SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin' Utes bounced back from back-to-back losses in dominating fashion Sunday night with an 86-63 win over Arizona State (19-8, 8-6).

Here are the takeaways from the Utah (18-9, 7-8) victory.

Bounce-back win

The Utes had arguably their worst game of the season at UCLA, then came home and dropped an overtime heart-breaker to No. 4 Arizona last Wednesday.

They needed a bounce-back game against Arizona State, and they got it in a big way.

After the Sun Devils put the first two points on the board, Utah scored 11 straight to get out to an early lead it would never surrender.

The lead ballooned to as large as 26 in the first half after Jordan Loveridge knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 38-12 at the 6:52 mark.

Arizona State came out of halftime down by 25 and with a renewed sense of urgency and aggression, but the Utes held their ground. The Sun Devils looked as though they were about to get back in the game several times — even getting as close as 13 after an Egor Koulechov 3-pointer with 10:22 left — but in every instance, Utah had an answer.

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Utah ends 2 game skid; beats Arizona State 86-63

Delon Wright scored 22 points, collected nine rebounds and had six assists and Utah blocked a season-high 12 shots to fuel an 86-63 victory over Arizona State on Sunday night.

The 23-point win marked the Utes' largest margin of victory in a conference matchup since joining the Pac-12, edging out a 21-point margin won over this same ASU program on Jan. 21, 2012.

Loveridge ends slump

Speaking of bouncing back, Jordan Loveridge had found himself in a real slump the past few games before returning to his usual stellar play Sunday night.

The sophomore scored 18 points with six rebounds, including multiple key second-half buckets to help maintain Utah's lead as the second-leading scorer in the Ute victory.

Three other Utes landed in double figures, including Delon Wright, who finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. Renan Lenz, Utah's only senior in the rotation, chipped in 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting, and Princeton Onwas added 12 points and five boards.

Block party

Utah hosted the Pac-12 conference's leading shot blocker, Arizona State's Jordan Bachynski (brother of Utah's Dallin Bachynski), but it was the Utes doing most of the swatting.

A season-high 12 shots were blocked by the Utes, with Wright and Lenz recording three denials apiece. Loveridge, Onwas and Bachynksi each swatted two shots for Utah as well.

The Utes were dominant inside, winning the points in the paint battle, 38-26, and outrebounding the Sun Devils 44-36.

This inside performance marked a big improvement from the last time the Utes faced ASU, when they couldn't contain Jahii Carson, one of the top scorers in the Pac-12. Carson was able to get into the paint seemingly at will, scoring 23 points in the 79-75 Arizona State win on Jan. 23 in Tempe, Ariz.

This time around, Utah held Carson to just eight points on 3-of-13 from the field, including 0-for-4 from downtown.

Next up: The Utes will take the week off before their final home game of the season next Saturday against Colorado (20-8, 9-6) at 12 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Utah will look to get even for a 79-75 overtime loss at Boulder, Colo., on Feb. 1. 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

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