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After blowing so many leads this season, it seems like the Utes were due, and they made due on a comeback of their own on Saturday afternoon against Colorado. After trailing by 19 points in the second half, Utah roared back to take the 77-74 win over CU in Boulder. The Utes were led by Alfonso Plummer’s 23 points, all of which came in the second half after first half foul issues. Timmy Allen pitched in 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Mikael Jantunen and Riley Battin each had nine points, and Pelle Larsson had eight.
The first half was pretty uninteresting, from a Utah perspective, as they took an early lead, but CU stormed back with a 14-2 run of their own to take a lead. CU was on fire from deep hitting 6 of 9 threes, which helped them build that lead which ended up being 43-36 at half — way too many points given up by the Utes.
It was a 31-9 run for the Utes in the second half that gave them the comeback win — after trailing by those 18 points. CU started the half with a 18-8 run, and the Utes looked dead in the water. At the 8:46 mark Coach K earned himself a technical foul, one which he wouldn’t admit was intentional or not to try and light a fire under his squad. Plummer was unstoppable in the second half, and he really capped it off with a four point play late in the game to complete the comeback for the Utes. And it was the turn around jumper by Plummer that was really the nail in the coffin for the Buffs, giving the Utes their second road win in three games. Fortunately CU didn’t hit the potential game tying three at the end, and the Utes evened up their season record at 7-7, and are now 4-6 in league play.
NOTABLES
Utah outrebounded Colorado 31-30 Saturday after getting pummeled on the glass last year in Boulder, 42-24 … this was the first game Utah has won this season when trailing at the half, it was 0-3 this season and 3-12 in 2019-20 … Utah was aggressive at the rim, knocking down 16-of-19 from the line compared to Colorado’s 5-of-6 from the line … the script finally flipped for Utah, coming back to defeat Colorado despite leading the Buffs in just 5:12 total minutes of play – those coming off the opening minutes of play and the final minutes of play.
UP NEXT
Utah will now go home, get some time to rest and prepare for Arizona, who have won three of their last four. The Utes and Wildcats are slated to tip-off on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 5 p.m. (MT) on FS1 inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center before welcoming in Arizona State on Super Bowl Sunday.