SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Playing before their largest road crowd in school history, the College of Idaho delivered an early jab to a nationally-ranked University of Utah squad, before the Running Utes found their stride, topping the Yotes, 115-74, before a crowd of 12,329 fans inside the Huntsman Center.
Box Score The Utes (11-2) used a 20-5 run midway through the second half to put away the NAIA Division II school, looking to defeat a Division I program in an exhibition game for the second time in the last 11 years.
The Coyotes, playing the game as an exhibition, sprinted out to a 5-0 lead – forcing three Utah turnovers. Treys by
Aitor Zubizarreta,
Dominique Jordan and
Joey Nebeker – plus a Zubizarreta pull-up jumper pushed the margin to 16-2 four minutes into the game, forcing Utes head coach Larry Krystkowiak to call time out.
"We really shot it and our guys came ready for the moment," said C of I head coach
Scott Garson. "I'm really proud of the way our guys came out and played with confidence and composure and that's really hard to do in a situation like this. I mean what can you say. Couldn't have been a better start and couldn't have been a better situation. These guys will have this memory for the rest of their lives. We were better than the No. 21 ranked team in the country for about 8-10 minutes tonight."
The timeout worked, as Dakarai Tucker canned a trey and Kyle Kuzma recorded back-to-back baskets to get the hosts within 19-15. Following a Jordan jumper, Utah took the lead for good, scoring the next 12 points – including the first of three first half 3-pointers from Brandon Taylor.
Trailing 52-39 at the break, C of I cut the lead to 62-54 with 15-minutes remaining after 3's from Zubizarreta and
Marck Coffin, but Tucker canned triples on consecutive possessions – starting the big run that gave the Utes breathing room.
Both Kuzma and Tucker finished with 17 points to lead the Utes – each scoring 11 second half points – with 7-foot center Jakob Poeltl scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds. Utah shot 63-percent from the field and held a 54-24 edge on the glass.
Zubizarreta led all scorers with 19 points, Nebeker had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocks, with Jordan scoring 11. The Yotes made 14 3-point baskets were the most allowed by Utah this season.
"I was really proud of the way our guy's effort was and that's what it is all about," Garson said. "It's about getting better. We are trying to get better for conference and this was a great exhibition game for us because we were able to get better here against a really good team and now we understand the kind of effort, the kind of composure, the kind of confidence that we have to play with going into our conference games and Wednesday and Thursday against Evergreen State and Northwest. We have to bring our A-game and we brought it for a while here tonight. As I told our team, I now know what to expect from our team and I'm going to expect that kind of effort to start every game."
C of I returns to action on Wednesday, returning to Cascade Conference play – hosting Evergreen at 7:30 p.m.
NOTES: Garson returned to the Huntsman Center, where he was an assistant for five seasons for Rick Majerus at Utah; all 16 C of I players saw action in the game, with reserves
Curtis Brever and
Andrew Bruce each making two 3-pointers; C of I shot 36-percent for the game – the highest shooting percentage by a Utah opponent since a loss to Wichita State (Savannah State, Duke, Delaware State all shot under 33-percent).
