Stanford rallies in overtime to beat No. 21 Utah 70-68
A football-crazed campus riding high from a Rose Bowl rout only hours earlier got quite a basketball performance to cheer for on New Year's night to add to the fun.
Rosco Allen scored five of his 17 points in overtime after banking in the tying basket with 10.5 seconds left in regulation, and Stanford took advantage of seven straight missed free throws to beat No. 21 Utah 70-68 on Friday night in the Pac-12 opener for both schools.
The Cardinal haven't had much good fortune against ranked opponents during coach Johnny Dawkins' eight seasons.
"What it does for you is it shows you what you're capable of doing," he said. "It just shows the possibilities that your team has."
The Pac-12's top free-throw shooting team entering Friday missed its final seven attempts from the stripe -- and Utah lost the game because of it.
Utah, shooting 73.2 percent from the line coming in, missed four free throws in the final 18.9 seconds of regulation.
Brandon Taylor missed two with 1.8 seconds left after two misses by Jordan Loveridge with 18.9 to play. Loveridge missed two more with 2:27 to go in overtime.
Allen then drove the baseline for a dunk and his long jumper with 1:31 left in the extra period put Stanford ahead again.
"I knew I had to come up clutch. We had to execute," Allen said.
The Utes (11-3, 0-1) got one final play with 7 seconds left and Lorenzo Bonam drove into traffic and traveled.
Stanford opened conference play with a hard-fought win at Maples Pavilion hours after the football team's 45-16 Rose Bowl victory over Iowa was shown on the arena's main scoreboard. The basketball game drew 4,065 fans, about what was expected on a day that focused on the bigger game of the day played in Pasadena.
Stanford shot 14 for 25 at the line, but relied on its defense down the stretch to rally.
"Maybe a little hangover from the holidays," Dawkins said of both teams' poor free-throw performance.
Freshman Marcus Sheffield scored a season-high 17 points and Marcus Allen added 14 for Stanford (8-4, 1-0), which made 10 of its first 18 shots out of halftime to get back in the game.
Jakob Poeltl, Utah's leading scorer at 17.8 points and one of four starters averaging in double figures, scored 16 points but fouled out before OT. He converted a three-point play with 2:22 to go in regulation as Michael Humphrey fouled out, then Poeltl fouled out with 39.6 seconds left.
"We missed shots, missed free throws. That's what happened," Loveridge said. "Can't win like that."
Bonam scored 15 points and Kyle Kuzma added 14 as the Utes had their four-game winning streak snapped to begin the tough Bay Area road trip.
Rosco Allen's 3-pointer with 9:59 to play pulled Stanford within 45-43 then Humphrey's free throws at 9:30 tied it. Marcus Allen hit a 3 with 5:53 left that again kept the Cardinal close at 52-50.
The Utes had held their previous four opponents to a shooting average of 30.8 percent, then limited Stanford to 39 percent.
The Cardinal missed eight straight shots during a 2-for-14 stretch midway through the first half with three turnovers, but Utah also went cold in a 3:09 scoring drought.
The Utes still used a 9-0 run during that time on the way to a 30-21 halftime lead.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
After Utah set the tone defensively in the first half, Dawkins thought Stanford did its part to fluster the Utes down the stretch.
Utah had averaged 84.8 points per game.
"They defended better than we did in the first half," Dawkins said. "We had to make some adjustments."
TIP-INS
Utah: The Utes are 1-4 in Pac-12 openers, winning last year. ... Utah and Stanford opened the conference slate as opponents for the first time and the Utes began on the road for the third time in five seasons since joining the Pac-12. ... The Utes were 5 of 19 from 3-point range, 1 for 6 in the first half after missing the first five.
Stanford: Sophomore F Reid Travis missed his fourth straight game with a stress reaction in his left leg. ... Stanford improved to 12-21 against ranked opponents under Dawkins. ... The Cardinal's lone other appearance on New Year's Day was a 92-27 victory over Duquesne in Cleveland on Jan. 1, 1938, when Hank Luisetti had program game records with 50 points and 23 field goals. ... Stanford is 15-7 in conference openers at home since 1978-79.
UP NEXT
Utah: At California on Sunday.
Stanford: Hosts Colorado on Sunday.
