Runnin' Utes fight to 3OT finish, but No. 8 Wildcats pull away in 105-99 win

SALT LAKE CITY — It couldn't get much worse than the first half for the Utah men's basketball team.

Utah shot 32% from the field and 17% from the free-throw line in the opening half as the eighth-ranked Arizona Wildcats controlled a 16-point lead at the break. The Wildcats shot 50% from the field and pulled away from a Utes team that looked like a shell of itself in a highly-anticipated home game with ease.

Instead of throwing in the towel, though, Utah used a 13-2 run amid a five-minute scoring drought by Arizona to cut the lead to a one-possession game. Eventually, after a few tries to get over the hump, Utah's Branden Carlson scored the go-ahead jumper to take the lead, officially erasing the nearly 20-point deficit.

Utah couldn't keep Arizona off the foul line down the stretch, though, and the Wildcats pulled away in the final two minutes to take a 5-point lead before Gabe Madsen continued his hot shooting and hit a contested 3-pointer with 19.4 seconds left to play to tie the game up 76-76.

Arizona's last shot attempt — a deep 3-pointer — hit the front of the rim to send the game into overtime.

The two teams, who looked exhausted after a physical game, traded baskets to an 82-82 tie, and Utah looked for to take the final shot with 26.7 seconds left to play. But Deivon Smith recorded a turnover with 5.1 seconds left to play after stepping out of bounds, giving the visiting Wildcats a chance at the win.

Going the length of the court, Arizona missed on a Caleb Love shot attempt to send the game into another overtime period.

After playing to another draw in the second overtime period, Arizona eventually pulled away for a 105-99 win in triple overtime, snapping Utah's 12-0 undefeated home record this season.

Thursday's game was the first triple overtime game at home since 1973, a game that went into four overtime periods against Loyola Marymount.

"Super disappointed we didn't find a way to win there," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "We had some chances to make some plays, and we just didn't make enough of them. And credit to them, they just made a couple more than us, but we had our moments there.

"You don't get those moments every day to play a top-10 team in the country, and you want to be able to capitalize," Smith added. "And we give ourselves every opportunity, but they just made a few more plays than us."

When the dust settled nearly three hours after tipoff, former Utah guard Pelle Larsson led all scores with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, seven rebounds and eight assists; and former North Carolina star Caleb Love added a double-double of 19 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in the win.

The two teams played to a nearly identical shooting night from the field (Utah 44%, Arizona 43%), but Utah's free-throw shooting caught up to them in the end, finishing just 48% on 21 free-throw attempts. Arizona, conversely, finished 75% from the line on 32 attempts.

"In a game like that, when you play a tight game like that against a really good team, we've just got to be able to seize the moment," Smith said. "And there's so many things that it can come down to — certainly free-throw shooting was a really disappointing thing."

Carlson, who had only 3 points in the first half, led the Utes in scoring with a double-double of 27 points and 15 rebounds; Keba Keita added 18 points and seven rebounds; and Madsen finished with 17 points, including five 3-pointers, and five rebounds in the loss.

In the triple overtime game, Smith recorded his second triple-double of the season — he becomes the first Pac-12 player since Andre Iguodala (2003-04) to record multiple triple-doubles in a season — with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Smith helped lead Utah's second-half run — both as a scorer and a distributor — that was helped by the Runnin' Utes making seven 3-pointers before finally missing a shot from deep. Once Madsen was done cooking from deep, Keba Keita went to work on both ends of the floor to give Utah everything it needed to overcome the double-digit deficit.

"Really proud of how we fought back," Smith said. "That first half wasn't — I thought we had a great start to the game, not so good in the middle area of that first half, mid to late. I just felt like we were disjointed on offense, and then I thought that really affected our defense where we really give up some easy opportunities to them in transition and on the offensive boards. And then at halftime, we just really challenged our guys.

"We just kept fighting and fighting and fighting, and we scored 74 points in the second half and all three overtimes, so we did some of the good things to have ourselves give ourselves a chance," he added. "I thought we played pretty good defense, specifically in that second half, and made it a little bit tough."

Though a loss, Deivon Smith said it showed the character of the team, especially in tight game that had a March Madness-like feel in a Quad 1 game for both teams.

"I think it shows we have a lot of heart, showed we could play all the way down to the stretch," Smith said. "Some stuff didn't go our way, but just the energy in the locker room after the game and during those three overtimes, it shows how much heart we have, so I think we can learn from it — how we do each and every loss or win — and move on to the next."

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