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Las Vegas • The Pac-12 player of the year looked loose on Thursday night.
Striding to and from the postgame press conference, he slapped palms with Kyle Kuzma. He laughed on the press conference podium as his coach launched a rugged impression of his Austrian accent.
There's a reason Jakob Poeltl looks so unburdened: Utah's postseason fate doesn't rest solely on his shoulders.
As the sophomore center muscled his way to 14 points in a 80-72 win over USC — his team's eighth straight victory — he slid easily into a supporting role. His teammate Kuzma led Utah's effort with 23 points in a resurgent performance, Brandon Taylor hit a big late 3-pointer, and Jordan Loveridge and Lorenzo Bonam also added double-digit scoring nights.
The hottest team in the Pac-12 may have the conference's best performer, but they have other threats as well — threats that were realized as 2-seed Utah (25-7) advanced to a Pac-12 semifinal date with 3-seed California.
"I really like the way we pass and share it," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "That's a cornerstone of our basketball program, and I think this is kind of the result of that. Guys aren't afraid to move the ball and trust teammates to make plays."
The team shot a blistering 60.8 percent from the floor against a lackluster Trojans defense, sharing the ball with Globetrotter efficiency with 22 assists on 31 baskets.
Shooting 11 for 12 from the field, Kuzma benefitted the most from the passing with 10 assists on his buckets. His last two in the last minute were memorable as the Trojans tried to edge back at the end: He dunked a cross-court inbound pass from Loveridge — the play Utah calls "Lumberjack" — and also had the games' final basket on a dunk as Utah beat USC's feeble attempts to foul by zipping the ball all the way down the floor.
Passing well was an emphasis for Utah, which had notched only 10 assists in each of its past two games.
"When we don't pass the ball and we try to do it on our own, we tend to do bad," Bonam said. "From stats, more assists lead to more wins for us."
Utah had to keep the ball moving: Different players were hot at different moments.
Bonam started off as the live wire for Utah, scoring the team's first 10 points and finishing 5 for 5 from the floor. Loveridge heated up with a few 3-pointers in the second half, as Utah held on to a double-digit lead.
Taylor waited until the finish to hit one of the biggest shots of the night. After USC clipped Utah's 12-point advantage to 3, the senior guard stepped up from five feet beyond the arc and drilled a shot from the top of the key.
The momentum of the play helped shake USC, which didn't get within one possession of Utah's lead again.
"I'm certainly not going to compare him to Steph Curry," Krystkowiak said. "But if there's one guy on our team that's got some deep range and has a lot of confidence … that was a big three that he hit."
The biggest shots for Utah might've been the ones the Trojans missed. The Utes held USC to under 42 percent in the second half, and the 7-seed Trojans missed six of their final nine shots against Utah's defense. The second-best 3-point shooting team in the league was held to seven 3-pointers on Thursday.
The Utes head to a rubber match with Cal: Each team defended their home court during the regular season. The Golden Bears scraped past Oregon State in the 76-68 nightcap on Thursday evening. The Utes will face two projected NBA Draft first-round picks in Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, as well as an experienced core of guards that form the toughest defensive squad in the conference.
Utah has now won at least one game in the past four Pac-12 tournaments. But they're hungry for much more: The Utes have never been to the conference tournament title game under Krystkowiak.
Poeltl said the winning streak, which is Utah's longest against Pac-12 competition, is in the rear view as the team concentrates on survival.
"It's three games in a row, hopefully, if you go all the way," Poeltl said. "That's kind of the mentality we have to get into. You've got to grind through it and go into every single game with 100 percent effort, and hopefully you're going to come out as a winner."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Storylines
R Utes shoot 60.8 percent, notch 22 assists on 31 baskets.
• Kyle Kuzma has career-high 23 points on 11-for-12 shooting.
• Lorenzo Bonam, Jordan Loveridge, Jakob Poeltl all score in double figures.
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No. 2 Utah vs. No. 3 Cal
P MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
Tipoff • 9:30 p.m. MST
TV • Fox Sports 1
Radio • ESPN 700 AM
Records • Utah (25-7); Cal (23-9)