Next Game: at Arizona 1/5/2019 | 12:00 PM PAC-12 NETWORKS

Larry Krystkowiak

– The Utah Runnin' Utes overcame a 17-point first-half deficit and opened Pac-12 Conference play with a 96-86 road-win over the Arizona State Sun Devils, Thursday evening at Wells Fargo Arena.Down 28-11 with 9:40 left to play in the first half, Utah (7-6, 1-0) stormed back and trailed by just four points (43-39) to the Sun Devils (9-4, 0-1) at the half. The Utes would take a 48-46 with 17:42 left in the second half and never looked back on the way to a 10-point victory.Utah and Arizona State combined to score just 25 points in the first six and a half minutes, but both offenses began to unload as the two squads to combined to score a total of 57 points over the next 13-plus minutes. A total of 82 points were scored in the first half as ASU took a 43-39 lead into the intermission.Utah trailed by as many as 17 points, down 28-11 with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Utes countered with a 16-8 run to get back within eight points and later pulled within four points following a three-pointer fromat the 00:56 mark. Neither team would score in the final 56 seconds, though, and Utah managed to go into the break down just four points.Utah finished the half shooting 45 percent overall, which included a 43 percent effort from downtown. The Sun Devils shot nearly 50 percent over the first 20 minutes, but were just 35 percent from beyond the arc. Freshmanled the way for the Utes with 10 points at the break, meanwhile ASU's Remy Martin led all players with 14 points.Utah opened the second half with a three-pointer fromand later took its first lead since athree at the 17:56 mark of the first half, when Tillman knocked down a trey at the 17:42 mark. Utah led 58-56 and then proceeded to go on a 16-3 run and led by 12 points, up 61-49.ASU would go on a 11-2 run to pull back within three, but Barefield would score Utah's next 12 points, Van Dyke would knock down a trey and Allen was good for a pair of free throws to push Utah's lead to 80-68. ASU scored the next five points, but the Utes prevailed, outscoring the Sun Devils 16-13 over the final four minutes to earn the 10-point road win.Utah shot 57 percent overall in the second half and knocked down 10-of-16 from downtown (.625), while also posting 15-of-19 from the charity stripe. The Utes finished with 16 three-pointers on the night, which is tied for the second most three-pointers in a game for an opponent against ASU.Barefield led the way with 24 points, knocking down five three-pointers on the evening. He was followed by Tillman's 22 points and Allen's 17-point effort. Van Dyke finished with 13 points to give Utah four players in double-figures.Barefield posted a team-high six assists, while Tillman andled the way on the boards with six rebounds each. Utah would tally 19 assists overall on 29 made field goals and beat the Sun Devils on the boards, 38-34.The Utes will wrap-up its first week of Pac-12 play this Saturday, Jan. 5, as the team heads south to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats. Tip-off between the Utes and Wildcats is set for noon MT on Saturday and the contest will be aired live on the Pac-12 Networks.• Utah picked up its first road win of the season, while opening Pac-12 play with a win on the road for the second straight season.• Tillman's 22 points marked a new career-high for the sophomore, surpassing his previous career-mark of 20 points that he scored on the road at Butler last season.• Allen posted a new season-high with 17 points, surpassing his previous high of 16 points that he tallied against Florida A&M earlier this season.• Utah's previous largest deficit overcome in theera was 15 points vs. Idaho State back on Dec. 10, 2013. The Utes won that game 74-66, after trailing 35-20 with 3:27 to play in first half of that contest.• Utah's 96 points tied the team-high for most points scored in a Pac-12 game, matching the 96-point effort scored against Stanford back in 2016. It is Utah's most points score in a Pac-12 game on the road.• Utah moved to 34-21 all-time against ASU, which now includes a 13-13 record against the Sun Devils in Tempe. It also marked the fourth straight win over ASU at Wells Fargo Arena.• Utah's .533 three-point field goal shooting percentage is a new season-high, surpassing the previous mark of .472 the team drained against Mississippi Valley State.• Barefield has tallied double-digit scoring efforts in four straight games and in eight of the past nine games. He has scored 10+ points in 10 of Utah's 13 games, which includes scoring 20+ for the third time this season."A lot of resilience. We didn't start the game well, obviously. (We) had a heck of a time with their pressure, getting ourselves into offense. We didn't get many shots up. They had eight points in transition in no time, which has been the key all week, and they had a number of offensive rebounds which turned into points. That team's too good in transition and on the glass. And then I thought we settled in a little bit - guys saw the ball go in and we just chipped away at it, got ourselves back in the ball game. It was really resilient, had a number of guys - 38 points off the bench. Outrebounded that team which was a focal point for us. Some guys had some big performances. It's a lot of points for us to score in a conference game. I thought we shared the ball really well. Our magic number for assists has been 14, I don't believe we've lost a game this year (when we had) 14 assists. Sedrick (Barefield) had some big time plays but we also shared the ball. Timmy (Allen) was 4-to-1 assists to turnover, Donnie (Tillman) was 5-to-1 assists to turnover, so that was a little bit contagious for us. It was an awful lot of fun to start league.""It is one game. I think it's safe to say that our conference race is somewhat open, it's not like years past where you've had two or three teams kind of out in front and you'd have to put together a special performance, but to get a win against one of the better teams in our conference on their court is huge for us to start league. But it's a marathon for us here as we move forward and we need to stay humble and hungry and keep working."