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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Reese Dixon-Waters had 20 points in San Diego State’s 89-72 win over Utah State on Wednesday night.

Dixon-Waters went 6 for 13 from the field, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 5 from the free-throw line for the Aztecs (19-8, 13-4 Mountain West Conference). Taj DeGourville scored 12 points and added eight assists. Pharaoh Compton shot 5 of 7 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line to finish with 11 points.

Michael Collins Jr. led the way for the Aggies (23-5, 13-4) with 18 points. Mason Falslev added 14 points for Utah State. Adlan Elamin also had 12 points, six rebounds and two steals.

San Diego State outscored Utah State by six points in the second half, while DeGourville led the way with a team-high 11 second-half points.

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Newton • Valjay Rigby bent down, plucked a stalk of hard red winter wheat and rolled it between his fingers as he surveyed the 1,500 acres his family has farmed and ranched for five generations in northern Utah.

Much of the land on his family farm, Rigby Ranch, is planted with alfalfa, wheat, safflower and other small grains. But Rigby said farming has grown increasingly tough as costs climb and supply prices have doubled.

To help the nation’s struggling farmers, President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion federal aid package in December.

Rigby, who also serves as president of the Utah Farm Bureau, expects to receive a portion of the funds. Still, he said Utah producers are unlikely to see much of that relief at a time when expenses remain high and profit margins thin.

“It’s just to help us get by until some of the other programs come in,” Rigby said. “For me personally, it’s going to be enough to cover my fuel bill. So, it’s not a windfall or anything.”

The aid comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program. Farmers are eligible if they reported their acreage to the agency by Dec. 19.

The agriculture department announced Feb. 20 that enrollment opened Monday and runs through April 17. Producers who applied online could receive payments as early as Feb. 28, the department said.

Payments are calculated per acre and vary by crop, with the highest amounts going to cotton and rice — two crops rarely grown in Utah.

About $11 billion is earmarked for row crops, while the remaining $1 billion goes to specialty crops not covered by the FBA program.

“We appreciate the help,” Rigby said. “It’s just — there’s some external things that have happened in the last year, or last couple years, that have really just affected the price that we’re able to sell our products for. And we want to produce food for people.”

Corn Belt states collecting the most

An analysis by the American Farm Bureau shows the biggest payments are headed to Texas, which could see $1.1 billion.

That’s followed by Iowa at $893 million, Kansas at $888 million and Illinois at $832 million.

Overall, Midwest and Corn Belt states are expected to collect $6.9 billion — about 64% of the total — while Southern and Southeast states are projected to receive roughly $2.8 billion, or 26%.

Western states and the Northeast have fewer eligible acres, said Matt Hargreaves, vice president of communications for the state’s farm bureau, so their share of the FBA program is smaller.

In Utah, if every qualifying farmer applied, Hargreaves said the state could see around $9 million in payments.

‘I couldn’t afford to do it’

Allen Staker runs a 700-acre farm in Emery County, where he grows mostly wheat, corn and barley, with a bit of alfalfa.

He expects to see some relief from the federal bridge payments, he said, but the past few years have been tough. Fertilizer alone last year cost him $100,000, and the price has more than doubled over the past decade.

Staker stays afloat by raising cattle, which provides a more steady income when crop prices and yields aren’t enough to cover expenses.

“If I had to depend on just the crops,” he said, “yeah — I couldn’t afford to do it.”

Rigby said Utah farmers are losing money on their crops because the prices they can get aren’t enough to cover rising costs.

He used to be able to sell alfalfa for around $300 a ton, he said. Now, buyers won’t pay more than $150.

Part of the problem, he said, is that dairies — his main alfalfa customers — can’t afford to pay more, since the price of milk is lower than the cost to produce it.

‘A historic agriculture trade deficit’

Mounting financial strain on America’s farmers prompted a bipartisan group of former USDA officials and farm leaders to write a letter to the House and Senate agricultural committees earlier this month, warning that the industry is at a breaking point.

