BERKELEY, Calif. – Despite a tough fight, the Utah men's basketball team fell to the California Golden Bears Tuesday night inside the Haas Pavilion, 79-72.Â
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Utah (6-3) opened the game with a sharp scoring effort from junior guard
Terrence Brown, who poured in the team's first seven points of the contest – including a layup that moved the Runnin' Utes within 8-7 of the Golden Bears' early lead.Â
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Utah then fired off a 10-0 scoring run capped by a highlight sequence from Brown, whose sneaky steal led to an and-1 layup by
Seydou Traore which pushed the Utes ahead 17-10 with 13:59 on the clock.Â
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Brown found success on the defensive side for a second time minutes later with another steal, this time taking the turnover to the basket himself for a one-handed slam that put Utah ahead 25-17 with 8:50 left in the half.
In the final seven minutes of the first half, Cal outpaced the Utes with a 22-5 scoring surge. The Bears (7-1) first tied the game (28-28) from the free-throw line before sending the Utes into the locker room down 42-34.
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A pair of quick buckets from
Don McHenry and Traore brought Utah within two possessions of the Golden Bears (42-38) before the home team responded by extending their advantage to 49-41.Â
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Down 68-60 with 8:34 remaining, Utah didn't back down and fired off an 8-2 scoring run over the next four minutes of action to cut Cal's advantage to 70-68 after
Keanu Dawes connected on two free throws at the 4:10 mark.Â
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Despite leading the Utes with 10 second-half points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field, Dawes' effort wasn't enough as Cal limited Utah to one field goal following the 2:54 media timeout and handed Utah a 79-72 road loss.Â
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For the second time this season, five Utah players scored in double-figures as Brown led the group with 15 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and a rebound. Dawes added 14 points of his own along with a team-high 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Traore,
Jacob Patrick and McHenry rounded out Utah's crew of double-digit scorers with 14 points, 13 points, and 10 points, respectively.Â
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BY THE NUMBERS
- The Utes beat the Golden Bears in points off the bench by a margin of 19-3
- Utah finished the game with 7 steals compared to Cal's 4Â
UP NEXT
The Runnin' Utes return home to the friendly confines of the Jon M. Huntsman Center where they'll play host to Cal Baptist on Saturday, Dec. 6, starting at 5 p.m. (MST). Tony Parks will have the call alongside former Utah assistant coach Joe Cravens on ESPN+.Â
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SEASON TICKETS & MINI PLANS
Fans still have time to purchase season tickets for the 2025-26 Utah men's basketball season under first-year head coach
Alex Jensen. In addition, fans can also choose between two mini plans; theÂ
Saturday ONLYÂ Plan starts at $125 while theÂ
Conference ONLYÂ plan starts at $150. Single-game tickets for non-conference games are also on-sale starting at just $10 per ticket.Â
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Fans interested in buy season tickets, mini plans or single-game tickets (non-conference) can do so by going online atÂ
UtahTickets.com or by phone at 801-581-UTIX (8849).
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For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online atÂ
www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB onÂ
Facebook,Â
XÂ andÂ
Instagram. Fans can also stay connected on their mobile devices or tablets with theÂ
Utah 360 app.Â
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