Utah finally has its first Quad 1 win of the year — and it’s a memorable one.

The Runnin’ Utes beat No. 17 Kansas 74-67 Saturday night in the blue blood program’s first visit to the Huntsman Center, outplaying the Jayhawks down the stretch to earn their first win over a top 25 program since Dec. 1, 2022, when they beat No. 4 Arizona in Salt Lake City.

3 takeaways

Utah had a strong start to each half, as they brought energy both times. The Utes pushed out to a 13-5 lead early, making 5 of 8 shots in the game’s first four minutes, along with outrebounding Kansas 6-1 early.

Then in the second half, after Kansas tied the game at 42-42 on a Rylan Griffen 3, the Utes went on a 10-3 run.

That included Lawson Lovering scoring an and-one and Gabe Madsen with a steal and slam. Then after another Griffen 3, Jake Wahlin scored on a fastbreak layup off a steal and Madsen had his own and-one to make it 52-45 Utah.

Utah eventually pushed that lead out to 60-49 after a pair of Madsen free throws that came courtesy of a Bill Self technical.

Those great starts — and some solid defense — helped Utah weather extended droughts in both halves before the game was tied at 60-60 with five minutes to play.

Utah owned the boards and created second chances. The Utes finished with a 46-36 edge in rebounding, including a dominant 16-6 advantage in offensive boards.

That helped Utah score some crucial second-chance points and own a 14-9 edge in that category, even though the Utes were outshot 40% to 36.5% from the field.

There was a five-point stretch in the first half when Keanu Dawes had two offensive rebounds on one possession, and it led to two Dawes free throws. Then, Caleb Lohner came down with an offensive rebound off Madsen miss before kicking back out to Madsen for his third 3 of the night.

No second-chance point was as critical as Ezra Ausar’s jumper with 4:20 to play. The Utes had gone seven-plus minutes without a point and faced a shot clock under two seconds coming out of a timeout.

Madsen missed a 3, but Ausar rebounded the ball and got the putback.

That started a 7-0 run for Utah.

Utah made the key plays down the stretch. In the Utes’ last two games, they had been outplayed in the game’s final moments in losses at West Virginia and Cincinnati.

This time, though, they were the aggressors and the ones who came up with critical stops.

With Utah nursing a 64-60 lead, even after some missed free throws, Wahlin came up with a steal with 2:20 to play, and on the ensuing possession, Madsen drilled a stepback 3 to make it 67-60 for the Utes.

He became Utah’s all-time leader in 3-pointers with his 288th on that bucket.

Mike Sharavjamts also attacked the rim and scored a layup with 54.2 seconds to play to make it 69-62.

While a Hunter Dickinson 3 made it 70-65 with under 30 seconds to play, the Utes held off the Jayhawks as Madsen made two free throws on his way to a 24-point effort.

What’s next

The Utes (14-11, 6-8 Big 12) will stay at home for a quick turnaround, hosting Kansas State on Monday night (7 p.m. MST, ESPN2).

The Wildcats lost to BYU 80-65 in Provo Saturday night, snapping a six-game winning streak for Kansas State (13-12, 7-7 Big 12).