“Farmer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year, and the U.S. is running a historic agriculture trade deficit,” the letter read.

“There are few tragedies greater than the loss of a family farm, representing not just a loss of livelihood but a loss of a way of life for rural families,” the letter continued. “And when American farmers suffer, the entire rural economy is impacted — from schools, to churches, to main street businesses.”

A similar message was shared in January, when 56 agriculture groups urged Congress to do more. The bridge assistance is a meaningful step, they said, but it falls short.

Together, they warned the funds “do not cover the extensive and cumulative losses that farmers have absorbed over the last several years.”

“Even after including crop insurance, farm bill programs … losses for principal crops and specialty crops remain deep,” the letter reads.

Spencer Gibbons, CEO of the Utah Farm Bureau, said he expects farmers will see more meaningful relief later this year, but he worries about those who can’t wait that long.

Staker, in southeastern Utah, said many operations are already stretched thin.

“We need somebody to understand that if we’re going to produce food for this nation,” he said, “we’ve got to be able to afford to do it.”

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Rust was the word of choice for Utah Mammoth players and coaches following their 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

It had been 21 days since their most recent game, and while they attempted to get back into game form with plenty of practice time, it’s just not the same as an actual NHL game.

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Here’s the story, as well as the things that the Mammoth need to do to get their momentum going again.

Quick catchup

Colorado Avalanche: 4

Utah Mammoth: 2

If you like goals, all you needed to see was the second period. All six of this game’s goals came during the middle frame.

Brock Nelson thought he’d opened the scoring in the first, but his goal was called back after a Mammoth coach’s challenge determined that he’d interfered with goaltender Karel Vejmelka. He’d later rectify that, though, with his 30th goal of the season after Parker Kelly and Victor Olofsson had already struck for the Avalanche.

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Dylan Guenther tied his career high in goals, scoring his 26th and 27th of the season against the Avalanche. One came on his signature power play one-timer, which he hasn’t used as much in recent months.

Martin Nečas seemed to take inspiration from Guenther’s one-timer, scoring an identical goal later on in the period on an Avalanche power play. Going into the game, the Avalanche and the Mammoth were respectively the worst and second-worst power play teams, so it’s coincidental that they both scored with the man-advantage when they faced each other.

Tidbits and takeaways

Logan Cooley’s return doesn’t guarantee anything

Mammoth fans were greeted with hopeful news ahead of the game: Logan Cooley and Alexander Kerfoot were back and healthy, while the league’s leading scorer, Nathan MacKinnon, would not be suiting up for the Avalanche.

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If there’s ever such thing as an easier game against the league’s best team, this was it. But the Mammoth just couldn’t pull it off.

Head coach André Tourigny offered an explanation in his postgame interview.

“When Cools went down, everybody thought, ‘… What will happen?’ Are we not something like 16-11 without Cools? Because everybody did what they had to do,” he said. “… Everybody just bought in (to) how they had to play and we were successful. So (it) doesn’t matter who you have in the lineup if you have that aggression, that intensity (that) characterizes us, it won’t work.”

Cooley dazzled on a number of occasions throughout the game — including an ankle-breaker on Zakhar Bardakov — and registered his first point since Nov. 28. But Tourigny was not impressed with the overall game of the 21-year-old.

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“Like everybody else, I think I saw a lot of rust and tough decisions with the puck and not playing fast at all, with and without the puck,” he said.

From a full-team standpoint, Cooley agreed.

“You could tell there was some rust out there, and I don’t think it was just small details,” he said. “It was losing battles, not coming back quick enough, not defending in front, little things like that that are our identity and what makes us successful. And we didn’t do that tonight.”

Momentum is paramount

The question going into this game was whether the upper hand would belong to the well-rested team or the one that sent eight players to the Olympics. Tourigny didn’t have an answer to the question before the game, but once the puck dropped it became clear.

