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Looking every bit the Pac-12 contender they were hyped to be before the season, the Utah men's basketball team whipped Cal 74-63 on their home court to extend their Pac-12 winning streak to four on Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 13,055 black-clad fans at the Huntsman Center.
Sophomore center Jakob Poeltl led the way with 21 points on 7 for 10 shooting, giving Utah a 34-28 edge in the paint that defined the victory. Utah also got a 15-point night from senior guard Brandon Taylor, who dished out six assists.
After taking a whomping on Jan. 3 at Haas Pavilion, the Utes were more physical than the big-bodied Bears. On their home court, the Utes out-rebounded, out-attacked and out-hustled the Bears.
"I'm convinced — and we're going to find out in the Super Bowl — that defense wins championships and wins games," coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Our guys like playing defense, and we're taking a lot of pride in it."
Utah (16-5, 5-3 Pac-12) turned it on at the finish with a 9-0 run, highlighted by a three-point play from Kyle Kuzma on a drive off the glass with 3:21 remaining. Defense brought it home as well: The Utes held the Bears without a bucket for a key stretch between the 6- and 1-minute marks, pulling up a double-digit edge headed into the final 90 seconds.
They weathered a 27-point effort from freshman forward Jaylen Brown. Only one other Cal player scored in double figures, and the Bears shot only 38.3 percent from the field. It helped that Cal was without senior point guard Tyrone Wallace, whom Krystkowiak called "a special player."
With the win, the Utes moved into a tie for third place in the Pac-12 with Colorado, which also won at home. Utah also gained a split with — and standings separation from — the team that was picked to finish ahead of them in the Pac-12 preseason poll.
"I'm glad that we are in this position right now, but we got to keep it going," Poeltl said. "It's a very tough league right now, and you gotta keep winning, especially your home games."
Coming out with a fragile 35-34 lead at halftime, the Utes were hit hard by Brown, who scored four points on an initial 6-0 run for Cal.
But Taylor hit back-to-back 3-pointers that ended up snowballing into a 19-2 run that put Utah in the second half driver's seat. The run was powered in the paint, where Poeltl and Kuzma scored a combined 13 points, punctuated by a dunk from the 7-footer.
Kuzma, in particular, showed how much he was missed in the final 16 minutes of Utah's earlier loss to Cal. The sophomore forward scored all of his 15 points in the second half, including a three-point play with 3:18 left on a lay-up against Cal freshman Ivan Rabb, who many expect to be a first-round NBA Draft pick next year.
Kuzma also established a presence on defense, holding Rabb to 12 points on 4 for 9 shooting after the forward burned Utah for 19 points in the first meeting.
"You always want to get after those guys, because a lot of us were overlooked or not really the McDonald's All American type," Kuzma said. "It was great getting after it with him. He's a great player."
For the game, the Utes gave the nation's top 2-point defense a lesson in paint lockdown: Utah allowed only 17 for 43 inside the arc. Utah also kept Cal from scoring from the 3-point line in the second half.
The game began as a shooting exhibition compared to a languid start in Berkeley. Before 10 minutes had passed, the Utes had stacked up 24 points — more than their first half total (22) at Cal earlier in the year.
The scores came from assertiveness in the post: Bonam slashed his way to early layups, while Poeltl was a tough match for his 7-foot defenders with 11 points in the first half, including five trips to the free throw line.
But while holding the Golden Bears to only 6 for 20 inside the arc before halftime, the Utes were burned from long range, allowing six first-half 3-pointers. That came to haunt them: Cal didn't miss a shot for the final 3:21 of the half, hitting five straight field goals and two free throws to close a 12-point lead to one at the intermission.
The Utes find themselves one of the hottest teams in the conference, and will continue attempting to exorcise old demons Saturday afternoon against visiting Stanford, a team which topped them in overtime in the Pac-12 opener on Jan. 1.
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Storylines
R Jakob Poeltl scores a team-high 21 points to lead Utah to a season split with California
• Brandon Taylor hits two 3-pointers early in second half to lead a 19-2 run.
• Kyle Kuzma scores all 15 of his points in the second half.