Runnin' Utes come from behind to beat Boise State

Pictured: Will Clyburn watches his game winning three-pointer go in against Boise State last night.

The Utah Runnin' Utes (7-3) defeated the Boise State Broncos (6-4) last night in Salt Lake City by a score of 86-84. Will Clyburn hit the winning three-pointer with about 10 seconds left to provide the final margin. Clyburn finished with 22 points and 8 rebounds. All five starters for the Utes were in double figures. Boise State's Daequon Montreal led all scorers with 28.

Utah jumped out to an early 17-8 lead, but the Broncos took control after that. Boise State's lead was as big as 16 at 66-50 with 14:03 left in the game. I thought Utah's defense up to that point was pretty poor as Boise State got a lot of open looks. After that, the Utes tightened up and BSU only scored 18 points the rest of the way. The Broncos got way too many offensive rebounds which led to a lot of second-chance points. That is something that needs to be cleaned up in a hurry before the Utes compete in the Diamond Head Classic beginning next Wednesday.

However, the real story of the game to me is the resiliency the Utes showed by not folding when they fell behind by 16 in the second half. Utah was able to chip away at the lead and made a number of key shots down the stretch. Jason Washburn made a couple of clutch free throws as well as a jump hook to help trim the deficit and the Utes got the stops they needed. Josh Watkins put Utah up for the first time since the first half with a pair of free throws with under 30 seconds left. A Broncos bucket set up Clyburn's heroics off of a pass from Watkins. Both Clyburn and Watkins deserve credit for that play in making the right decisions and getting the shot to go. It really pleased me to see the Utes play so well down the stretch as they seemingly made every play they had to.

Utah next plays Butler (6-4, 1-0 Horizon) at 9 p.m. MT on Wednesday night in the aforementioned Diamond Head Classic. The game will be televised on ESPNU. The Utes will play either Florida State (8-2, 1-0 ACC) or Hawaii (7-2) depending on the results of the previous day's games. Butler looked very impressive in dismantling Stanford (6-3) today by a score of 83-50 in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs look to be finding their groove and reminded me of the National Championship Runner-Up team from a season ago in beating the Cardinal today. They really only have one bad loss (which came without one of their emotional leaders Ronald Nored) and have played a tough schedule. It should be a tough game for the Runnin' Utes, but I'm anxious to see how they do.