Utah made it rain 3s — again — in a dominant win over Central Arkansas

It was a good night for the aptly named Utah Runnin’ Utes on Thursday night.
Using a free-flowing offense that has netted a lot of open looks against overmatched teams during the first week of the season, along with a stout defensive effort, Utah beat Central Arkansas 98-63 Thursday at the Huntsman Center.
That moved the Utes to 2-0 on the year and kept the positive vibes going early in the season for a team that has a lot of new faces but has shown maybe something is beginning to gel in Salt Lake City.
Here are several takeaways from the easy victory.
If the first week of basketball for the 2024-25 Runnin’ Utes has taught us anything, it’s that Utah is going to shoot 3-pointers — a lot.
On Thursday night, Utah tied a program record for 3-pointers it set Monday in the season opener, making 19 of 50 from 3-point range.
The only nitpick is that Monday’s effort was more efficient — the Utes made 19 of 38 in a win over Alcorn State that night.
At one point in the first half Thursday, seven straight makes for Utah came from 3-point range as it built a 34-13 advantage and led by as many as 29 points in the opening 20 minutes.
“We recruited to that, not just shooting — you‘ve got to have great decision-makers,” Utah coach Craig Smith said. “A lot of the reasons we’re getting some of these open threes is just our decision-making and our ability to play off the ball.”
Like the season opener, Utah established its outside shooting early. After a few minutes of stagnation, the Utes got things going offensively while shooting 20 of their first 24 shots from beyond the arc, making nine.
The Utes hit 10 of 25 3-point attempts in the first half, with Gabe Madsen and Mason Madsen each making three.
The Madsen brothers accounted for 11 of the team’s 3s in the game — Gabe Madsen had six, while Mason Madsen added five.
“That’s just what modern day basketball is going to obviously. I mean, you see in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, preaching to shoot more threes. Analytically, it makes sense,” Gabe Madsen said. “But also, it just opens up things down low. And I think once we get some of our depth back at the five, that’ll just help us.”
Utah put the clamps on Central Arkansas for much of the night, holding the Bears to 31.3% shooting. Central Arkansas shot just 22.6% in the first half, falling behind Utah 45-18 at the break.
While the Bears made 38.9% of their shots in the second half, the dominant effort was already established and Utah cruised to the win.
The Utes also didn’t allow Central Arkansas to cash in much on offensive rebounds. Even though Utah only had a 12-10 edge in offensive rebounds, Central Arkansas only scored four second-chance points, compared to 18 for the Utes.
“I loved how we how connected we were on both ends of the floor, but especially defensively,” Smith said.
“… There was some long prep days in there over the last two days, and our guys had great concentration and accountability, and I thought did an excellent job defending them in the half court.”
OK, OK, there’s plenty of buzz in the Beehive State about Egor Demin, the BYU freshman who is a projected NBA first-round draft pick — and for good reason, after his unforgettable college debut Tuesday night.
Utah junior Mike Sharavjamts, though, is already generating several plays for the Utes that are drawing oohs and aahs.
In the first half Thursday, the 6-foot-9 Sharavjamts used his length on defense to knock a pass into the air, and then he went high, corralled the turnover and drove downcourt before hitting a jumper to make it 13-4.
On Utah’s next possession, Sharavjamts made a 3-pointer to give the Utes a 12-point lead.
That wasn’t his best play of the night, though. Later, he made a no-look pass from near the 3-point line to a cutting Jake Wahlin for a driving layup.
Sharvajamts ended the night with a loaded stat line, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, three steals and two blocks.
Wahlin, who is in his second year at Utah, looks like he’s shaken off some of that mission rust.
He showed a lot of energy on both ends for the Utes, as he continues to fill in on the starting lineup with Lawson Lovering sitting with an apparent ankle injury.
The 6-foot-10 Wahlin made two of the most impressive plays of the night, stepping up defensively for a pair of cheer-inducing blocks.
With just over three minutes left in the first half, he flew in and denied an inside shot, an effort play that led to a shot clock violation.
That swat drew the attention of Utah’s all-time blocks leader, Branden Carlson, who is now playing in the NBA G League for the Toronto Raptors’ affiliate.
In the second half, Wahlin came from behind on a fast-break attempt to block a layup attempt.
Wahlin even showed off a bit of range, hitting two 3-pointers on the night.
Overall, he finished with nine points, six steals, four blocks, three rebounds and an assist.
“Those plays always bring energy, those hard-nosed plays,” Gabe Madsen said, when asked about Wahlin’s two big blocks. “When they read that stat line, though, with six steals, four blocks, I think that’s just like, that’s a crazy stat line right there. I said to him, ‘Those weren’t blocks. Those were BLOCKS. Those are loud. So as it was cool.”
Yes, Gabe Madsen is going to be the leader, but there are several players showing they can score in this more free-flowing offense against inferior opponents.
Again, the free-flowing offense led to an impressive amount of assists — the Utes had 23 on 30 made field goals while shooting 46.2% from the field.
It will be telling to see how this works when the competition gets tougher later in the season, but for now, the Utes have a bevy of nonconference opponents where they can build up the chemistry.
At halftime, the Madsen brothers, along with Miro Little, all had nine points each.
By the end of the night, Gabe Madsen finished with a team-high 25 points, and he passed the 1,000-point mark in his career early in the second half.
“I love how he plays the game. He plays the game the right way. All he cares about is winning,” Smith said of Gabe Madsen becoming the latest to accomplish that career milestone. “… Every guy in that locker room would tell you they love to play with them because he’s so selfless, he’s caring, and he’s super driven that way. He has the ultimate respect of everybody in our program, and I’m really, really proud of him.”
Mason Madsen (15), Sharavjamts (13) and Ezra Ausar (13) also scored in double-figures, with three other players scoring more than seven points.
One of the things the Utes pointed to from their first game that needed work was rebounding, which makes sense with the Utes having to adjust with big men Lovering and Zach Keller both unavailable for unspecified injury/illness reasons.
On Thursday night, Utah won the rebounding battle by a sizable margin, 51 to 36, with a 39-25 edge on the defensive end.
Utah held a 27-17 rebounding edge at halftime.
Sophomore Keanu Dawes, a Rice transfer, led that effort with 11 rebounds. Sharavjamts added eight, while Little had five.
“I felt like it was definitely much better than the first game,” Dawes said of the team’s rebounding efforts. “I think my focus definitely shifted a little bit just trying to make that focal point of what I tried to do. And I feel like that’s a big way I can help the team win.”
The Utes will play another home game before leaving Utah, as they host Queens next Tuesday.
Queens, which is currently No. 298 in KenPom’s rankings, beat the University of Lynchburg in its season opener and will play Western Carolina before traveling to Utah to play the Utes and BYU next week.
Utah and Queens will tip off at 7 p.m. MST next Tuesday, with the game streamed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be on 700 AM.