From Deseret News archives:
Utah Utes basketball: Utes bombard Rebels to get victory
Slow down Nevill — win game.
The Rebels got the first part right, holding Nevill to just 10 points on eight shots. However, it didn't result in a victory, because the Utes found their shooting range and bombarded the Rebels with an array of 3-pointers to run away with an 83-72 victory.
Friday night's game was part of the Glen Wilkes Classic, which involves six other teams in a semi-round robin format. Today at 2:15 p.m., the Utes, now 2-1, will take on Morgan State (2-2) at the Ocean Center.
The win over Mississippi was a big one for the Utes, who began the year with a disheartening one-point loss to Southwest Baptist before beating Green Bay Tuesday night. The Rebels were picked high in the SEC preseason polls and expected to make the NCAA Tournament this year.
However, Utah took control, hitting 3-pointers early and often and never let up. The Utes built up a 10-point halftime lead and never allowed the Rebels back in the game.
"I'm proud of my team," said Ute coach Jim Boylen. "Depth and bench-scoring — that's what I envisioned this team would be."
Indeed, the Ute bench outscored the starters 44 to 39 as Shaun Green scored 19, Tyler Kepkay 13 and freshman Jordan Cyphers 12. The trio also combined for 10 of 17 from 3-point range as the Utes overall hit 12 of 25 from behind the line.
"I feel we're a good-shooting team," Boylen said. "My guys work at it, they care about it."
The outside opened up because the Rebels were double- and triple-teaming Nevill nearly every time he got the ball inside.
"Like a lot of teams, their main concern was Luke and we just took the open shots that we got," said Green. "They just happened to be threes and we hit them tonight."
Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy acknowledged his team was most worried about Nevill.
"Obviously coming into the game we were very concerned about Nevill," he said. "We had no one who could match up with him, so we made a conscious choice to not let him get any rhythm. We were pretty successful, but unfortunately Utah did an unbelievable job of their ball movement and spacing and they had guy after guy after guy step up and make shots."
