The University of Utah Runnin Utes welcomed in #8 Wichita State to the Jon M. Huntsman Center and this game lived up to all of the hype. The Utes started out very slow trailing the Shockers 10-0 after the first media timeout with 15:53 left in the 1st half. The Utes woke up with a boost from Jakob Poeltl scoring 9 of the Utes 14 points to get them back in the game trailing by 3 with 10:49 left in the 1st half. That was when the game really started getting interesting and entertaining. The Utes were able to hang with the Shockers who was on a 35 game regular season winning streak.
The Utes trailed at the half 33-29 but they came out of the gates firing led by Brandon Taylor, Delon Wright and Dakari Tucker. They helped the Utes get out to a 12 point lead. The Shockers came storming back as they scored 9 points in 31 seconds to take the lead late in the game. A missed free throw by Wichita State and free throws by Dakari Tucker sent the Utes into Overtime. Both teams exchanged 3’s and free throws in overtime but the big plays came from a floater from Brandon Taylor and excellent rebounding by Jakob Poeltl and Chris Reyes. The Shockers had the ball down by 1 in overtime with 1.4 seconds left and had to go the full length of the court but couldn’t get the shot to fall. The Utes were able to come away with an impressive 69-68 win over #8 Wichita State.
Utah was led by Brandon Taylor with 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting from the field and 3 of 7 from downtown. He also dished out 4 assists. Delon Wright struggled shooting the ball until late in the game when he hit a crucial 3-pointer. Wright ended up with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists while playing almost the whole game. Dakari Tucker came off the bench with 13 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field and 3 of 6 from downtown. Jakob Poeltl continues to impress as he added another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Utes improve to 6-1 on the season and will take on BYU in Provo on Wednesday, December 10th. Wichita State falls to 4-1 on the season and lost their first regular season game in 35 games. This is a huge boost for the Utes and will really boost the team heading into a stretch of 5 really good teams. It will be exciting to see how this Utah team plays in Provo following this win over Wichita State.
