The Husky Haul
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Washington basketball travels to Salt Lake City on Thursday

By Herbert Nightingale

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Nahziah Carter #11 of the Washington Huskies reacts in the final moments of their 81-59 loss to the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Nahziah Carter #11 of the Washington Huskies reacts in the final moments of their 81-59 loss to the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Washington basketball travels to Salt Lake City for a tough matchup with the Utah Utes, after a heartbreaker against Oregon, can they pull it off?

After a tough loss at the hands of Oregon, Washington basketball fell to 2-4 in conference play, which is good for 8th in the conference. And traveling to Utah will be no easy task, as the Utes upset #10 Kentucky earlier in the season.

The Huskies will need to have Jaden McDaniels back at full strength, as he was clearly not himself against Oregon. Marcus Tsohonis has looked very good in the last two games, and seems to be the team’s new primary ball handler.

The Utes have two returning starters from last year in sophomore forwards Timmy Allen and Riley Battin. Allen leads the Utes in both scoring and rebounds with averages of 19.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Allen will probably end up drawing the assignment of Isaiah Stewart defensively, and Stewart will have a big height and strength advantage over him.

The Utes do have a 7’0 center in freshman Branden Carlson who averages 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.

Both Gach and Rylan Jones are the two starting guards for the Utes, and are averaging 11.2 and 10.3 points per game respectively. The Huskies will have to watch out for Jones from long range, as he’s shooting 49.2% from behind the three-point line.

Freshman forward Mikael Jantunen from Finland is the Utes’ sixth man, and he’s currently averaging 7 points and 4.8 rebounds a game.

Read. Washington basketball falls to Oregon in overtime. light

The Huskies have to make up a lot of ground in the Pac-12 standings, and if they can pull off a big road win in Utah, it’ll do a lot for their NCAA Tournament resume as well. The Huskies have all the talent in the world and exactly what it takes to pull off the win, can they do it?

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