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SALT LAKE CITY — From the opening tipoff of Thursday's game at the Huntsman Center, there was a different vibe to the night.
Maybe it was that Stanford, the away team who has only won three conference games, dictated the terms of the game against a Utah team that hasn't struggled to beat any Quad 3 or Quad 4 opponents this season. Or maybe it was the news that Utah released minutes before the game that guard Gabe Madsen is out for 4-6 weeks with a "lower leg injury."
Or maybe it was the five turnovers from Utah in the opening minutes of the game.
Whatever the reasons, Utah couldn't get into any sense of a consistent rhythm against Stanford and dropped its first Quad 3 game of the season in a 78-72 loss at home. It was a night that Utah head coach Craig Smith described as a "potpourri of everything" for the errors the team created.
"It just felt like they capitalized on every — obviously, they didn't capitalize on every mistake — but it felt like they capitalized on a lot of our mistakes that we had on the defensive end, which were plenty," Smith said. "And offensively, the first half, especially, I thought we were just very tentative, just standing around a lot — just very tentative. We knew they were going to do what they did defensively and then we didn't respond."
Utah (15-9, 8-5 Pac-12) gave up easy looks on the defensive end — none worse than its transition defense — and let Stanford (10-12, 4-7 Pac-12) sharpshooter Spencer Jones get open looks from 3-point range, where he went 3-of-5 from deep and had 15 points in the first half to pace the Cardinal to an early lead.
The Utes managed to keep the game close early in the first half, never letting the Cardinal pull away by more than one or two possessions, but the team couldn't overcome its poor shooting night, which included going 36% from the field.
Utah took a short-lived 2-point lead after an 8-0 run by Lazar Stefanovic, who started in place of Madsen Thursday night, that included back-to-back 3-pointers and a jumper on an inbounds pass, but Stanford didn't miss a beat and pulled away for a 15-point lead at the halftime break.
Outside of Stefanovic's 10 points in the first half, Utah had few answers to combat a Stanford team that shot 55% from the field and 70% from behind the 3-point line on 10 attempts.
"I think the guys were ready and locked in to go, but we just didn't come out," Utah center Branden Carlson, who had 6 points and five rebounds in the first half. "Stanford lighting up a bit to come play their best, and we weren't ready to play our best at the start."
Utah opened up the second half in completely different fashion and played with energy, which translated to better looks on offense and a defense that limited Stanford and forced turnovers. To help, Utah hit four 3-pointers in the first few minutes to cut Stanford's lead to three midway through the half. And Utah had Stefanovic to thank for much of it.
But Stanford was unfazed by the Utah surge and weathered the storm time after time. The Cardinal continued to put pressure on Utah and pulled away for the road win — the team's 10th of the season.
"At least we were attacking, got a lot better shots — a lot more rhythm shots — to give ourselves a chance," Smith said about his team's performance in the second half. "We cut it to four and then we took a couple shots there where I was just like what are we doing here? It was out of character and not the shots that we were looking for. So we've gotta get better."
Jones continued to be a pest against Utah and finished with a team-high 22 points, which included going 4-of-7 from 3-point range, and five rebounds in the win. Michael Jones added 15 points and Michael O'Connell finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Stefanovic filled in nicely for Madsen, who became Utah's go-to threat from deep, and finished with a team-high 26 points, which included six of the team's 12 made 3-pointers on the night, six rebounds and five assists.
Stefanovic continued to fight to the bitter end and hit two late 3-pointers to keep the score more respectable before fouling out with 27.7 seconds left to play.
"It's definitely not a step forward," said Carlson, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. "I would say it's a step back, but I know it's not something we can't come back from."
