Utah Basketball Suffers Sixth Straight Loss In Heartbreaking Fashion To Arizona State

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah basketball team had every chance at snapping their losing streak but fell to Arizona State 64-62 on Monday afternoon.

It’s the sixth straight loss for Utah basketball and the road doesn’t get easier this week with ranked teams coming to Salt Lake City. Jalen Graham hit a floater in the paint with four seconds left to give ASU the lead and the win.

David Jenkins Jr. led the Runnin’ Utes with 14 points. Rollie Worster chipped in 13 points and six rebounds, while Dusan Mahorcic recorded 12 points and eight rebounds.

Kimani Lawrence had 18 points for Arizona State. D.J. Horne contributed 13 points and four rebounds. Graham dropped 12 points and Marreon Jackson added 10 points.

Final from Tempe pic.twitter.com/hcB65moe4o

— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 17, 2022

Both Teams Struggle Offensively In First Half

If you are a fan of points being scored and limited turnovers being committed, this game was not for you. Utah had a stretch of nearly five minutes without scoring a single point. They also went another four-minute span of not making a field goal.

ASU wasn’t much better. The Sun Devils didn’t make a field goal in the last 3:54 of the first half, making just one of their last eight shot attempts. David Jenkins Jr. drilled a three-pointer in the corner at the halftime buzzer to give the Runnin’ Utes a 28-26 lead. Despite the lead, Utah committed nine turnovers with ASU scoring 12 points off of the miscues.

Utah shot just 37% from the field, 3-of-12 from the three-point line and 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Rollie Worster had eight points to lead the Utes in the first 20 minutes of play. Jenkins had five points at the break.

D.J. Horne scored eight points to lead Arizona State. Marreon Jackson and Jay Heath each added five points. ASU made just 30% of their field goals, 4-of-17 from downtown and 2-for-3 from the charity stripe.

Utah Suffers Heartbreaking Loss To ASU In Final Seconds

Around the 14-minute mark of the second half, Arizona State went on an 8-0 run to take a six-point lead. After the timeout, Dusan Mahorcic scored in the paint. The Utes looked down but not out as they stopped shooting as many threes and started attacking the basket. They were able to get to the foul line more and that’s how they remained in the game.

The Runnin’ Utes had a great possession where Riley Battin collected a couple of offensive rebounds, that ultimately led to a corner three-pointer by Worster to put the Utes up by two points with five minutes remaining.

Utah followed that up with a fadeaway three that banked into the basket by Jenkins. The Runnin’ Utes had a three-point lead with four minutes left in the game. With the game tied at 60, ASU made a layup to go up by two with one minute remaining. David Jenkins made a clutch fadeaway jumper to tie the game at 62 as the shot clock expired.

Arizona State chewed up the clock before Jalen Graham hit a floater in the lane with four seconds left. Utah was out of timeouts but David Jenkins couldn’t get the shot off in time.

Utah dropped their record to 8-10 overall and 1-7 in Pac-12 play. The path doesn’t get easier as No. 9 UCLA comes to the Huntsman Center on Thursday, January 20 at 9 p.m. MT on FS1.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com, Co-Host of Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.

Follow @TrevorASports