National Basketball Association
Colorado 72, Utah 58
When: 11:30 PM ET, Thursday, March 14, 2024
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials:
# Deron White, # Mike Reed, # DG Nelson
Attendance:
11428
By Field Level Media
KJ Simpson stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists Thursday night as third-seeded Colorado advanced to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Conference tournament with a 72-58 win over sixth-seeded Utah in Las Vegas.
Eddie Lampkin Jr. added 17 points and 12 boards for the Buffaloes (23-9), who won their seventh straight game and helped their chances to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Tristan da Silva scored 14 points for Colorado, which earned a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint. Colorado will face second-seeded Washington State in the conference semifinals.
Branden Carlson and Hunter Erickson each scored 13 points for the Utes (19-14), who could be bound for the NIT after losing three of their last four games. Cole Bajema added 10 points but made only 3 of 10 shots.
Poor shooting hampered Utah all night as it connected on just 21 of 64 attempts from the field (32.8 percent). The Utes were even worse from 3-point range, going 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) for the game and 2 of 16 (12.5 percent) in the second half. The Utes also lost the battle of the boards 47-37.
The Buffaloes pulled away with an 8-0 run late in the second half, capped by a three-point play from J'Vonne Hadley with 3:48 left for an insurmountable 68-52 cushion.
The first half was played in two distinctly different parts. The first 9 1/2 minutes were all Colorado as it owned a double-figure lead before the second TV timeout and pushed it to 27-13 on da Silva's 3-pointer at the 10:32 mark.
Utah then mounted its first pushback. Beginning with an Erickson 3-pointer, the Utes rattled off 15 straight points in a span of 5:04, taking the lead with 5:08 remaining in the half when Ben Carlson fed Gabe Madsen for a layup.
The half's remainder was a collection of missed shots with Utah going scoreless for the final 2:47 after Branden Carlson dunked. The Buffaloes didn't do much better but were able to take a 33-30 edge to the break after Lampkin found da Silva for an inside hoop.
The teams were whistled for only six fouls in the half, just one on Colorado.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Utah |
|
Colorado |
|
Branden Carlson 13 |
Scoring |
KJ Simpson 18 |
|
Deivon Smith 5 |
Assists |
KJ Simpson 6 |
|
Branden Carlson 6 |
Rebounds |
Eddie Lampkin Jr. 12 |
|
Branden Carlson 3 |
Free Throws Made |
J'Vonne Hadley 3 |
|
Hunter Erickson 2 |
Steals |
J'Vonne Hadley 1 |
|
Keba Keita 2 |
Blocks |
Tristan Da Silva 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Utah
|
58 |
32.8 |
8-30 |
8-14 |
14 |
33 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
| Colorado
|
72 |
44.4 |
7-14 |
9-12 |
15 |
43 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
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