The Utes have dominant offensive performance against the Huskies in a 98-95 victory

LAS VEGAS –– Scoring started off quickly between the 7th seed Utah Utes and the 10th seed Washington Huskies as Mikael Jantunen knocked down a three within the first few seconds of the game for Utah.

While scoring slowed, the Utes continued their hot start, building up a lead of as many as 17 points in the first ten minutes of the half. While the Huskies had a number of open shot opportunities, they were not able to execute on them, shooting just 25 percent.

A nearly three minute shooting slump for Washington concluded with a made basket from senior guard Quade Green. Alongside this, the Huskies began turnovers on the Utes whose lead shrank to 12. Despite the Utes leading by double digits at certain points of the half, their lead shrunk to as small as 9 points.

Shots flew through the net throughout the first half as both teams racked up a collective 83 points. At halftime Utah was dominating Washington 47-35.

The second half started out just as strongly as the first with the teams trading baskets in the first minute of play. Alfonso Plummer, senior guard for the Utes, continued his offensive dominance quickly by draining threes from deep as early as the third minute of the second half.

“We got a lot of shooters on the team,” Plummer said about Utah’s shooting prowess throughout the game. “I feel like we are a dangerous team when we move the ball like that.”

UW picked up its intensity as the second half progressed, nailing threes and executing on the open shots, continually creating deficits in Utah’s lead. Washington’s offensive work, however, did not slow down Utah’s scoring prowess enough as they would shoot over 50 percent from the field.

The Utes performed on all fronts as they racked up 27 rebounds, forced 15 turnovers and shot a striking 54 percent from three-point range. Their biggest lead in the second half was even larger than that in the first, growing to as large as 19 points.

Despite a last ditch push by Washington’s defense, the team was no match for Utah’s seemingly unstoppable gameplay today – especially Timmy Allen’s 24 points and 11 rebounds.

“Just being aggressive, trusting my teammates, coming with the right approach and being ready to play,” Allen said about his gameplay today. “It's the simple things that can get you going here down the stretch.”

The 98-95 victory will put Utah in a position to face off against the 2nd seed USC Trojans in the second round of tournament play tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.