SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – The Utes men’s basketball team already took down one top-25 team when it beat Arizona earlier this month. But Utah could not do it again, losing to #20 TCU at Vivint Arena Wednesday night, 75-71.
Spurned on by a career-high 26 points from Gabe Madsen, the Utes rallied back from a ten-point second half deficit to tie the game at 54 with 8:55 left in the game. But TCU pulled away down the stretch to improve to 10-1 on the year.
With the loss, the Utes fell to 9-4 as they get ready to return to Pac-12 play December 29th against California.
Emmanuel Miller led the Horned Frogs with 21 points, while Mike Miles Jr. poured in 18 points.
Marco Anthony had a double-double for Utah with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Branden Carlson chipped in with 14 points and 8 boards, but the Utes hurt themselves with 19 turnovers.
Madsen was 7-for-15 from three-point range, besting his career high by one point. He made 8-of-19 shots from the field overall.
A rebound bucket and a foul by Anthony knotted the score at 54. Then after TCU scored the next six points, the Utes rallied back again and pulled within one point after a three-pointer by Carlson.
But TCU went on a 12-4 run to pull away for the victory.
TCU took advantage of the paint, outscoring the Utes 46-28 down low.
Utah has now lost two in a row for the first time this season.
