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Men's Basketball Pulls Away Late at Cal

by Utah Athletics
Dec 29, 2022

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Utah men's basketball team opened Pac-12 play 3-0 for the first time since 2014-15 after it pulled away against Cal, 58-43, Thursday night inside Haas Pavilion.
 
First half action saw the Utes shoot the ball well (.429) but only went up as much as 25-15 out of the 3:32 media break when Marco Anthony converted on the and-1 opportunity. However, Utah wasn't able to take advantage of Cal's stretch of seven-consecutive misses to increase their lead before heading into the locker room on top 27-18.
 
As well as Utah (10-4, 3-0 Pac-12) shot in the first half, the start of the second frame did not go as planned with the Runnin' Utes shooting just 1-of-6 from the floor to let the Golden Bears get within 29-24 at the 15:57 media break. After watching their lead go down to 33-31 thanks to Cal opening the second half on a 13-5 run, Utah finally found its rhythm to go on a 7-0 spurt and push its lead back to 40-31 at the 11:48 mark. That run extended to a 13-0 for Utah after Gabe Madsen connected with Lazar Stefanovic on the near corner to put the Runnin' Utes ahead 46-31.

 
The Golden Bears (1-13, 0-3 Pac-12) finally put an end to Utah's scoring streak and ended their own scoring drought on the next possession before reeling off another 7-0 run to bring Utah's lead back down to single-digits at the 8:28 mark (46-38). A defensive stop by the Utes a few sequences later saw Madsen dish it to Stefanovic for a huge 3-pointer that shifted the momentum back to the Utes.

 
Utah's defense shined in its first of two road games, holding the Golden Bears without a field-goal in the final 8:28 minutes of play. The 43 points for Cal was the fewest points allowed by Utah in a league contest since 2018, which was also against the Golden Bears (43) and was also the fewest points allowed in a road game since 2015 at Oregon (37).
 
Stefanovic and Branden Carlson each tallied 11 points for the Utes on offense to pace the team. Marco Anthony chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and three assists while guarding Cal's top offensive threat.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
With his block at the 7:17 mark in the first half, Branden Carlson has now registered a block in 17-consecutive games dating back to last season … the last game Carlson didn't have a block in a game was at Cal (Feb. 19) last season … Utah converted 13 Cal turnovers into  a 23-5 edge in points off turnovers … the win also marks the first time the Utes have won four-consecutive meetings against the Golden Bears … the eight turnovers is the fewest the Utes have committed since the St. Thomas game (7).
 
UP NEXT
The Utes stay in the Bay Area and head south across the bridge to close out their road swing with the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday, Dec. 31, at 1 p.m. (MT). Roxy Bernstein and Don MacLean will have the call between Utah and Stanford on Pac-12 Networks as the Runnin' Utes look to pick up just its third sweep of the Bay Area teams since joining the conference.
 
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, Twitter and Instagram.
 
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