Freshman forward Alec Anigbata scored a career-high 21 points, including five during Utah’s 20-0 second-half run, in an 85-64 victory over Weber State on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.
Trey Campbell scored 13 points and dished out 10 assists for the unbeaten Utes (3-0). Jackson Holcombe tallied 15 of his 18 points in the first half, Jaxon Johnson pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and Taison Chatman added 10 points for Utah, which shot 71.4% (20 of 28) from the floor in the second half while outscoring the Wildcats 55-27.
Dylan Warlick, a junior transfer from Saint Louis University, scored a game-high 22 points and Augustine Ekwe added 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Weber State (0-3).
Utah, behind seven points by Holcombe, jumped out to a 17-10 lead at the 13:36 mark. But later Utes went scoreless for over five minutes as the Wildcats rallied to take a 22-19 lead on a rainbow 3-pointer by Ardarius Grayson.
Weber State forged a 37-30 advantage by halftime with Warlick leading the way with 14 points, many on drives to the basket. The Wildcats finished the half with a 28-16 edge in points in the paint.
Utah had rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to pull out a 66-63 victory over Long Beach State in its season opener on Nov. 2. On Tuesday, the Utes used a 12-4 spurt to regain the lead, 42-41, on a fastbreak layup by TJ Burch with 15:58 remaining.
Weber State took its last lead, 50-48, with 12:16 left on a turnaround jumper by Ekwe before Utah went on a 20-0 run over the next five minutes highlighted by back-to-back dunks by Babacar Faye. The Wildcats were down 18 and never got closer than 11 points, 70-59, the rest of the way.
Freshman Gavin Lowe, a two-time Utah state prep player of the year, finished with seven points and a team-high eight assists for Weber State.