Runnin' Utes miss rebound, lose in overtime to ASU

That hurt.

Utah, leading by three, needed one rebound to almost certainly assure the program its first-ever Pac-12 road win.

One rebound.

Shoulda been easy.

They held the advantage in rebounding by four and the game was on the line.

Get that rebound, hit your foul shots and leave Tempe with a huge win and a 1-0 Pac-12 record.

,..

Then Jahii Carson, who hadn't made a three pointer all night, threw one up ... and tied the game.

Utah, on their next possession, struggled with the clock and struggled even more finding a good shot. Jarred DuBois threw something, I don't know what, at the basket and missed. Fortunately, the Sun Devils did everything in their power in the final 30 seconds of the game to advance this one to overtime.

For much of the extra period, Utah trailed ... by only two. Then, the goat just a few short minutes earlier, DuBoise stepped up and hit a three - giving Utah the lead.

That's about all the good that happened in overtime, as Carson pushed the ball down the court on the following possession and regained the lead for the final time of the night ... even if Utah had like a bajillion chances to win the game at the end.

So, just as it has been and always seems to be, the Runnin' Utes lose and start the conference season 0-1. They're almost certainly going to be 0-2 once they roll out of Tucson after taking on fourth-ranked Arizona. There was progress in this opener, since they lost by 30 or 40 points to Colorado in last year's, but this was not a pretty game. Neither team shot particularly well (Utah finished only 34% from the field) or even played all that fundamentally sound. This would not have been a pretty win, which means it's a pretty ugly loss. But progress is being made and this team does have some semblance of competitiveness ... which is pretty big considering last year.

Still, the process is long and the outcome still in doubt. What could have been a win - which you can say for all but one of Utah's losses this season - has now turned into another stinging defeat. I don't know how many more of these we have left ... but I certainly hope we're close to running out.

On one final, sad note - I would like to give props to Jason Washburn, who stepped up and played like a senior ... even if he came up short at the very end.