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Utah enjoyed a great deal of momentum in the weeks heading into the break, with 12 wins in their last 17 games. They attempted to keep that momentum going by holding extra-long practices as soon as they were allowed, but they still struggled out of the gate.

Their next test isn’t an easy one, either. They host the fifth-placed Minnesota Wild, who, like the Avalanche, had eight players in Milan.

Utah has a 4-0-1 all-time record against Minnesota. If they can get back to their winning ways on Friday, maybe they can build that momentum back up.

Puck luck plays a factor, too

Bounces have been a major talking point in the hockey world this week. It’s a game of inches, and it was only a matter of inches by which MacKinnon and Devon Toews both missed their grade-A scoring chances in the gold medal game, allowing Team USA the opportunity to win it in overtime.

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It was similarly a matter of inches by which Utah lost this game, even with the major flaws that Tourigny pointed out. Lawson Crouse drilled the crossbar on a partial breakaway, while Clayton Keller and another Mammoth player hit posts on excellent scoring chances.

All night long, the puck seemed to bobble at the exact moment guys went to shoot. It affected Keller on the power play and it probably saved another Nelson goal.

“The (ice) sheet wasn’t the best, I don’t think,” Guenther acknowledged after the game. “I mean, we haven’t played here in like three weeks, so I think it’s hard. But, again, they’re playing on that too and making less plays and maybe keeping it a little bit more simple.”

Goal of the game

Dylan Guenther’s one-timer

The power play one-timer just might be the most effective play in the modern era of the NHL. It takes great skill to pull it off consistently, but a lot of guys are able to build their careers on it.

This article was first published in the Ute Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night.

Five former Utes are in Indianapolis this weekend for the 2026 NFL Combine as they take the next step toward a professional football career.

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Scouts, general managers and coaches from every NFL team will be on hand at the combine, with on-field testing running from Thursday to Sunday. Prospects will participate in a series of drills and interview with teams, giving them valuable insight on players.

Drills include the bench press, 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle, and a good performance can send players up draft boards.

Linebacker Lander Barton and defensive end Logan Fano are first up on Thursday, with tight end Dallen Bentley taking the field on Friday and offensive tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu closing things out on Sunday.

Here’s a look at where each former Ute ranks on various draft boards, along with a scouting report from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, as they head into the combine.

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Spencer Fano, offensive tackle

• 2025 stats: 84 PFF grade, no sacks allowed, only five pressures allowed

• 2025 honors: Outland Trophy winner, unanimous first-team All-American, Polynesian College Football Player of the Year, Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, All-Big 12 first team

• PFF Big Board rank: 18

• Mel Kiper’s positional rank: No. 2

• NFL.com prospect grade: 6.44 (will eventually be plus starter)

Scouting report:

“Fano lacks ideal proportional build but compensates with loose hips, quick feet and high-end athleticism. He has the tools to mirror speed rushers, wall off the top of the pocket and find a late anchor when taking the worst of a bull rush. He needs to stay square longer to prevent inside moves and refine his punch approach/timing. His athletic profile is designed for move-based blocking schemes where he can pull, reach and climb while beating opponents to the spot with quickness/feel for hitting landmarks on time. He gives good effort as a downhill blocker but issues with pad level and core strength lead to him being overtaken as the rep progresses. Fano’s level of NFL success might be tied to scheme fit and individual matchups.” — Zierlein

Caleb Lomu, offensive tackle

• 2025 stats: 68.4 PFF grade, no sacks allowed, eight pressures allowed

• 2025 honors: All-Big 12 first team

• PFF Big Board rank: 29

• Mel Kiper’s positional rank: No. 5

• NFL.com prospect grade: 6.36 (will eventually be plus starter)

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Scouting report:

“Two-year starting left tackle who is still in the early stages of his development. Utah’s run game leaned heavily on movement and misdirection, preventing Lomu from firing out and showing his power. His run blocking trails his pass protection, but improved pad level and a nastier demeanor could close the gap. In protection, he shows good balance with adequate foot quickness, landing quick, well-timed punches and using a firm grip to control rushers once he’s in. His anchor was rarely stressed by power and his athletic recoveries are average. Lomu flashes but is still under construction. His play could improve rapidly with strength gains and additional coaching.” — Zierlein

