Men's Basketball Battles West Virginia Tough in Road Loss

Saturday, February 8

Morgantown, WV / WVU Coliseum

3:00 PM

University of Utah

13-10,5-7Big 12

West Virginia

15-8,6-6Big 12

Utah

West Virginia

Men's Basketball Battles West Virginia Tough in Road Loss

2/8/2025 5:35 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Postgame Presser

Keanu Dawes led the Utes off the bench with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the road loss to West Virginia.

MORGANTOWN, W.V. – The Utah men's basketball team fought to the very end in Morgantown on Saturday, but couldn't string enough stops together in its 71-62 loss to West Virginia inside a sold out WVU Coliseum.

First-half action was filled with runs, starting with Utah's 6-0 spurt to open the game before West Virginia answered with a 15-4 run of its own to lead 15-10 at the 11:28 media break. The Utes came right back with a short 6-0 run of its own to regain the 16-15 lead.

Three more lead changes occurred, for a total of seven in the first frame, before the Mountaineers took advantage of a dry spell from the Utes (1-for-10) in the final 7:00 minutes of action to send Utah (13-10, 5-7 Big 12) into the breakdown 36-27.

Despite hitting 6-of-10 from the floor after 8:03 had elapsed in the second frame, Utah still trailed West Virginia 53-41 with 11:57 left to go. Keanu Dawes gave the Runnin' Utes a nice little spurt all by himself when he swished a corner three and followed up with a steal on defense that led to an easy jam for the sophomore to bring Utah within 53-46 at the 10:16 mark.

A hard drive to the rack from Dawes with 8:30 on the clock then made it a two-possession game ahead of the 7:54 media timeout with the Utes trailing 56-50. However, every time the Runnin' Utes managed to bring the lead back down to two-possession, WVU (15-8, 6-6 Big 12) would answer and push it back up to a double-digit lead.

Down 64-54 with 4:01 left to play, Jake Wahlin went on a quick 5-0 spurt of his own when he scored out of the timeout and then followed up with a 3-pointer on the next possession to bring Utah within 64-59. However, WVU once again answered to extend its lead back up to 69-59 with 1:50 remaining on the clock before closing the game out.

Dawes finished with a team-high 14 points off the bench with 11 boards for his second double-double of the season on 4-of-7 shooting with a pair of threes and 4-for-7 from the line. Wahlin was the other Ute in double-figures with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with a pair of triples of his own as well.

POSTGAME NOTES

Utah assistant coach Josh Eilert was welcomed with a standing ovation during introductions in his first game back in Morgantown after being on staff the last 17 years
Utah moves to 6-1 all-time against West Virginia and 0-1 in Morgantown after Saturday's loss
Despite its troubles at the line, Utah was 7-for-7 from the line in the first half
Turnovers hurt Utah once again in the first half with WVU converting all 6 turnovers into a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers – which accounted for a third of its scoring
WVU finished the game with a 16-6 edge in points off turnovers off only 10 Utah turnovers

UP NEXT
Utah stays on the road and heads over to Cincinnati for a Tuesday (Feb. 11) night game inside Fifth Third Arena. Eric Roth and Tim Welsh will once again have the call on ESPN+ starting at 5 p.m. (MST) as Utah looks to pick up its first win on the road against the Bearcats and notch its first in-season sweep of a Big 12 foe.

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. Fans can also stay connected on their mobile devices or tablets with the Utah 360, the official app of Utah Athletics, through the Apple Store or Google Play.

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