3-pointers from Hunter Ericksen and Carlson to tie things up at 34-34 before heading into the locker down 36-34.
The Runnin' Utes showed fight out of the break and took a 42-40 lead over the bad guys behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Madsen and Carlson heading into the first media break at 15:43. However, UCLA (14-12, 9-6 Pac-12) would regain that lead shortly after out of timeout backed by another shoot slump by the Utes, 51-46. However, a huge bucket from Keba Keita followed by a critical 3-pointer from Cole Bajema cut it down to 53-51 with 10:39 left on the Utah timeout. After another huge trey by Bajema to bring Utah within 57-55, Deivon Smith rattled off seven-straight to force a Bruin timeout with 2:37 to go and the game tied.
With the game tied at 64-64 after a nice turnaround from Keita, UCLA converted a 3-pointer out of its timeout. The Utes couldn't score on the offensive end but a hard drive to the rack from Smith saw the Utes trail just 67-66 with 41.1 to go after a defensive stop by the Utes.
Utah had a great look out of the timeout as Smith flipped it out to Keita deep in the paint for the 68-67 lead with 19.5 ticks left to play. The Utes had two fouls to give after the score to cut the time down to 13 seconds before UCLA's Dylan Andrews hit what would've been the game-winner with 6.6 to go from the far elbow.
Smith finished 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds for his fifth double-double this while Carlson had 17 points and 7 boards of his own. Bajema and Madsen each had 11 points with Bajema also pulling down 5 boards while Madsen went 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. Keita had a great stretch in the second half and finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting.
POSTGAME NOTES
Once the ball tipped on Sunday, Branden Carlson became the Utah all-time leader in games played with 135 career games passing Andre Miller (1995-99) and Drew Hansen (1994-98) … with his 17 points, Carlson also moves into the top-10 to tie Danny Vranes (1977-81) for eighth with 1,701 career points.
UP NEXT
Utah will get a few extra days back in SLC before closing out the three-game road swing against Colorado in Boulder next Saturday, Feb. 24. Ted Robinson and Pac-12 legend Bill Walton will have the call on Pac-12 Networks between the Runnin' Utes and Buffs inside the CU Events Center as Utah looks to complete the in-season sweep of Colorado for the first time since 2016-17.
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 Facebook, X and Instagram.
The win gave Utah its first in-season sweep of UCLA since Parker Van Dyke's gamer back in 2018-19. It also gave the Runnin' Utes their first road victory in Pac-12 play and snapped a 10-game skid that dated back to last season. Meanwhile, Utah also snapped the Bruins' six-game winning-streak – who had also won eight of their last nine since losing to the Utes in Salt Lake City.
Opening minutes of the half had a nice flow to the game for both teams with Carlson giving Utah (16-10, 7-8 Pac-12) the 8-5 lead out of the first media timeout (16:00). However, a shooting slump saw UCLA take advantage and reel off a 6-2 run to go up 11-10 with 12:27 left to go.
Another 5-2 run by the home team pushed their lead up to 16-12 before UCLA's Sebastian Mack was ejected from the game at the 9:53 mark for throwing his elbow towards Carlson's lower neck region trying to get through the screen. Gabe Madsen would hit the two ensuing free throws to get Utah within 16-14 before the senior knocked down two more on the next trip down to knot things up, 16-16, with 7:58 remaining in the half.
After the game had settled down, UCLA's head coach was assessed a technical, which Madsen managed to knock down 1-of-2 to bring Utah within 21-19 before a Utes timeout at 4:55 down 24-19. UCLA then went on another 5-0 spurt to push its lead to 26-19 before the Runnin' Utes answered with a 5-0 run of its own to get within 26-24 at the 3:10 break.
Utah got a couple huge 3-pointers from Hunter Ericksen and Carlson to tie things up at 34-34 before heading into the locker down 36-34.
The Runnin' Utes showed fight out of the break and took a 42-40 lead over the bad guys behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Madsen and Carlson heading into the first media break at 15:43. However, UCLA (14-12, 9-6 Pac-12) would regain that lead shortly after out of timeout backed by another shoot slump by the Utes, 51-46. However, a huge bucket from Keba Keita followed by a critical 3-pointer from Cole Bajema cut it down to 53-51 with 10:39 left on the Utah timeout. After another huge trey by Bajema to bring Utah within 57-55, Deivon Smith rattled off seven-straight to force a Bruin timeout with 2:37 to go and the game tied.
With the game tied at 64-64 after a nice turnaround from Keita, UCLA converted a 3-pointer out of its timeout. The Utes couldn't score on the offensive end but a hard drive to the rack from Smith saw the Utes trail just 67-66 with 41.1 to go after a defensive stop by the Utes.
Utah had a great look out of the timeout as Smith flipped it out to Keita deep in the paint for the 68-67 lead with 19.5 ticks left to play. The Utes had two fouls to give after the score to cut the time down to 13 seconds before UCLA's Dylan Andrews hit what would've been the game-winner with 6.6 to go from the far elbow.
Smith finished 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds for his fifth double-double this while Carlson had 17 points and 7 boards of his own. Bajema and Madsen each had 11 points with Bajema also pulling down 5 boards while Madsen went 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. Keita had a great stretch in the second half and finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting.
POSTGAME NOTES
Once the ball tipped on Sunday, Branden Carlson became the Utah all-time leader in games played with 135 career games passing Andre Miller (1995-99) and Drew Hansen (1994-98) … with his 17 points, Carlson also moves into the top-10 to tie Danny Vranes (1977-81) for eighth with 1,701 career points.
UP NEXT
Utah will get a few extra days back in SLC before closing out the three-game road swing against Colorado in Boulder next Saturday, Feb. 24. Ted Robinson and Pac-12 legend Bill Walton will have the call on Pac-12 Networks between the Runnin' Utes and Buffs inside the CU Events Center as Utah looks to complete the in-season sweep of Colorado for the first time since 2016-17.
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 Facebook, X and Instagram.
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