Dallen Bentley, tight end

• 2025 stats: 76.9 PFF grade, 48 catches for 620 yards and six touchdowns

• 2025 honors: All-Big 12 third team

• PFF Big Board rank: 181

• Mel Kiper’s positional rank: No. 3

• NFL.com prospect grade: 5.84 (average backup)

Scouting report:

“With just three catches over his first two seasons at Utah, Bentley’s 48 grabs in 2025 came as a surprise. He has the build of an in-line tight end but mostly uses his size to occupy defenders instead of digging into blocks. A heavy portion of his catches came against zone, so he will need to refine his route running and contested-catch technique to prove he can win on his own. Bentley’s NFL future could depend on his ability to play with more tenacity and technique as a run blocker since his catch production from 2025 might not translate.” — Zierlein

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Logan Fano, defensive end

• 2025 stats: 78.7 PFF grade, 44 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, two pass deflections

• 2025 honors: All-Big 12 second team

• PFF Big Board rank: 262

• Mel Kiper’s positional rank: “Just missed” top 10

• NFL.com prospect grade: 6.36 (average backup)

Scouting report:

“An edge defender with pro size and strength, Fano is capable of playing standing up or with a hand down. He plays with a blend of hurry and heart that keeps him keyed in on the action. However, urgency can become impatience, which pulls him out of position and opens him to counters/misdirection. He’s quick but lacks upfield juice to challenge the edge. His rush plan is too predictable and overly reliant on feet over hands. He’ll shine on special teams and has toughness to defend a pro run game, but Fano needs to improve as a rusher to become a three-down player.” — Zierlein

Lander Barton, linebacker

• 2025 stats: 61.7 PFF grade, 55 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one pass deflection; six catches for 44 yards and a touchdown

• PFF Big Board rank: 266

• NFL.com prospect grade: 5.94 (average backup)

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Scouting report:

“Barton saw a slight downturn in production and consistency in 2025. He lacks ideal short-area quickness and agility for the NFL game but it’s good enough for backup consideration. He needs to play with better block slip and take-on to make his job easier. Barton’s handful of snaps and targets as a tight end might create some H-back roster flexibility to go with his linebacker label.” — Zierlein

In case you missed it

‘I’m getting sick of the moral victories’: Utah’s renewed effort still mixed with frustration.

From the archives

Extra points

Utah gymnasts and Sammy’s Buddy Program are each other’s biggest cheerleaders

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Rivalry reset: Delaney Gibb’s career-high 37 carry BYU to season sweep of Utah

The mid-2000s Utah Jazz are often overlooked by fans when discussing that era of the NBA. After all, the Western Conference was already home to the league’s powerhouses, such as the dynastic San Antonio Spurs, the Seven Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns and the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers.

Still, the Jazz quietly built one of the most balanced and efficient teams in the league. At the center was Deron Williams, who spoke on the “Out The Mud” podcast to share what made them ahead of their time.

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A perfectly-built team

Selected third overall in the 2005 NBA Draft, Williams, a complete guard whose facilitating skills allowed his deceptively quick athleticism to reign supreme on offense, was stepping into a structured system under Hall of Fame head coach Jerry Sloan, and a city reeling from the retirement of John Stockton just two seasons prior.

Despite the pressure, Williams explained that his first couple of years were just him playing basketball in its rawest form, made easier by the roster structure that let him fit in seamlessly.

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“When you come into the league, you just hooping, man. You don’t know about the politics, the s—t that’s going on in the league,” he said. “So my first like three, four years it was just pure basketball, hooping, not giving a f—k. And playing with those guys, the team was kind of built perfectly, you know?” 

“Me and Booz clicked with the pick and roll. We had Memo (Mehmet Okur), who was kind of ahead of his time — like Memo playing right now? Memo going to make a couple hundred,” added Williams.

When looking deeper at Utah’s roster at the time, fans could realize just how modern their roster construction really was. Williams formed an efficient tandem with Carlos Boozer, who was then a two-time All-Star due to his tenacity around the boards and reliable mid-range jumper.

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Completing the frontcourt was Okur, a 6’11 stretch big man who shot 37 percent from long range his whole career. At a time when traditional centers dominated the paint and had not yet been expected to be viable weapons outside of it, Memo could space the floor, which made Sloan’s offense a peculiar riddle at the time.

Then there was Andrei Kirlenko, who was and is still considered one of the most underrated and underappreciated players in league history. AK-47 earned multiple All-Defensive Team honors due to his undeniable ability to protect the rim and defend both big men and guards. Not to mention that he led the league in blocks per game with 3.3 in 2005 as a forward.

“And AK, just, if he could shoot, he would have been one of the best players in the league, hands down,” Williams declared. “He played hard defense, lock up, could pass that thing, can rebound, block shots. He could do everything except shoot consistently.”

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Related: “I’m telling people… pay attention to Boston” – Reggie Miller says Celtics are scariest team in the East even without Tatum

Williams believes they would’ve beaten the Cavaliers in the 2007 Finals

While fans may think Williams is overrating the team a little too much, his comments still hold weight, especially given that they reached the Western Conference finals in 2007 after missing the playoffs the previous two seasons.

The postseason run was far from easy. The Jazz knocked off the Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming-led Houston Rockets in the first round in a grueling seven-game series before dominating the We Believe Golden State Warriors, who beat the one-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round, in six games in the second round.

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Their run ultimately ended in the conference finals against the Spurs in five games, who went on to sweep a young LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. For Williams, the team and their momentum were so good that he believed they would’ve won the championship if they had found a way to get past San Antonio.

“If there was no San Antonio, I think we could have beaten Cleveland that year,” he stated.

The Jazz would remain one of the most dangerous teams in the West in the years that followed. Though they never broke through for a championship, those Utah teams are still notable for embracing depth before the league ever truly did.

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Related: “Better than the Redeem Team” – Deron Williams explains why 2012 Team USA was superior to the 2008 squad

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Jazz players visited with patients at the Intermountain Health Primary Children’s Hospital Miller Family Campus.

On Tuesday, members of the Utah Jazz Basketball team met with the young patients and their families at Primary Children’s Hospital campus in Lehi. While this was one of their first visits to the Lehi campus, the team reportedly has a years-long tradition of visiting young patients.

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Kari Larson, the Utah Jazz’s Vice President of Community & Special Events, said, “We’ve been visiting the children’s hospital and hospitals in the area for 20, 30 years.”

During their visit today, Jazz representatives colored, made friendship bracelets, held a dance party, and participated in other activities with patients.

Ariel Hortin, a dance movement therapist at Primary Children’s said, “It’s like one of the funnest parts of the job because we get to work with people coming in and working with the kids. The goal with that is to not only connections through the community, but also to provide experiences for the kids in the hospital that might make the hospital less traumatizing.”

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She added that it helps give the kids a fun reason to go to the hospital and helps provide them with mental coping techniques.

Larson said that their players and team members also love attending these events, “They love being able to meet with kids, especially because they know they’re fans. Especially your young players, they remember that time where they met a player for the first time, and that’s always an amazing experience for them to sort of be able to give that back.”

She also added that she’s grateful for Intermountain and their other community partners who host these events.

Nicholas Rewey contributed to this article.

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Herriman is one of the state’s fastest-growing cities, and it has approved thousands of permits for new houses. But developers can’t build them because there isn’t enough water capacity.

“We do not have the funding to add more water infrastructure as far as tanks right now,” Mayor Lorin Palmer told lawmakers last week while testifying in favor of HB492, a bill intended to route $100 million in state funds for infrastructure projects. “This absolutely will unlock thousands of units in our community.”

The bill would repurpose money from the Transportation Investment Fund to provide low-interest loans for local governments seeking to fund such projects as sewer lift stations, water tanks, treatment plants, and regional roads.

A board would consider the applications, with the preference toward supporting developments with single-family, detached homes.

“That’s the type of housing we’re missing,” said Rep. Cal Roberts, a Draper Republican who’s sponsoring the bill.

Palmer told The Salt Lake Tribune that cities have been “preaching for years” that funding infrastructure is the right role for the state to play in housing.

“That’s where they should put their thumb on the scale,” he said.

Not enough infrastructure, not enough houses

Utah has for years faced a massive housing shortage compounded by high interest rates and a lag in construction.

As of January, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median listing price for a home in Utah was $590,000 — the sixth-costliest market in the nation.

A recent report estimates the state will be more than 200,000 homes short of demand in 30 years, unless policymakers and lawmakers make changes.

Experts say those supply-side issues have led to Utah’s high housing costs – and that’s at least partly due to infrastructure.

Until now, Utah hasn’t had a great way to fund regional infrastructure projects, said Steve Waldrip, who serves as Gov. Spencer Cox’s senior advisor for housing strategy.

“This is something that is desperately needed across the state,” he said.

The fight in recent years, Roberts said, has been over how local governments don’t want the state to preempt their land-use authority.

He tried to think differently when proposing this bill, he said, to get at the supply issues by addressing one of the biggest choke points – infrastructure. A “significant amount of homes” are approved but not built, Roberts said, with infrastructure as the holdup.

And moving the $100 million from a transportation fund shouldn’t delay planned projects, he said.

More than 100,000 units waiting

According to testimony on a different bill meant to free up more private money for projects, there are more than 100,000 units across the state that are approved for development but held up by infrastructure needs.

That includes 13,000 in Herriman, a city of about 60,000. About 7,500 of those units are in three developments that are stalled while the city increases its water capacity.

In the Panorama and South Hills developments in eastern Herriman, two water tanks and a pump station should be completed this summer, allowing for up to 1,716 units in Panorama and up to 1,441 in South Hills, according to development agreements.

In the Olympia development in northwestern Herriman, a water tank and related infrastructure are still in the design phase, but would allow for up to 6,330 units once completed, according to the development agreement. At least 30% of those will be detached, single-family homes.

Other cities face similar issues, Palmer told lawmakers, citing Harrisville, a city of about 7,000 people in Weber County, where 1,200 approved units also are locked up because there isn’t supporting infrastructure.

Cities ‘just can’t ever afford to unlock all these units’

Many cities have maxed out on issuing bonds to finance projects, so they “just can’t ever afford to unlock all these units.”

And, Palmer said, infrastructure is “a lot more expensive than it used to be.”

Highway construction costs have surged 336 percent since 2003, with a 68% increase since 2021, according to the National Highway Construction Cost Index.

Herriman, for example, is spending $4.2 million on a project to redo a third of a mile of roadway, Palmer said.

HB492, if passed, would offer cities and other local governments a low-interest option to borrow money and fund projects that developers won’t, Roberts said.

They then would have flexibility on how to pay that money back, he said, suggesting that developers’ impact fees could be a source.

Lawmakers on the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee said the bill would give communities tools they don’t have now. They voted 7-1 to pass it to the full House of Representatives.

“While not perfect, I think it’s a good plan,” said Rep. Paul Cutler, a Centerville Republican who once served as that city’s mayor.

Editor’s note • This story was updated at 2 p.m. Feb. 24 to reflect that Rep. Paul Cutler is from Centerville.

No. 4 Iowa State looked like a team that was ready for a bounce back when the Cyclones met up with Utah on Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center.

The Cyclones were coming off a 79-69 loss at BYU three days before, just their fourth loss of the season.

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Seven minutes into the matchup with the Runnin’ Utes, though, Iowa State seized control and never let go.

Utah led 12-10 early, but the Cyclones used a 12-0 run to build a double-digit lead for the first time, and from there, Iowa State’s pressure defense was simply too much for the Utes to realistically hope that they could keep pace.

Utah ended up turning the ball over a season-high 18 times against the Cyclones, who converted those takeaways into 20 points.

“The pressure, it’s hard to replicate that pressure in practice. We let our guys know it was coming, but it’s hard to stay in a game with a team like that when you turn the ball over, especially that many times in the first half, I think it was 11,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said.

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“But (there’s) a lot of things to learn for us, again. We made some good plays, but then we struggled to keep replicating that. All the credit to Iowa State, a good team.”

Iowa State also had the edge in points in the paint (38-26) and bench scoring (26-8), two signs of the Cyclones’ superior physicality and depth.

Eventually, the Utes wore down.

“Across the board, our guys took a lot of pride in guarding the basketball and making sure that we continue to be disruptive throughout the course of the game,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “For us, that’s when we’re at our best, and our guys did a great job with that.”

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Utah still made it interesting for a minute in the second half after trailing 41-31 at halftime.

Over the first 3:09 of the second half, Utah went on a 9-4 run, trimming that deficit in half.

The final field goal in that stretch was particularly impressive — just 20 seconds after Don McHenry scored to make it 45-38, Keanu Dawes came up with a steal, then the Utes moved the ball quickly around before it went back to Dawes, whose slam made it 45-40.

That brought the Huntsman Center crowd to life.

Unfortunately, the Cyclones had an answer.

Iowa State clamped down defensively again, and Utah — who shot just 38.1% in the second half — only scored four points over the next six and a half minutes as the Cyclones (24-4, 11-4 Big 12) pushed their way to a game-high 17-point lead at 61-44.

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That stretch squelched any hopes that Utah (10-18, 2-13 Big 12) could pull the upset.

Forward Joshua Jefferson, an All-Big 12 second-teamer a year ago, paced Iowa State in the second half. He had 13 of his 21 points after the break and also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“It felt pretty good,” Jefferson said, when asked about his ability to bring the fight in a physical game. “You know, (I’ve) been dealing with physicality all season, so I expect it at this point. People are just going to try to muscle me up, but it’s just on me to outmaneuver them every single time I can.”

Milan Momlicovic hit three of his four 3-pointers in the second half and had 14 points for Iowa State, who shot 47.5% for the game.

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Jamarion Batemon (13 points) and Blake Buchanan (10) also scored in double-figures for the Cyclones.

Early on, it looked like Utah might make a game out of it. The Utes made five of their first nine field goals, on a night where Utah shot 45.7%, including a four-point play from McHenry on the Utes’ opening possession.

Once Utah got out to that 12-10 lead, though, the Cyclones’ swarming defense got Utah to speed up, and Iowa State used a 18-5 run to go up 28-17.

“I think everybody saw it, the full-court pressure,” Jensen said of Iowa State’s suffocating defense. “Again, hard to replicate it. … I think it just got us sped up and out of our game plan a little bit, and then, you know, (it) gets discouraging when it’s hard to pass the ball.”

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The Utes got the crowd back into the contest with an 8-0 spurt, headlined by back-to-back 3-pointers from Seydou Traore and Terrence Brown, to cut the Iowa State lead to 29-27.

Iowa State, though, again had a response, going on a 6-0 run over the next minute, including a fastbreak layup off a steal, to push its lead back out to 35-27.

The Cyclones took a 41-31 lead into halftime, after forcing 11 first-half turnovers from Utah and converting those into 14 points.

Utah’s guards led the way for the home team, as Brown, McHenry and Obomate Abbey combined to score Utah’s first 21 points and 24 of their 31 in the first half.

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Brown scored 18 points and shot 6 of 10 from the field and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds and three assists, but Brown also had a seven-worst seven turnovers.

McHenry put up 14 points and added two assists and a steal.

Dawes, meanwhile, had his fifth double-double in the past eight games, finishing with 10 points and 12 rebounds. He also had two assists and a steal.

For the Utes, there was plenty to learn from the loss — including how they can attack the pressure that teams like Iowa State will throw at them.

“You got to use the aggressiveness against them, get a lot of back door cuts,” Dawes said. “And I think we got them a little, especially in the second half. We just got to do that more and figure out what works more earlier on in the game.”

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Utah will be on the road for two of its final three games of the regular season.

That starts with a trip to Arizona State on Saturday (1:30 p.m. MST, TNT).

After Utah faced another physical team in Iowa State — its the fifth top 5 Big 12 defense the Utes have had to deal with the past three weeks, along with Houston, Kansas, West Virginia and Cincinnati — Jensen simply tipped his cap to the effort from Iowa State.

“Give a lot of credit to T.J. and Iowa State, it’s a good team, well assembled. They play hard, their guys play their roles. They sustain effort, and they get better as the game goes on,” he said.

The Utah women’s basketball team was in need of a slump-busting win when they hit the road to take on Colorado Tuesday night.

The Utes got that victory, as they took over in the second half to beat the Buffaloes 67-64.

It’s the kind of win that keeps NCAA tournament hopes alive for Utah, which is hoping to make its fifth straight trip to the NCAAs.

While several players came up with big plays for the Utes (18-11, 9-8 Big 12), Lani White in particular had a memorable night.

She scored 12 points in the third quarter, when Utah outscored Colorado 23-15 to reverse the momentum of the contest.

That’s a major positive for the Utes, who’ve struggled coming out of the half in recent games.

That wasn’t the case against the Buffaloes (20-9, 11-6 Big 12), who had been on a five-game winning streak heading into the night.

Utah, meanwhile, had lost four of its past five games and had found itself on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble watch in several recent national projections.

The Utes started the night with a 6-0 lead as Colorado shot 1 of 10 to begin the game.

Despite that, the Utes trailed 14-13 after one quarter because of eight first-quarter turnovers.

The Buffaloes then took charge in the second quarter. After Maty Wilke hit a 3 to give the Utes an 18-16 lead, Utah scored just once over the next seven minutes, as Colorado went on a 13-2 run to build a 29-20 lead.

Colorado eventually built that lead to double-digits at 33-23 before taking a 33-26 advantage into the break.

After the break, though, Utah fought its way back into the contest quickly, trimming the Buffaloes lead to one just two and a half minutes into the third.

Appropriately enough, it was five straight points from White, including one of their three 3-pointers, that gave the Utes a 37-35 lead, then a minute later, Reese Ross hit a 3 to give Utah the lead for good.

White had 21 points and four rebounds to pace the Utes, while Ross added 10 points, seven rebounds and an assist despite being limited by foul trouble.

Other Utes stepped up, too — Wilke scored 9 points, with 6 of those coming in the fourth quarter.

Senior forward Sam Crispe came off the bench and scored 7 points, while hitting two 3-pointers, and Grace Foster made a 3 early in the fourth as Utah went up seven at 55-48.

Colorado fought back after that and it was a 61-60 game with two minutes to play. Wilke, who hit a 3 in the opening minute of the final period, scored with 33.4 seconds to play to make it 63-60 and she was fouled.

Though Wilke missed the free throw, the Buffaloes couldn’t tie the game as they missed their final two shots from the field and the two teams traded free throws down the stretch.

Desiree Wooten led Colorado with 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, while Zyanna Walker and Jade Masogayo each had 10 points.

Utah will return home to wrap up the regular season, as the Utes host Arizona at the Huntsman Center on Saturday (5 p.m. MST, ESPN+).

Following that, Utah will head to Kansas City next week for the Big 12 tournament, which runs March 4-8 at T-Mobile Center. It will extend to March 9 if BYU advances to the championship, since it’s scheduled for a Sunday.