Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Ezra Ausar led Utah with 21 points in a 74-69 win over Kansas State.
- Lawson Lovering's improved free-throw performance was crucial, contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds.
- Utah's strong rebounding and free-throw shooting helped secure the victory.
SALT LAKE CITY — The real winner of the night was Lawson Lovering.
After a dismal performance (1-of-9) from the charity stripe on Saturday in an upset win over Kansas, the senior center was a game changer for the Runnin' Utes two nights later as Utah welcomed Kansas State to the Huntsman Center.
Just minutes into the game, Lovering drains two straight free throws, eliciting the loudest cheers from the Huntsman Center crowd of the first half. At the halftime break, Lovering was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in a game that was locked up 32-32.
His shooting — as well of that of his teammates — from the free-throw line proved to be the difference in a game where Utah made only three 3-pointers, shooting 16% from behind the perimeter, and 38% from the field in what was a 74-69 win for the Runnin' Utes.
Lovering finished the night with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while going 7-of-12 from the line. As a team, Utah (15-11, 7-8 Big 12) shot 77% from the line on 30 attempts.
"Lawson's gotta allow himself to have some grace," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "He's such a perfectionist. He just wants to be — he's such a team guy, he's such a high-achieving guy, and so he just (needs to) take a deep breath."
Lovering said he put a lot of pressure on himself in the Kansas game, especially with how tight the game was, noting that his free throws then could have been a factor. On Monday, he wanted to be more of a factor in the game.
"It makes you think about your game a little bit and readjust your mental process, because I don't think it was a mechanic issue," Lovering said. "It was just something mental that I'm dealing with right now. And it feels good to kind of see over the hump a little bit."
Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang played the odds game and had as part of his game plan the decision to foul Lovering and Ezra Ausar if they got shot attempts around the rim. And if the team got into the bonus, the Wildcats were going to force the Utes to beat them at the line.
Fortunately for Utah, the two bigs did their part.
"That's what's so impressive about Lawson stepping up there and making those free throws, right? And so hats off to them," Tang said.
And though free throws played a factor in the win, it was a Gabe Madsen 3-pointer with 2:01 left in the game that gave Utah the life it needed to keep the momentum down the stretch. Ausar added to the score on the next possession with an offensive rebound and putback to draw the and-one foul, before draining the ensuing attempt.
But Kansas State (13-13, 7-8 Big 12) didn't go down without a fight, and Coleman Hawkins hit a deep 3-pointer to answer, narrowing Utah's lead with 1:03 left to play.
After Hunter Erickson drained two free throws on an ensuing Utes possession to give Utah a 5-point lead, Kansas State's Brendan Hausen hit a 40-foot 3-pointer to make it a 2-point game again. On the inbounds, Erickson turned the ball over while trapped, but the Wildcats were eventually whistled for traveling to negate the turnover.
Utah then built its lead with a Mike Sharavjamts dunk after Utah broke a full-court press on a heads-up play by Mason Madsen, who only got 30 seconds of play Monday. Gabe Madsen and Ausar then went 3-of-4 from the line to finish the Wildcats off.
Despite the lead, Hausen still had a chance late to narrow the gap with another 40-foot 3-point attempt, but the shot just missed. Though an unconventional shot with still five seconds on the clock, Tang said it was exactly the shot he was looking for Hausen to take, especially with Utah's height being a problem.
"If he gets his legs under him, he's got a chance to make it," Tang said. "And I thought it was a really good look, and it was just a little short, and so we'll take it any day."
Ausar led Utah with 21 points — including a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line — and eight rebounds in a win where no team led by more than 9 points. And much like Utah's Saturday performance against Kansas, Utah used its height advantage to outrebound Kansas State 21-6 on the offensive glass.
"They pounded us on the glass, like pounded us," Tang said. "So 21-6 offensive rebounds, and that allowed them to get the ball in the paint, which caused us to have to foul. And then they stepped to the line and made free throws."
The shots didn't always fall for the home team, especially from behind the 3-point line, but Utah found a way to win.
"We found a different way to win," Smith said. "We go 3-for-19 from three, but we get 51 rebounds, 21 on the offensive end, which is 53% of our missed shots. ... That was obviously huge for us, but I thought we showed a lot of resolve tonight and found a way to win,
"We used the word this week called tougherness, and it's a play on words, but it's tougherness — like toughness and togetherness, and you've got to put it together," he added. "And I thought we did. We took some of that to heart, and those guys showed a lot of leadership internally to have the right mindset to come out here and take care of business. And I just thought that shows the maturity that we are getting or developing, and so it was a huge step in the right direction."
Utah sweeps the Kansas schools, picking up quality wins for a resume in need of help for a potential chance at postseason play. And while each win was pivotal for a team trying to get into a rhythm late in the season, Ausar said it was never a shock to the team.
"It's cool to win, but we've got it in us," he said. "It ain't like a shock to us; we've got the team to do it, so just being humble about it and moving on."
