Tobe Awaka leads Arizona to 97-78 win over Utah Utes in Big 12 opener in SLC

SALT LAKE CITY – Showing same kind of power and balance it showcased throughout their undefeated nonconference season, Arizona tore through Utah 97-78 on Saturday at the Huntsman Center in the Big 12 opener for both former Pac-12 teams.

Center Tobe Awaka and guard Brayden Burries both posted double doubles, while three other Wildcats scored 13 or more points, in a game when Arizona jumped out to a 14-2 lead and was never really challenged.

"We wanted to get off to a good start," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "Obviously, we've been really focusing on it's a new year. You're starting to conference season zero and zero. So let's treat it as such, and let's be excited to play. And I thought our guys did that. I thought we came out in the game, and we really had great early effort, early energy."

Awaka had a career-high-tying 18 points and 12 rebounds, also hitting both 3-pointers he tried, while Burries had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Arizona also had three other players score in double figures, with point guard Jaden Bradley collecting 18 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Awaka’s efforts helped UA easily compensate for the foul-plagued game of starting center Motiejus Krivas, who had just seven points and four rebounds while picking up four fouls in 17 minutes.

Up 58-39 at halftime, the Wildcats took a 70-46 lead early in the second half after Koa Peat hit a 3-pointer and Burries made a lauyup. Utah scored eight straight points from there to cut UA’s lead to 16 points and held UA to 35.3% shooting in the first 10 minutes of the second half but the Utes never came much closer.

"It's hard to dig yourself out of holes, especially against a team like Arizona," Utah coach Alex Jensen said.

In the first half, Awaka had 11 points and nine rebounds while hitting two 3-pointers to help Arizona gain a 58-39 halftime lead. 

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Burries had nine points and six rebounds before halftime, while Terrence Brown led Utah with 17 first-half points. Brown finished with a game-high 26 points, four rebounds and six assists. 

Arizona pounced on the Utes early, with Ivan Kharchenkov initiating what became a 14-0 run after Utah scored the first basket of the game. Kharchenkov hit a jumper and then stole a bad pass from Utah’s James Okonkwo and raced in for another shot.

The Wildcats also had 3s from Burries and Bradley during the run, while Kharchenkov scored again after a steal by Burries to make it 14-2 with 16:08 left.

But while UA built its first half lead as high as 17 points when Awaka made his first 3-pointer, making it a 27-10 game, the Utes cut it to single digits several times during the rest of the first half.

Awaka hit a second 3 with 4:55 to give UA a 43-28 lead, his third of the season. He’s now 5 for 10 from 3-point range in his four-year college career, which began with two seasons at Tennessee. 

"I was just open and felt confident to take the shot," Awaka said. "That's really all that it was."

The win moved the Wildcats to 14-0 and 1-0 in Big 12 play entering their home conference opener on Wednesday against Kansas State. Utah dropped to 8-6 and 0-1.