Utah Searching For Fourth Straight Win When They Battle Stanford

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah men’s basketball team will go for their fourth straight win of the season when they battle Stanford on Saturday night on The Farm.

Utah is coming off of a 76-75 win over California on Thursday, while Stanford suffered a blowout loss to Colorado. The Runnin’ Utes won the first meeting this season back on January 14 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center by a final score of 79-65.

During that time last month, Utah’s only win over a six-game span was against the Cardinal. Utah is playing better basketball and are doing so at a great time in the season.

FINAL

Cal had a chance to tie the game at the end but missed the first of two free throws.#GoUtes #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/vTVWaeNBDu

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 12, 2021

About Stanford

The Cardinal enters Saturday’s game with a 12-8 overall record and 8-6 in the Pac-12. They have wins over Alabama, North Carolina A&T, CSUN, Arizona, CSU Bakersfield, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, UCLA, Arizona and California twice. Their losses came against North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon, Utah, Colorado twice and Arizona State.

Since their loss to Utah on January 14, Stanford is 4-4. Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate Oscar da Silva is their leading scorer, averaging 19.5 points and 7.2 rebounds. Daejon Davis is posting season averages of 13.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Jaiden Delaire (12.7) and Ziaire Williams (12.1) round out the four Stanford players that average double figures.

Davis had 19 points to lead the Cardinal in their loss to Utah. Williams added 17 points and da Silva had 11 points and just 2 rebounds. Timmy Allen scored 22 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in the win. Alfonso Plummer chipped in 16 points off the bench.

Not our night. Back at it on Saturday #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/DnVismNAVv

— Stanford Men's Basketball (@StanfordMBB) February 12, 2021

Will Rylan Jones Be Available For Utah On Saturday Vs. Stanford?

After missing Thursday’s game against Cal, it’s unknown if point guard Rylan Jones will be available on Saturday versus Stanford. Jones suffered an injury during practice leading up to the Cal game and was seen on TV wearing a sling on the bench in Berkley.

That allowed Alfonso Plummer to start in Jones’ place. Plummer knocked down a trio of three-pointers on Thursday but didn’t play much in the second half as Ian Martinez had a career night, scoring 16 points.

“I am not going to discuss too much about our injuries but I thought Ian (Martinez) stepped up big time,” Krystkowiak said after the game against Cal.

We had 4️⃣ #Utes in double figures tonight!👏

💥 Timmy Allen 18pts | 4reb
🇨🇷 Ian Martinez 16pts | 5reb
💪 Branden Carlson 13pts | 1reb
🇸🇪 Pelle Larsson 11pts | 2reb

📸 Chris Brown – USA TODAY Sports pic.twitter.com/stKxSgvSNu

— Utah Basketball🏀 (@UtahMBB) February 12, 2021

Tip-off on Saturday between Utah and Stanford will be at 8 p.m. MST and can be seen 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.