Runnin' Utes Drop Heartbreaker in Orlando

Sunday, February 23

Orlando, FL / Addition Financial Arena

2:00 PM

University of Utah

15-12,7-9Big 12

UCF

14-13,5-11Big 12

Utah

UCF

Photo by: Russell Lansford-Imagn Images

2/23/2025 5:21 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highliths

The Utah men’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking game on the road to UCF, 76-72.

ORLANDO – The Utah men's basketball team battled down to the very end against UCF, but couldn't make enough stops in its heartbreaking 76-72 loss on Saturday evening inside Addition Financial Field.

Utah came out of the gates locked and loaded, jumping out to a 12-0 run that forced a UCF timeout at the 15:54 mark after Mike Sharavjamts followed up a couple easy jams for Ezra Ausar with his second 3-pointer of the game.

However, as hot as the Runnin' Utes started the game it also went cold just as fast and went without a field-goal for 7:50 minutes that was coupled with 7 early turnovers to see their lead dwindle to 17-13 at the 7:22 mark after Jake Wahlin scored on a reverse-layup.

A quick 7-0 run by the Knights gave them the 20-17 lead out of the 7:22 media break and forced a Utah (15-12, 6-9 Big 12) timeout to gather itself with 5:36 left in the half. Utah got the lead back not too long after on back-to-back 3-pointers from Gabe Madsen and Sharavjamts, 29-28, but a late bucket from UCF sent Utah into the break down just 30-29 despite giving up 7 offensive rebounds and committing 12 first-half turnovers.

The second-half saw both teams exchanging punches between the Utes and Knights and saw 5 lead changes the first 10 minutes of the second frame with Utah leading by as much as 43-38 before things got interesting.

UCF (14-13, 5-11 Big 12) tied things up out of the 10:33 media break, 49-49, after Dallan Coleman knocked down both free-throws out of the timeout. That gave the Knights a little life and regained the 54-49 edge over Utah after scoring on back-to-back possessions to force another Ute timeout (9:27).

The Knights' offense continued to go unanswered to the tune of a 16-6 run to lead by as much as 11 (63-52) with Madsen's two triples being the only points that the Utes were able to manage and trailed 63-55 after his second triple with 5:23 remaining.

UCF made it a 10-point game (65-55) once again out of the timeout but Utah continued to battle behind Madsen's fourth 3-pointer of the evening to make it a one-possession game after Sharavjamts found Ausar in the lane to cut the lead down to 65-62 with 3:32 left to play.

A quick 5-0 spurt by the Runnin' Utes cut their deficit to just 68-67 with 1:39 left to play before Madsen's fifth long ball of the game knotted it up at 72-72 with 11 ticks on the clock. Keyshawn Hall turned the corner out of the UCF timeout and found his way to the rack with to give the Knights a 74-72 edge with 3 seconds on the clock on the ensuing possession. A critical turnover out of the inbounds by Utah after the made basket by UCF would seal the victory, 76-72, for the home team.

Madsen finished with a game-high 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting from deep. Meanwhile, Ausar posted 20 points for the second-straight game on 7-of-10 shooting with 6 rebounds and was 6-of-7 from the foul line. Sharavjamts had one of his better games of Big 12 play, finishing with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists.

POSTGAME NOTES

Ezra Ausar finished with 20 points for his second-straight game with 20-plus points – a first for his career
Despite committing 12 turnovers in the first half, Utah luckily only trailed the points off turnover battle 7-2
Turnovers wreaked havoc on the Utes in the second half and was outscored 20-8 in points off turnovers from 19 total miscues
The four points by Utah's bench was the lowest total this year and the only time the bench scored single-digit points

UP NEXT
Utah closes out its final road swing of the regular-season on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when it battles a familiar foe in #19/18 Arizona inside McKale Center. The two former Pac-12 teams will square off for the first time as members of the Big 12 Conference starting at 7 p.m. (MST) on ESPN+ with Pete Sousa and former Stanford Cardinal head coach Jerod Haase on the call.

For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on Facebook, X and Instagram. Fans can also stay connected on their mobile devices or tablets with the Utah 360, the official app of Utah Athletics, through the Apple Store or Google Play.

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