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LAS VEGAS — It's been a roller coaster ride of a season for senior guard Jarred DuBois, who transferred to the U. last year after graduating early at Loyola Marymount.
He's had some great games, but his shot selection had been questionable at times, and he seemed to disappear for some stretches during the season.
But Wednesday night, DuBois put the Utes on his back and willed them to a 69-66 victory over USC.
I was just trying to make plays.
–Jarred DuBois
DuBois scored 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting with four assists to lead Utah (14-17, 6-13) to its first Pac-12 tournament win since joining the conference last season.
"I was just trying to make plays," DuBois said.
The Utes held a comfortable lead in the second half until junior guard J.T. Terrell scored four-straight points for USC — as part of a 10-3 Trojan run — to make it a 47-45 ballgame with 11:47 remaining.
DuBois responded with an aggressive move to the basket to draw a foul, sinking two free throws to jump start the Utes to a 13-2 rally to retake command of the game.
The Trojans weren't going down easily, however, scoring 12-straight points in reply to cut the lead to one, 60-59, after senior forward Eric Wise nailed a 3-pointer.
And once again, DuBois took matters into his own hands. He knocked down a jumper from the elbow, followed by a 3-ball, then got into the paint and made a slick dish to senior center Jason Washburn for a slam to give the Utes some breathing room at 67-61 with under two minutes left.
With 44 seconds on the clock, Terrell buried a shot from way beyond the arc to pull USC within three, 69-66.
Utah held the ball until the final seconds, and after DuBois missed the jump shot, the scramble for the loose ball lasted until the clock expired, resulting in a third-straight Ute victory.
"We managed to build ourselves to a couple of double-digit leads, but got away from playing the way we were playing," said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. "But I was really proud of our guys. I think we’ve grown this season. Earlier this season this was a kind of game that withered away and we had a hard time closing. We’re thrilled — thrilled to be moving on."
DuBois had gone through a four-game stretch in which he was scoring just 8.5 points and shooting only 22.2 percent, averaging 2.5 assists and 3.8 turnovers as the Utes went 1-3 over that stint.
In the four games since then, however, DuBois has been brilliant, averaging 18.5 points on 57.8 percent from the field with 4.2 assists compared to three turnovers, and Utah won three of those four.
"It's just important to stick with it, regardless of what's going on," DuBois said. "Coach always talks about the next play, and it's showing that as long as we play hard and play together, anything can happen."
Freshman forward Jordan Loveridge scored 15 points with nine rebounds for the Utes, while Washburn added 10 points and five boards.
USC (14-18, 9-10) was without junior center Dewayne Dedmon, who had punished Utah with 13 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in a Jan. 12 contest in Salt Lake City. Dedmon was serving a suspension for an incident that occurred during the Trojans' recent road trip to Washington.
Backup center Omar Oraby played well in Dedmon's absence, posting 18 points, 10 boards and two swats. Terrell scored 14 with six rebounds, with Eric Wise adding 12 points and nine boards.
The Utes move on to face Cal (20-10, 12-6), a team they went 0-2 against this season — dropping a five-point decision at the Huntsman Center on Jan. 24, followed by a 64-46 loss at Berkeley on Feb. 28.
Utah is playing better ball now than it was during either of those matchups, however, and will hope for a different result this time around.
"I feel like we're coming together when we need to come together, at the right time," said Washburn. "We're going up against a tough defensive team again, with arguably the best player in our conference, and we’re going to have to be even better than we were tonight and we’ll have to take the fight to them."
That "best player in the conference" opinion refers to Allen Crabbe, the Pac-12 player of the year and first team All-Pac-12. Crabbe averaged 19 points and eight rebounds in the two regular season meetings against the Utes — just above his season averages of 18.6 points and six boards.
Crabbe's fellow junior guard, Justin Cobbs, was named to the second team All-Pac-12, averaging 15.1 points and 4.8 assists for the Bears, who enjoyed a bye as the conference's No. 2 seed.
Cal had won seven games in a row before falling to arch-rival Stanford in the season finale.
The Utes and Bears are scheduled to get started at 7 p.m. MDST, with the contest being broadcast on Pac-12 Networks and on the radio at AM 700. The winner will advance to the semi-final round on Friday, to face whoever comes out of the Oregon/Washington game.
Tyson Maddy has covered the University of Utah football and men's basketball teams as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011. Follow his Utes coverage on twitter @Tyson_Maddy
