Utah Utes men's basketball notebook: Carlon Brown frustrated despite big game

LARAMIE, Wyo. — After struggling with his offense much of the season, Carlon Brown finally put together a big offensive game Wednesday night only to see it overshadowed by another disappointing Utah defeat.

Brown scored a career-high 31 points, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 75-69 Ute loss, which dropped them to 10-10 and 3-3 on the year.

"It's frustrating," said Brown. "Whether I scored two points (or 31), we still have this trend of a roller coaster of going up and down. It's been real frustrating."

Brown led a second-half comeback, scoring 17 of 25 Utah points during a 27-13 Utah run. However, after scoring two free throws with 3:07 left to put the Utes up 67-64, he didn't score the rest of the game as the Utes could only manage a pair of free throws by Luka Drca.

Brown looked like he might be out of the game for good when he rolled his ankle on a drive with 13:44 left and the Utes trailing 47-38. He walked up the tunnel behind the west basket but reappeared a couple of minutes later.

"I rolled it real bad, and it's hurting right now," he said. "I have weird ankles — they don't swell up right away, but hurt for about three minutes and I can get back out there. Hopefully it will be OK tomorrow."

As well as Brown scored, he also had six turnovers, including a questionable offensive foul with 2:03 left in the game.

At the time, the Utes led 67-66 and Brown drove up the right side of the lane. He was called with the offensive foul instead of getting two free throws.

"I knew it had a 50-50 chance on that," he said. "I tried to go strong to the basket and was trying to be aggressive."

Brown didn't want to say it was a poor call, but his coach Jim Boylen wondered about it, asking the media what they thought. He did praise Brown for his overall performance.

"Carlon Brown responded from that rolled ankle and really played hard in the second half," said Boylen. "He communicated with his teammates and drove the ball well."

UTE NOTES: The coaches for each team were wearing sneakers in support of Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend along with fellow coaches from all over the country ... David Foster, who's had a block in every game this year, didn't get his first block until 7:53 left in the game when he swatted away a shot by A.J. Davis. He finished with three blocks on the night ... Last year, the Utes won all three games against the Cowboys, including a 68-55 win the MWC semifinals and an 80-70 win in Laramie ... The Utes and Cowboys play again on Feb. 27 at the Huntsman Center.

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