Utah Basketball: Runnin' Utes Beat Temple 74-68

The Runnin' Utes beat the Temple Owls by a score of 74-68 Sunday afternoon, wrapping up their Puerto Rico Tip Off tournament. The Utes went 2-1 on their trip, with the two wins coming against Temple and Texas Tech, and the lone loss coming to Miami.

The Utes were led by center Jakob Poeltl, who notched 32 points and 11 rebounds, and was thoroughly dominate throughout the night. Poeltl was extremely efficient on the night, going 10-of-12 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the free thrown line. The only other Ute to score in double figures was Brandon Taylor, with 10 points. The Utes really struggled on the night putting the ball in the hoop, they only shot 40% on the night from the floor, and 26% from three. Their saving grace was the free throw line, as they shot 26-of-34 (74%).

It was a night full of runs for both teams, as the Utes really struggled out of the gates, as did the Owls, but they really started to put things together at the end of the first half, and into the second half, as they built an eventual 14 point lead. The Utes held Temple to just 39% shooting on the evening, and put Temple into foul trouble. They eventually fouled out two of the Owls players, and put another two near fouling out with 4 fouls.

The Utes next game will be against Idaho State at the Huntsman Center this coming Friday.

Here are some game notes from the contest:

• Sunday's contest was the first-ever meeting between Utah and Temple. The Utes are now 1-0 all-time against the Owls.

• Sophomore Jakob Poeltl scored a game-high 32 points, becoming the first Utah player to score 30+ points in a game since Carlon Brown (31 points) back on Jan. 27, 2010, at Wyoming. Poeltl scored a career-high 17 points in the first half, as well. His previous high in a half was 15 points that he scored at Washington last season.

• Poeltl finished the game with 32 points and 11 rebounds to record his third double-double of the season and sixth of his career. He also posted a team and game-high three blocks.

• The Utes closed the first half out-scoring the Owls 14-6 to take a 39-30 lead into the halftime break.

• Utah led by as many as 14 points with 18:55 left in the second half. Temple would later outscore the Utes 18-6 to take its first lead of the second half, 64-63.

• After missing three straight free throws between the 4:10 and 3:50 marks in the second half, Utah would close the contest making its final seven free throws of the game.

• The Utes have shot 75 percent or better from the free throw line in three of its first five games. Utah finished tonight's contest with a 26-of-34 (.765) effort at the charity stripe.

• Utah out-shot the Owls 34 to nine in free throw attempts. Temple tallied 27 personal fouls to Utah's season-low 13.

• Utah won the battle on the boards (42-36), recorded more blocks (4-0) and had less turnovers (6-9) than the Owls.

• Senior Brandon Tayler and Poeltl both played for a season-high 36 minutes each. Senior Jordan Loveridge played a season-high 35 minutes.