Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAS VEGAS — Make it six.
After a tumultuous end to the regular season, in which the Utah men's basketball team lost its final five games, the team added to the loss column on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in T-Mobile Arena.
Stanford's Harrison Ingram drilled the first shot of the game, and the Cardinal quickly pulled away to keep a double-digit lead for much of the night en route to an eventual 73-62 win over a Utah team that couldn't find an offense and finished the night shooting 38% from the floor.
Utah (17-15) cut the Stanford (14-18) lead to as low as 7 with just over 19 minutes left in the game, but it was the closest the team got as Stanford continued to build upon its lead, and eventually led by as much as 15 with five minutes left to play.
"It was a tough night for us. ... We were really struggling to find that third score, struggling to find another guy to get some easy baskets," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "I thought we had some easy looks; I thought we had some really clean looks and some wide open looks, and we just couldn't finish those plays. And then on the defensive end, it was a little bit of a potpourri of different things, I thought."
With the loss, Utah has now gone 1-6 in the Pac-12 Tournament since the program appeared in the championship game in 2016. Utah's only win in that time span came during the 2020-21 season against Washington in the opening round, but the team then went on to lose in the quarterfinal round to USC.
Utah matched Stanford in almost every statistical category in the game, but the Utes couldn't overcome its shooting woes, especially outside of Branden Carlson and Gabe Madsen, who combined for 40 of the team's 62 points for the game. Starters Ben Carlson and Rollie Worster finished with 0 points, and other struggled to contend with Stanford's length.
"Obviously, they're one of the tallest teams in the country, but you can't really use that as an excuse at the end of the day," Madsen said. "It, obviously, disrupts your offense, but you've just got to keep playing."
The biggest difference came in the post where Stanford outscored Utah 38-24 during the game and prevented the Utes from clean looks at the rim based on their length. Utah attempted several shots at the rim, but struggled to get anything to fall with a swarm of trees surrounding them.
Utah also committed 12 turnovers to Stanford's four, which translated to 10 points on the other end for the Cardinal. While not a lot of points off turnovers, it was enough to keep Utah from closing the gap down the stretch.
The loss likely ends Utah's postseason chances after already being on the bubble for the NIT going into the Pac-12 Tournament. Utah head coach Craig Smith said earlier in the week that the team would "absolutely" play in the tournament if invited, but his team will have to wait until Selection Sunday to see their fate.
The Cardinal beat the Utes in a balanced scoring effort and had four players finish in double digits on 42% shooting from the field, with Brandon Angel leading the team with 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
