UCLA
16-15, 9-9
Utah
17-13, 11-7
UCLA Men's Basketball Loses at Utah 92-81
March 09, 2019 | Men's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Kris Wilkes scored a team-leading 20 points as the UCLA men's basketball team dropped a 92-81 decision at Utah in the regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday evening.
Jalen Hill registered his second double-double of the season, totaling 12 points and 13 rebounds, before a crowd of 12,914 at the Huntsman Center.
David Singleton and Jules Bernard each finished with 13 points, while Alex Olesinski had 12 points.
With Saturday's loss, UCLA picked up the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament, to be played March 13-16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Bruins (16-15, 9-9 Pac-12) will take on No. 10-seed Stanford (15-15, 8-10) in a first-round matchup on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (PT).
Against the Runnin' Utes on Saturday, UCLA battled back from a 27-point first-half deficit, reducing Utah's cushion to eight points midway through the second half. The Bruins had trailed at halftime 51-31.
"These guys have not given up all year," UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow said. "We have lost some leads. But in those three overtime games that we've played, we have won. I love these guys. I'm proud of these guys. I wish we had more than nine conference wins, but I'm proud of the nine that we've got. They battled, but we just got way too far down on the road. When you're down 20, it's hard to come back."
Utah (17-13, 11-7 Pac-12) picked up the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Runnin' Utes received a team-leading 29 points from Sedrick Barefield. Timmy Allen finished with 17 points, while Donnie Tillman scored 14 points (all in the first half).
Trailing by 20 points at halftime, UCLA used a 13-3 scoring run early in the second half to trim Utah's cushion to 11 points (57-46) with 16:53 remaining. A 3-pointer from Wilkes at the 16:53 mark capped the scoring run for UCLA.
From that point, Utah rebuilt its lead to 20 points over the next two minutes. The Runnin' Utes led 69-49 at the 14:42 mark before UCLA reduced Utah's advantage to just eight points – at 75-67 – with 6:44 to play.
Barefield answered with a basket for the Runnin' Utes, and Allen made a pair of free throws to give Utah a 12-point advantage (79-67) with five minutes left.
Utah's 3-point shooting was pivotal in the first half. The Runnin' Utes made 11 of 20 attempts from long range before the intermission and finished Saturday's game having made 17 of 38 attempts from 3-point distance. The 17 made 3-pointers by Utah tied a school record for most made 3-pointers in a game (previously accomplished twice by Utah, including in a game earlier this season against Mississippi Valley State).
Tillman had 14 first-half points, having made 4 of 6 attempts from 3-point range before halftime.
Barefield scored 18 of his team-leading 29 points in the second half. In all, he connected of 11 of 22 shots and 5 of 12 attempts from 3-point territory.
Utah opened the game on a 19-6 scoring run through the game's first five minutes. The Runnin' Utes pushed their first half lead to as many as 27 points (51-24) after a 3-point shot from Tillman with 2:54 to play before halftime.
