Deivon Smith leaves game early as Utah falls to Washington State 79-57 on the road

SALT LAKE CITY — The injury bug continued for Utah on the road Wednesday night.

Midway through the first half (as has been common for the Runnin' Utes on the road this season), starting guard Deivon Smith attempted to block a 3-point shot but landed awkwardly on his ankle, forcing the senior to be helped off the court and onto the training table.

With an already injury-laden roster, the addition of Smith to the injured column stung ... but not until late in the game.

Though Utah kept it close for much of the game, Washington State pulled away late, including a 9-0 run to closeout the game, to earn a 79-57 win, continuing a tough road losing streak for the Utes this season.

The Cougars did most of their damage on the offensive glass with 14 offensive rebounds to give Washington State 21 second-chance points — compared to Utah's 4 second-chance points. Utah (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12) simply had no answer to combat Washington State's rebounding prowess, and the home team outrebounded Utah 40-29 in the win.

"It just came down to getting stops and rebounding," Utah guard Gabe Madsen said.

"They missed 31 shots for the game and get 14 offensive rebounds. ... You have to eliminate losing to win, no matter where you play it, but especially on the road," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "We just gave up way too many second-chance opportunities. They scored 21-4 on second-chance opportunities, so that's a hard one to swallow."

Midway through the second half, Keba Keita cut Washington State's lead to 2 points, giving the visiting team some momentum on a night when the Utes shot 42% from the field. But the Cougars quickly hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back up to 8, and there was no hope of a comeback after that final run.

It was the story of the game: Utah made a push and got the lead down to a one- or two-possession game, and then Washington State (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12) made a small run. That last run was punctuated when Branden Carlson had to leave the court for a time after getting elbowed in the face.

Carlson eventually returned, but Utah was already down by 16 points and few answers to cut into the deficit. The senior center finished with a team-high 20 points and three rebounds, and Gabe Madsen added 14 points, three assists and two rebounds.

But to add insult to injury, Utah settled for poor shots behind the 3-point line instead of work it in to Carlson and Keita, and weren't aggressive enough to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line, Smith said. Washington State shot 24 free throws, while Utah only managed seven for the night — and only made three in another growing trend.

"It's just very straightforward," Smith said. "It's you've got to rebound, and we're fouling too much and we're not getting fouled. And you just do the math, that's the game."

The Cougars had five players score in double digits, and were led by Isaac Jones' 17 points and 10 rebounds. Andrej Jakimovski added 14 points, Oscar Cluff had 13 points, Jaylen Wells finished with 13 points, and Myles Rice added 10 points.

"Obviously, everybody talks about winning on the road is different than winning at home, but at the end of the day, we're a mature group, we're an old group, that shouldn't be an excuse," Madsen said. "We've just got to be better."

Utah returns to action Saturday (8 p.m. MST, ESPN2) against Washington in Seattle, with hopes of getting back to the win column. But the Utes may have to do that without the help of Deivon Smith.

"I don't know the status of Deivon — lower-leg injury," Craig Smith said. "I just don't know if he'll be back on Saturday or not, and so we've got to prepare for life without him. And so it's a next man up mentality. We're obviously pretty thin right now, but we've gotta be able to figure it out."

Related topics