The Utah Utes kept their Pac-12 regular season championship hopes alive after beating the USC Trojans, 80-69, sweeping the Los Angeles road trip.
LOS ANGELES—The Utah Utes kept their Pac-12 regular season championship hopes alive after beating the USC Trojans, 80-69, sweeping the Los Angeles road trip. With just three games remaining, the Utes stand a half-game behind the Arizona Wildcats and Oregon Ducks.
Leading the way once again for the Utes was big man Jakob Poeltl, amassing 29 points and 13 rebounds. The Utes offense started and ended with Poeltl, and any run that Utah put on the Trojans was centered around the Austrian.
The Utes led at halftime, 40-30. Jordan Loveridge and Brandon Taylor hit back-to-back threes to open the second half. In control of the game, Utah turned over the ball three straight possessions, allowing a 9-0 USC run, and prompting a frustrated Larry Krystkowiak to call a timeout with 15:38 to play.
After Krystkowiak’s timeout was an immediate media timeout, enough time to reset the Utes to their own tempo, and maintained an 8-10 point lead for most of the second half.
USC head coach Andy Enfield seemed to debate fouling the Utes or not down the stretch, but Jordan Loveridge answered for him with a three-pointer with 1:18 to play, putting the Utes ahead 80-63. The Trojans would make two more threes before putting up the white flag in their first loss at home this season.
The Utes now head back home to face the Arizona schools for the first time this season. Arizona State and Utah will tipoff on Thursday at 7:00 on ESPN700, with pregame coverage starting at 5:00.
Larry Krystkowiak Postgame:
Jakob Poeltl Postgame:
Highlights:
