Utah’s first-half fight didn’t translate to the second half in blowout loss to No. 23 BYU

At the 1:37 mark of the first half in Saturday night’s BYU-Utah matchup at the Marriott Center, the Runnin’ Utes found themselves leading the No. 23 Cougars 29-27 thanks to Gabe Madsen’s first 3-pointer of the contest.

To that point, Utah had gutted through compounding turnover issues and poor shooting to stick with BYU and even lead for the majority of the first half.

The Utes also rebounded the ball well in the opening 20 minutes and took advantage of BYU’s poor first-half 3-point shooting. Utah outrebounded BYU 25-18 in the first half and the Cougars missed their first 13 3-point attempts.

Over the final minute of the first half, though, Utah watched BYU go on a 7-1 run to turn that two-point deficit into a four-point lead, punctuated by a 30-foot Dallin Hall 3-pointer at the buzzer.

That quick turn of momentum to end the first half ended up being a harbinger of things to come, as BYU ran away with an 85-74 victory over the Utes to end Utah’s two-game win streak in the series.

“A couple of things I think we mismanaged, especially at the end of the half, (were) not taking the last shot and then they really did a good job of taking advantage of us, really putting their head down and driving there late, which we had a hard time staying in front,” Utah interim coach Josh Eilert said.

A gutty effort from Utah over the opening 20 minutes didn’t translate over to the second half, as the Utes’ defense fell apart.

“Some of those transition buckets where they walked to the rim, it definitely was their emphasis coming out out halftime and they executed that. Credit to them,” said Eilert, whose team lost the fast break points battle 14-8.

BYU built off that late first-half swing and began to play more like itself in the second half, as the Cougars went up 54-41 with 13 minutes remaining, sparked in part by a pair of Dawson Baker 3-pointers.

Utah had a quick 8-0 answer, including two Madsen 3-pointers, that made the score 54-49. Then the Utes, in what’s been an issue this season, went on an extended scoring drought at an ill-timed point of the game.

The Cougars pushed the lead back into double-digits over the next five minutes as part of a 12-0 run, while Utah was mired in a shooting slump that saw the visitors miss nine straight field goals.

By the time the slump ended, BYU led 66-49 with 6:46 to play and the outcome had all but been decided in Provo.

“I think our main focus is being consistent, and coming out of halftime, it hurt us coming out and not getting those (stops), I think they go up eight points (early) or something like that,” Utah forward Ezra Ausar said. “I think we just lost consistency coming out in the second half.”

It leaves Utah entering the postseason on a two-game losing streak after falling by two to West Virginia in its home finale Tuesday. While the Utes (16-15, 8-12 Big 12), who have been playing under the cloud of a coaching change the past two weeks, have looked competitive in stretches this week against two NCAA tournament caliber teams, their flaws caught up with them again.

Against BYU, part of that was a propensity to turn the ball over. Utah ended up with 17 turnovers to 10 for BYU. The Cougars turned that into a 21-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

“They scored a lot off our turnovers,” said Utah guard Miro Little. “Our 17 turnovers was what cost that the game today and we’ve just got to take care of better care of the ball as a team.”

Eilert echoed those sentiments and said he challenged his guys at halftime to clean it up. In the first half, Utah turned the ball over 10 times and it led to nine points.

While the Utes turned it over fewer times in the second half with seven, those giveaways led to 12 Cougar points.

“I think that there’s no secret, our Achilles is the turnover situation, and they turned up the pressure,” Eilert said. “They turned up the pressure, especially on our point guard play.

“I really got after our guys in the locker room there at halftime that I’m searching for a point guard that can really run the show and get us into what we need to, get a good shot each and every time down the floor. It’s been something that just keeps on rearing its ugly head, the turnover situation, and it certainly did tonight.”

Both teams struggled shooting in the first half. BYU was 37.3% from the floor, while Utah was 33.3%. The Cougars, though, turned that around in the second half, shooting 61.5% after the half and 47.5% for the game.

Utah, meanwhile, shot 35.6% in the second half and 34.7% for the game.

The Utes had a few noteworthy individual efforts in the matchup. Little scored a career-high 21 points, including 18 in the second half, and made four 3-pointers in the final six minutes when the game was decided.

Ausar finished with a double-double at 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Jake Wahlin had 10 points and six rebounds against the team he once signed with before flipping to the Utes.

The Cougars, though, showed they were the better team, as they overcame their first-half inconsistency and followed it up with a second-half effort that included five made 3-pointers.

Utah did make more 3s — at 12 to eight — and held a 53-34 rebounding edge, but it didn’t matter against a hot Cougars squad.

What’s next for the Utes, who showed some fight but couldn’t overcome their flaws? The loss slots Utah into the No. 11 seed for next week’s Big 12 tournament.

The Utes will face No. 14 seed UCF in Tuesday’s first round at 7:30 p.m. MST at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

“It was a good defensive effort to start to the half on our part and thought we did a really good job on the glass and handling the environment,” Eilert said, “but you know, just sometimes the floodgates start to open up on you and (they) certainly did.”