Utah Basketball Falls To California After Second Half Collapse

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – After holding another halftime lead, Utah basketball collapsed in the second half and suffered a disappointing 72-63 loss to California.

Utah basketball had a 12-point lead at the half before California outscored the Utes 50-29 in the second half.

Timmy Allen led all scorers with 26 points, along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists but committed 7 turnovers. He shot 8-for-15 from the field, 2-of-3 from the three-point line and made 8 of his 9 attempts at the foul line.

Pelle Larsson was the only other Utah player to score in double figures with 12 points.

For Cal, Grant Anticevich led the way with 14 points and 7 boards.

FINAL

Tough loss for @UtahMBB #GoUtes #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/26JTh1vU2m

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 17, 2021

Utah Puts Clamps On Cal In First Half

Pelle Larsson with 7 points out of the gates with three shots at the rim and a free throw. Three of Larsson’s points during that stretch sparked an 8-0 run for the Utes that up them up 10 points midway through the first half.

Timmy Allen had a nice back door dunk that was set up by Alfonso Plummer. Then Plummer nailed a three-pointer in the corner. The run stopped at 10-0 before Cal scored their third bucket of the game. The Utes were up 17-5 with under 10 to play in the opening half.

Utah went to the locker room with a 34-22 lead. The Utes shot 50 percent (13-26) from the field and 45 percent (5-11) from the three-point line. Cal was held to 33 percent (8-24) from the floor and 18 percent (2-11) from downtown.

Final. pic.twitter.com/q0Bo4A1TAO

— Utah Basketball🏀 (w/ 😷) (@UtahMBB) January 17, 2021

Utah Collapse On Defense In Second Half Against Cal

In the first eight minutes of the second half, Utah’s 12-point halftime lead turned into a Cal 4-point lead as the Utes turned the ball over and shot poorly. They also let their guard down defensively.

It went all downhill from there. Cal’s lead was as big as 13 points. The Utes pulled within six points but it wasn’t enough.

Cal scored 50 points while the Utes put up just 29 in the second half. Utah turned the ball over 9 times and the Bears just 6. As far as shooting in the final 20 minutes, Utah shot 32 percent (8-25) from the floor and 8 percent (1-12) from beyond the arc. Cal shot 58 percent from the field and 46 percent from the perimeter.

Utah ended their 4-games in one week stretch with a 1-3 record. They are now 5-6 overall and 2-5 in Pac-12 play. The Utes will hit the road to face Washington State on Thursday, January 21 at 8 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks.

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.