Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Jordan Loveridge Lifts 8-1 Utah over Idaho State, 74-66

College Hoops Player of the Day for Tuesday, December 10, 2012

Jordan Loveridge scored a career-high 27 points and the Utah Utes dispatched with Idaho State, 74-66, for their eighth win in nine outings.

The Utes didn't get off to the best of starts, and found themselves on the wrong end of a 37-28 score at the break, but turned things around in the second half, outscoring the Bengals by 15 points. Loveridge scored 12 in the first half and 15 after intermission, eventually giving Utah the lead, 47-46, with a three-point play eight minutes into the second half.

The lead grew to as many as eight, but Idaho State cut it to four with a minute to go. Loveridge's fourth three-pointer of the night upped the lead to seven with 52 seconds remaining to seal the win.

A 6'6" sophomore, Loveridge also collected seven boards to go with four assists and three blocked shots. He was 10-for-14 from the field, hitting four of seven from three-point range.

The team leader, at 17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, Loveridge has scored in double digits in all but one game and has four double-doubles this season.

The Utes' sole loss was also their only road game, a 69-67 defeat at Boise State. Unranked, the 8-1 Utes could be up for making the PAC-12 interesting, once conference play gets underway. Their PAC-12 schedule starts on January 2nd, hosting Oregon, and play at #1 Arizona on January 26.

Utah was 15-18 last season. After winning two games in the PAC-12 tourney, they fell to Oregon, 64-45.

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