Bears are overwhelmed on both ends of the court
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah spent the better part of 40 minutes dominating Cal on both ends of the floor. The Utes generated offense through efficient passing and imposed suffocating defense on the Bears.
It added up to a 77-43 victory over Cal on Saturday where the Utes dished out 24 assists on 28 baskets. They also limited the Bears to 16of-53 (.302) shooting from the field.
Cal struggled to adjust to Utah’s defensive pressure in the first half and quickly coughed up several turnovers. The Bears totaled six turnovers in the first 8½ minutes and racked up 11 turnovers by halftime. Utah scored 17 points off those turnovers.
“We were not flowing at all,” Cal coach Wyking Jones said. “The pace
wasn’t what we were accustomed to and we just didn’t have any energy.”
Darius McNeill scored 10 points to lead Cal. The Bears (8-18, 2-11 Pac-12) lost their sixth straight road game after going 3-0 away from home to start the season.
There has been a renewed emphasis by Utah to team defense this week after a road loss to Colorado.
“We just tried to shift our focus away from the offense and just focus, really, on the defense, on creating opportunities in transition,” senior point guard Justin Bibbins said. “Once our defense was flowing we played way more freely on offense.”
David Collette scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting in a dominant performance around the paint to pace Utah’s offense. Bibbins chipped in 15 points and Sedrick Barefield added 13 for the Utes. Tyler Rawson added a team-high eight assists.
Utah (15-9, 7-6) won its fourth straight at home against Pac-12 opponents.
Cal seized an 8-4 lead behind back-to-back baskets from McNeill. Bibbins evened the score with a four-point play that also sparked a 10-0 run. The senior point guard finished off the run with a layup that gave Utah a 14-8 lead.
The Utes carved out their first double digit lead behind an 11-2 run later in the half. Barefield and Collette combined to score baskets over three straight possessions to get things going. Then Collette finished off the run with back-to-back layups, giving Utah a 30-18 advantage.
Utah had 14 assists on 15 baskets in the first half.
Cal scored one field goal — a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Don Coleman — over the final five minutes of the first half. The Utes took advantage, pushing their lead to 40-21. Collette and Bibbins fueled the run with two baskets apiece.
Utah led by as many as 34 points in the second half. The Utes took their largest lead in the final minute on back-to-back baskets from Parker Van Dyke and Jayce Johnson.