Season Comes to a Close for Men's Basketball at the Crown

Monday, March 31

Las Vegas, NV / MGM Grand Garden Arena

1:00 PM

University of Utah

16-17,8-12Big 12

Butler

15-19,6-14Big East

Utah

Butler

Photo by: Anna Fuder/Utah Athletics

Season Comes to a Close for Men's Basketball at the Crown

3/31/2025 4:29 PM | Men's Basketball

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Keanu Dawes recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to Butler.

LAS VEGAS – The Utah men's basketball team saw its season come to a close officially Monday afternoon after its 86-84 loss to Butler in the inaugural game of the College Basketball Crown.

First-half action had a frantic start with both teams combining to go 12-of-15 from the field and headed into the first media break tied 14-14 (15:38). The back-and-forth between both teams continued on with the game tied at 23-23 midway through (10:19) before Keanu Dawes went on an 8-3 run by himself to put the Runnin' Utes (16-17) ahead 41-33.

A deep three and basket on the ensuing possession from Butler brought it within 43-40 of Utah before a hard drive to the rack from Ezra Ausar saw the junior complete the and-1 and send Utah into the locker room on top 46-42.

Utah got off to a hot-start in the second frame, jumping out to a 60-49 lead – its largest of the game – with 14:53 on the clock after Dawes drained both free throws. However, the turning point of the game came on the next offensive possession for Utah where a no-call led to a technical on the Utes – which sparked an 11-2 run for the Bulldogs (15-19) to tie things up (62-62) with 10:17 remaining.

Butler would go on another run, this time to the tune of 11-5 to push its lead back up to 73-67 with 6:13 to go. A pair of free-throws from Dawes followed by the first of three triples from Gabe Madsen gave Utah the lead again (76-75) heading into the 3:27 media timeout.

Both teams would go back-and-forth as Madsen answered the bell for Utah two more times from beyond the arc to tie things up at 84 with 1:17 to go. However, an empty possession by the Utes saw Butler take the go-ahead lead, 86-84, with 3.2 seconds to go. Utah had last-second shot, but wasn't able to convert and saw its season come to a close.

Dawes finished with yet another double-double, scoring 19 points on 11 boards while Madsen added 17 points of his own on 5-of-14 from deep. Ausar came off the bench with 15 points and 5 rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting with Jake Wahlin rounding this out with 10 points of his own.

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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