“I couldn’t be prouder of the will to compete this team had to have”, Rueck said. “Really proud of our guys’ effort to be able to battle and stay in the game”. Now we’ll wait to see what Oregon State or the Pac-12 does, if anything, in disciplining Reid.
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“I just went for it”, Hunter said. “We can’t lose our composure like they did when they messed with the ref”. Poeltl had 15 points in the game against only two fouls. “It felt like we didn’t play with energy the first half”. Utah will need to get Poeltl involved and take advantage of that matchup in the post.
Utah was 41.9 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from three-point range. The Beavers were called for 24 fouls and the Utes 10. Courtney Range added 15 points. Oregon State is averaging 73.1 points per game and they are shooting 44.1 percent while defensively they are allowing 68.3 points and their opponents are shooting 40.9 percent.
The Badgers went to a full-court press for the first time in the game, and forced a turnover as Eron Harris stepped out of bounds while double-teamed. Payton II had his streak of three consecutive 20-point games end…. But the Beavers led 34-23 at halftime. Utah (13-5, 2-3 Pac-12) won its fourth straight over Oregon State and improved to 12-1 all-time against the Beavers in Salt Lake City. The Utes scored just one basket and turned over the ball twice in the first five minutes. I’d like to believe it isn’t going to get much harder than this. The Beavers (11-5, 2-3) did not score a field goal over the final 4:31 of regulation – opening the door for Utah’s comeback win.
Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said he would be looking more closely into the sequence of events. Utah used a seven point run to cut the lead to 48-45 with 7:03 left. Then, Loveridge found another three pointer and tied the game at 50.
The forward tripped an official and was ejected with 2:56 remaining, starting Utah’s rally that led to a 59-53 victory. The Utes had a 35-28 rebounding edge.
With another win under their belt, Krystkowiak hopes things will be smooth sailing from here on out.
“The shots went in for us a little more in the second half and that’s how you get rolling, ” Poeltl said.
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Oregon State blew a double-digit lead at Utah, and in the midst of that sag, one of its players had a meltdown of a decision and paid a big price for it. Perhaps a suspension will come, too; we’ll see.
