Utah Snaps Four-Game Losing Streak With Big Win Over Stanford

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Utes men’s basketball team snapped their four-game losing streak with a 79-65 win over the Stanford Cardinal.

Utah picked up their last win before Thursday afternoon over Stanford on December 19 against Idaho. They lost to UCLA, USC, Oregon and Colorado.

In the afternoon clash against Stanford, Timmy Allen led the way with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, while shooting 6-of-15 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free throw line. Alfonso Plummer dropped 16 points off the bench, knocking three three-pointers. Branden Carlson chipped in 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks.

For Stanford, Daejon Davis dropped 19 points and 5 boards. True freshman Ziaire Williams added 17 points. The whistle was blown quite a bit as 50 fouls were called. Stanford had three guys that fouled out of the game.

FINAL@UtahMBB snapped a four-game losing streak.#GoUtes #Pac12Hoops

📸: @utahathletics pic.twitter.com/9KxueiNzrp

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 15, 2021

Utah Starts Strong In First Half Against Stanford

The Utes didn’t start the same way they did against Colorado or Oregon but they were able to get a small run midway through the first half. The Runnin’ Utes’ defense was strong in the first half as they held Stanford to 28 percent field goal shooting.

The Cardinal also had a couple of scoring droughts in the first 20 minutes that lasted over three minutes each.

Utah took a nine-point lead into the locker room.

Utes WIN! 😄 #GoUtes🏀🔴 pic.twitter.com/NSSrXgOua0

— Utah Basketball🏀 (w/ 😷) (@UtahMBB) January 15, 2021

Utah Closes Strong In Second Half To Pick Up Win

Head coach Larry Krystkowiak said after the game that he changed up halftime a little bit as the coaches made their adjustments. Rather than coming out with a couple of minutes left in the halftime break to warm up, the Utah coaching staff made their adjustments and sent the players out with 6 minutes left in the break to start warming up.

That seemed to work as the Utes came out playing much better in the first 8 minutes of the second half compared to the previous two games. The problem in the Oregon game was too many turnovers in the second half. Utah committed 8 turnovers while Stanford had 6. The Utes scored 10 points off of turnovers and the Cardinal had 9 points.

Their problem in the second half against Colorado was being dominated on the boards. Against Stanford, Utah outrebounded the Cardinal 17-11.

Utah made it a collective effort to improve on the glass and despite Stanford’s size, they were able to do that.

.@timmybuckets35 finds @mikaeljantunen for the bucket and foul!! 😤

📺 ESPN2#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/LKRDon9vWJ

— Utah Basketball🏀 (w/ 😷) (@UtahMBB) January 14, 2021

The Utes improved to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play. They will close out their 4-game homestand on Saturday, January 16 against the California Golden Bears. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.