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SALT LAKE CITY — It may have been the start to Pac-12 play, but for the Runnin' Utes, it felt more like a "survive and advance" kind of night until Gabe Madsen got hot from 3-point range.
With 14 minutes left in the game, Madsen, who had been mostly quiet all night up until that point, hit a corner 3-pointer — Utah's first of the game — to cut Washington State's lead to 2 points.
A minute later, Madsen did it again to give Utah a 1-point lead. And another minute after that, Madsen followed it up with his third triple of the night to give Utah a 4-point lead. And with that, Utah was well on its way to an 80-58 win at the Huntsman Center to open up Pac-12 play.
"I thought that was, obviously, very, very big for us, but he is a security blanket, no doubt, and he's a big time — Gabe's a really good player," Utah head coach Craig Smith said of his play.
Madsen finished the game with a team-high 20 points, including 4-of-9 from deep, to give Utah (10-2, 1-0 Pac-12) a much-needed offensive weapon in the second half to spark a comeback after trailing the Cougars (9-3, 0-1 Pac-12) by 6 points with 16 minutes left to play in the game.
"Took a while to get going, but, obviously, as a good shooter it only takes one shot," Madsen said. "So, yeah, it feels good, obviously, to see one go in."
Utah controlled a 10-point first-half lead behind a dominant performance from Keba Keita, who had 10 first-half points, but allowed Washington State to slowly creep back into the game late in the first half.
The Cougars eventually took a short-lived 1-point lead before Utah quickly reclaimed the lead, but the Utes found themselves in a fight it wasn't ready for to end the first half. Still, Utah staved off a Washington State push to control a 2-point lead at the halftime break.
But the Cougars weren't done there.
Washington State used a quick run to open up the second half — spurred by back-to-back turnovers by the Utes — to take a team-high 6-point lead before Madsen got hot from behind the arc.
Madsen's hot hand was all Utah needed to find some offense, and the Utes went on a run to take a 22-point lead with 2:06 left to play, which included a 14-2 run to close out the game and score 49 points in the second half.
"Well, that's a great win for us," Smith said. "We took care of business — you've gotta take care of business at home in league play, but at all times. That's a good team over there. ... I thought we really settled in, obviously, in that second half. I mean, to score 49 points in a half against these guys, that is incredibly difficult to do."
While Utah's offense took over in the second half, its defense limited the Cougars to multiple missed shots, including a stretch where Washington State made one of their last 10 field goal attempts when Madsen got his shot flowing, and then finished the game make one of their last nine shots amid Utah's 14-2 run to closeout the game.
"A lot of good things at the end of the day, but more so I'm just proud of how we responded — getting down 6 and calling that timeout and how our guys reacted." Smith said.
Branden Carlson, who took over from Madsen behind the arc, finished the night with 19 points — including three 3-pointers — eight rebounds, five assists and five blocks in an all-around performance. Fellow big Keita finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks on a night when the Utes finished with nine blocks against Washington State.
"Keba Keita, I thought, really impacted the game with his shot blocking, rim protection, and he just played with a lot of force and a lot of physicality," Smith said. "And that's what you've got to do when you play Washington State."
Utah finished the night shooting 48% from the field and had 22 assists on 29 made baskets. But more importantly, Smith said, was being limited to only five turnovers in the game — the lowest of the season.
Part of that was the effectiveness of guard Deivon Smith and his ability to be a second facilitator to veteran guard Rollie Worster, who could "take a breath" from having to do everything on both ends of the floor. In his third game with the team, Smith played 26 minutes and was a key contributor to the team.
Washington State had two players score in double figures, including 12 points from Isaac Jones as the leading scorer. Jaylen Wells added 10 points and five rebounds in the loss on a night when the Cougars shot 31% from the field.
