Gabe Madsen scored 27 points to lead Utah to a 94-48 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.
Madsen made seven 3-pointers and went 10-for-13 from the floor to pace the Utes’ offense. As a team, Utah shot 55.9 percent from the field and made 14 triples (on 29 attempts). The Utes also had 29 assists on 33 made baskets.
Miro Little added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Utes. Lawson Lovering tallied 12 points and seven rebounds in his season debut after missing Utah’s first five games with an ankle injury.
Defensively, Utah (5-1) scored 21 points off 15 turnovers and limited the Delta Devils to 34 percent shooting from the field. The Utes finished with a 40-24 advantage on the boards and outscored Mississippi Valley State 34-14 in the paint.
Arthur Tate led Mississippi Valley State with 23 points, and Walter Hamilton added 12.
Mississippi Valley State (1-6) has lost to six power conference opponents in its first seven games of the campaign. The Delta Devils have allowed 89.7 points per game in those contests.
Utah led wire to wire against the Delta Devils. Mississippi Valley State was unable to pull within single digits of the Utes over the game’s final 31 minutes.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Little highlighted a 20-0 run that gave Utah a 33-8 lead with 6:32 left before halftime. Madsen bookended the run with two more shots from deep. The Delta Devils missed nine straight field-goal attempts at one point during the first half to allow the Utes to quickly pull away.
Madsen made a pair of treys during a 14-2 run that gave Utah a 71-30 lead near the midpoint of the second half. Hunter Erickson punctuated the spurt with another 3 and a hammer dunk.
Utah led by a game-high 54 points when Little converted a three-point play to make it 89-35 with 4:45 remaining.