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The Utah basketball team moved to 3-0 on Friday night, as they topped Coppin State at the Huntsman Center by a score of 94-51. The Utes continued in their process to learn about each other and gel as they get closer and closer to Pac-12 play, and there was some progress made in the win on Friday. Of course, when you’re playing an overmatched opponent, you do have to take some things with a grain of salt, but I saw some things I really liked, particularly in the first half.
The Utes played really fast, and rather sharp in the first half. We’ve seen a lot less one-on-one play the past two games, and a lot more open shots. The Utes really struggled from three last game, but on Friday, they were 12-28 from deep, and 9-of-14 in the first half. The Utes were finding the open man and knocking down the open shot from deep. It was really nice to see, and something hopefully they can continue to do. Of course, Utah can’t fall in love with the three, as that’s probably not their strength this year. In the second half the Utes went 3-of-14 from downtown, so they need to find the middle ground a little bit more.
The Utes had four players in double figures, led by JoJo Zamora’s 22. Joining JoJo was Lorenzo Bonam with 19, Parker Van Dyke with 15 and Jake Connor with 11. This game was over within the first 10 minutes of the game, so some players, like Kyle Kuzma, didn’t see a ton of time.
Next up for the Utes is UC Riverside next Friday.