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SALT LAKE CITY — Branden Carlson went to work early.
Just days after being held to 7 points on the road against Saint Mary's, Carlson had 7 of the team's first 10 points against Hawaii at the Delta Center Thursday night. Carlson set an early tone, and Utah looked like a team ready to run away with another nonconference victory.
Utah used that early momentum to build up a 12-point lead with 14:10 left in the first half, but Hawaii didn't travel 3,000 miles to concede the game.
The Rainbow Warriors reeled off a 14-3 run, which primarily came from multiple shots from 3-point range to eventually control a 1-point lead with 8:17 left.
Part of the run came during a stretch of play where Utah turned the ball over a couple times and also committed back-to-back offensive fouls before Utah head coach Craig Smith called a timeout to stop the bleeding — and to argue the calls with the refs.
Either way, Utah was not playing up to the standards Smith wanted for his team.
"I felt like we were there but not there — like, we were there and we had a solid look to us, but our body language was not great as a team," Smith said. "I just think we were locked into the wrong stuff, if that makes sense. And so what stuff we were locked into, I'm not exactly sure — probably depends on the individual, but it wasn't on winning."
Smith said his team lacked the "vigor" it needed to "win at a really high level," and that the team was "settling on the offensive end and not punishing them."
"He just really kind of put a fire under us and made sure we woke up a little bit, and got more of a sense of urgency and ready to get out there," Carlson added.
The timeout worked, and Hawaii's 1-point lead was short lived.
Utah built up a 6-point lead before the break, and then pushed the lead to a game-high 16 points in the second half en route to a 79-66 win to begin a seven-game stretch for Utah back in Salt Lake City.
"It was kind of a choppy and uneven game, I guess you could say," Smith said. "I thought we did some really, really good things and some not so good things. Hawaii is a good team, like they're going to have a great year."
Part of Utah's (5-2) success came from a better defensive effort at the end of the first half that carried over into the second half. That defensive effort translated to points on the other end of the floor as Utah finished shooting 53% from the field.
Utah held Hawaii (5-1) to 42% shooting from the field to give the Rainbow Warriors their first loss of the season. Utah also outscored Hawaii in the post 44-24, which Smith attributed to what the team tries to do on the offensive side of the ball that leads to winning.
Carlson led Utah in scoring with 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while adding six rebounds and a block. Keba Keita added 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench, and Cole Bajema finished with 10 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line in the win.
Salt Lake Community College transfer Hunter Erickson provided some of his best minutes in a Utah uniform Thursday and finished with 15 points and two assists, including one as he was driving to the basket that he flipped back to a trailing Keita for a near dunk finger roll layup.
"Hunter Erickson was really, really good — certainly his best game as a Ute on both ends of the floor, and you can see some things that he can really do," Smith said. "He can get it going and he's got great feel and moxie."
Noel Coleman led the Rainbow Warriors in scoring with 14 points, including three of the team's nine 3-pointers, and four assists. Three other players scored in double figures to challenge Utah.
