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SALT LAKE CITY — In October, points scored in a college basketball game don't count for anything.
But don't tell that to the Runnin' Utes, who were picked to finish last in the 16-team Big 12 ahead of the season that officially begins on Nov. 4. What happened on the court Tuesday night was good enough — as an official win or not.
The win column will not reflect that Utah beat a visiting CSU Pueblo team 98-62 in an exhibition game at the Huntsman Center, but it gave fans a first look at what could be expected from a new-look Utes team for the 2024-25 season.
And at first glance, in admittedly a glorified scrimmage game, Utah showed out well — even if it took a little bit to get there.
"These early season games, we just have a lot of newness to us," Utah head coach Craig Smith said.
That newness — a team that features nine new players on the roster — led to a somewhat disjointed start to the game against the Division II visitors.
There were clear positives, and other times where the Runnin' Utes looked out of sync. There was some lulls in scoring and times where the team was slow in defensive switches and closeouts, which led to easier buckets for the ThunderWolves.
But through the opening half, the Runnin' Utes built up an 18-point lead and clearly looked like the better team on the floor. That is, unless the team got a bit too casual with the lead and CSU Pueblo cut Utah's lead down to 7 just before the halftime break.
"It just felt like we didn't have the urgency that we had once we had that 18 point lead," Smith said.
But in the second half, Utah looked like a more complete team and took over on both sides of the ball. The defense forced several deflections — the ThunderWolves finished the night with 26 turnovers that led to 31 points for the Utes — and the offense started to share the ball more and got into a rhythm.
At its peak, Mason Madsen and Hunter Erickson were unstoppable and combined for five three points over a three-minute stretch to balloon the lead again. The two even connected during that stretch, with Madsen lobbing a ball that looked too high for an alley-oop, but Erickson went up and got it to slam it home.
Cleared for takeoff 🛫 pic.twitter.com/5skrSPacVB
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) October 30, 2024
It was two players just feeding off each other and doing right things for the team to help the team get an early season win (that didn't count).
"One went in and we just kept getting out in transition, and it just feeds energy into the team," Gabe Madsen said of the run. "So, I mean, I think we're gonna see a lot of that this year, just some runs like that."
"It makes my life really easy having like, Gabe, Mason, Hunter, Mike (Sharavjamts), (Keanu Dawes), just all those type of shooters around me," added point guard Miro Little. "It just makes my life as a point guard really easy."
Erickson finished with a team-high 17-points on 5-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point line, and Mason Madsen finished with 15 points on four made 3-pointers, while twin brother Gabe Madsen added 13 points in just 17 minutes of the court.
The game may not officially count, but Utah learned some lessons as it prepares to open up the season next week.
The Runnin' Utes finished the night shooting 51% from the field, while assisting on 26 of the team's 37-made shots on the night. More importantly, it gave Smith a real-game setting to help craft his lineups for the season.
Utah rolled out Little, Gabe Madsen, Sharavjamts, Ezra Ausar and Lawson Lovering for its starting unit, but Smith said there still may be some changes as the season develops. Off the bench first was Jake Wahlin, and then Mason Madsen and Erickson.
