Cold Utes trail Cal at halftime

BERKELEY, Calif. — The Utah basketball team is back to its old ways shooting the ball. After shooting more than 50 percent from the field at Stanford on Thursday, the Utes managed just 26 percent shooting in the first half and trail Cal 32-15 at halftime Saturday night at Haas Pavilion.

The Utes connected on just six of 23 field goals and just two of six from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Bears hit 48.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, making 15 of 31.

Harper Kant leads all scorers with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Justin Cobbs scored seven points. Chris Hines and Cedric Martin each have five points for the Utes.

The Utes led early 7-6 but went scoreless for more than seven minutes as Cal rushed out to a 20-7 lead. It was almost three more minutes before the Utes made a field goal on a jumper by Josh Watkins in the lane to make it 24-10.

It was the lowest first-half output this season for the Utes, except for the 11-point total against Colorado earlier this month.

The Bears won the rebound battle in the first half, 17-3, and only had three turnovers compared with nine for Utah.