Utah Ute’s Rollie Worster (25) tries to dam St. Thomas’ Riley Miller (10) shot on the Jon M. Huntsman Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
Whereas most sports activities followers had been targeted on soccer Saturday, Utah males’s basketball coach Craig Smith and his staff had been attempting to determine how one can put together for St. Thomas, a small Minnesota college that has targeted its success on capturing 3-pointers.
The Utes, nonetheless, pressured the Tommies to uncommon off evening from lengthy vary and gave all of their future opponents one thing new to organize for en path to a 95-66 victory on the Jon M. Huntsman Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis.
Gabe Madsen scored 15 factors and led 5 gamers in double figures as Utah improved its report to 5-3.
Smith admitted he nonetheless has rather a lot to find out about this yr’s staff. and its non-league combination of different faculties of still-unknown high quality is slowly serving to him put together higher for when the Utes begin the Pac-12 schedule subsequent Thursday at residence towards a recognized high quality staff — undefeated Arizona.
“I’m unsure how I really feel about enjoying league video games in December … not a lot I can do about it,” he mentioned, “however we’ll study rather a lot about ourselves actually quick.”
The latest Florida street journey was useful, regardless that the Utes gained simply considered one of three video games. Smith, nonetheless, mentioned he was glad about how the squad reacted enjoying on a vacation weekend in entrance of a subdued crowd of about 5,000 that was additionally lacking its scholar part, the MUSS.
“We took management early. We had probabilities to blow them out, however then made some foolish errors,” mentioned Smith. “They'd our consideration due to their unorthodox play.”
The Tommies’ uncommon type was their focus of 3-point capturing. The Tommies made 9 treys in an in depth loss to nationally ranked Creighton earlier this month and boasted one of many nation’s prime shooters, Riley Miller.
Miller, nonetheless, was 0 for 3 from lengthy vary Saturday, and St. Thomas by no means gathered any momentum. The Tommies stayed shut, nonetheless, till the Utes’ 7-foot heart, Branden Carlson, made a pair of necessary performs late within the first half.
With the Utes forward 34-24, Carlson blocked a shot by the Tommies’ Will Engels on the 3-point line that resulted in a shot-lock violation. Then, after a Utah timeout, Carlson caught a half-courtlong go from guard Rollie Worster and scored on a layup to finish the half.
“Rollie was once a quarterback in highschool,” Smith mentioned. “He made an awesome learn and fired that go proper on a line. It was an awesome play and an effective way to enter the locker room.”
Smith additionally famous that a lot of the St. Thomas starters had performed shut to fifteen minutes by that point, too, whereas the Utes substituted freely.
The second half was all Utah, and a sequence of 3-pointers, led by Madsen, ultimately constructed the margin to as many as 32 factors.
Lazar Stefanovic, Marco Anthony, Bostyn Holt and Keba Keita additionally had a number of spotlight reel performs that made this recreation memorable.
“We had been actually on the lookout for somebody to step ahead,” mentioned Stefanovic, who made 2 of three threes and completed with 12 factors.
Worster was excellent from lengthy vary on two tries and in addition had a team-best seven assists and managed a lot of the offensive units that solely had seven turnovers.
St. Thomas fell to 5-3 on the season. Engels had 16 factors for the Tommies, who can be within the area once more on Dec. 10 once they play one other non-league recreation at Idaho State.