Salt Lake City, UT (Dec. 22, 2015) --- The University of Utah showed no letdown from its big victory over defending national champ Duke last Saturday, running past Delaware State 105-58 at the Huntsman Center this evening.
The No. 24 Utes won their third straight game to improve to 10-2 this season. The Hornets fell to 0-12 with one game remaining in a string of nine consecutive road contests.
Kyle Kuzma led four Utah players in double figures with 15 points on six-of-eight shooting from the field. Jordan Loveridge added 14 points for the Utes, hitting four of his five shots from the floor, all from three-point territory.
Lorenzo Bonam and Chris Reyes contributed 12 points each to the Utah win.
Freshman guard Devin Morgan was the only Delaware State player in double figures with 14 points, his third straight game with 10-or-more points.
Todd Hughes and Aric Dickerson came off the bench to tally nine points each for the Hornets. Dickerson, playing his first game since Dec. 4, was three-for-five on three-point shots.
Mrdjan Gasevic had a team-high six rebounds for DSU.
Utah shot 61.7% from the field, hitting 37 of its 60 shots, including 12-of-23 from three-point range (52.2%). The Utes posted a 62.1% shooting percentage in the first half and a 61.3% mark in the final 20 minutes.
Utah had 30 assists on its 37 field goals and outscored the Hornets 44-18 in the paint.
Delaware State was 21-for-65 from the field in the contest (32.3%), including eight-of-20 from beyond the arc (40%).
The Hornets were also outrebounded for the 12th time in their 12 games. DSU pulled down 23 boards to Utah's 48.
The Utes led 16-11 before taking control of the game. The Utes scored 15 of the next 17 points, and opened up a 31-13 lead on a three-pointer by Loveridge with 9:45 left in the first half.
The Hornets were outscored 18-6 in the last 7:23 of the first half to trail 52-26 at the break.
The Utes held their biggest lead of the game, 103-50, on a free throw by Reyes with 1:33 left to play.
The Hornets will wrap up their nine-game road swing at Texas Christian next Monday (Dec. 28). Game time is 8 p.m. Eastern in Fort Worth, Texas.
STINGERS
The Hornets committed just eight turnovers in the contest, tying their low for the season … DSU's 40% three-point percentage in the game (eight-for-20) was its second-best this year … the eight three-pointers in the game also tied for the Hornets' second-best of the 2015-16 campaign … Hughes has 22 points in the last two games after scoring just 15 in the previous five contests … Dickerson's point total was his second-highest of the season and he also tied his season best for three-point field goals ... Utah's point total was the most allowed by DSU since Iona tallied 126 duuing the 2014-15 season (126-76).
