Interest in Utah basketball has waned in recent years, but there were signs of life during Thursday's loss to No. 9 UCLA.
Attendance for Utah basketball games has waned in recent years, but there were signs of life this week at the Huntsman Center
That brings us back to the UCLA Bruins, 63-58 winners over the Utes on Thursday evening. The No. 9 team in the country was in town. A Final Four participant a year ago, among the Pac-12 favorites now, a reasonable selection to go to the Final Four again. When the Pac-12 released its full conference schedule in September, the Bruins were the most-attractive team on Utah’s home slate.
Things then took an unexpected turn. Utah started defending at a high level. The Utes shot the lights out, they got contributions from all over the place, they played 11 guys inside the first 8:00, they went toe-to-toe with the Bruins, getting the better of the final 16:00 of that first half in taking a 32-31 lead to halftime.
The second half was marked by emotional swings. Gabe Madsen’s 3-pointer from the left wing elicited one of the louder roars of the evening, giving Utah a 51-50 lead with 5:56 left. In a half marked by spotty officiating, Marco Anthony getting dinged for a questionable foul on Johnny Juzang with 1:50 left elicited another loud roar, this one of the booing variety, followed by another chorus of boos as it was replayed on the video board.
Taking everything into account, Thursday felt like proof enough that Utah basketball is not yet extinct, as some argue. That argument is rooted in the upper bowl situation, rooted in the stagnation of the final years of the Larry Krystkowiak era, rooted in Smith getting off to a rocky start, and yes, rooted in a certain faction of fans demanding that it be 1998 for all of eternity.
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