# 2017–18 Utah Utes men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Utah Runnin' Utes men's basketball team represented the University of Utah during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by seventh-year head coach Larry Krystkowiak. They played their home games at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah as members of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 23–12, 11–7 in Pac-12 play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament to Oregon. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated UC Davis, LSU, Saint Mary's, and Western Kentucky to advance to the championship game where they lost to Penn State.

## Previous season

The Utes finished the season 20–12, 11–7 in Pac-12 play to finish in fourth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament to California. They received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Boise State.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Lorenzo Bonam | G | 6'4" | 189 | Sr. | Inkster, MI | Graduated |
| Tim Coleman | G | 6'1" | 190 | Jr. | Cincinnati, OH | Elected to transfer eight games into the season. |
| Kyle Kuzma | F | 6'9" | 221 | Jr. | Burton, MI | Declared for 2017 NBA draft. |
| JoJo Zamora | G | 6'2" | 170 | Jr. | Oakland, CA | Transferred to New Mexico State |
| Devon Daniels | G | 6'5" | 200 | Fr. | Battle Creek, MI | Transferred to NC State |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Note |
| Justin Bibbins | G | 5'8" | 150 | Sr. | Carson, CA | Eligible to play immediately as Bibbins graduated from Long Beach State. |

### 2017 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Branden Carlsen #40 PF | South Jordan, UT | Bingham High School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 23, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Donnie Tillman #40 SF | Detroit, MI | Findlay Prep | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 221 lb (100 kg) | Feb 1, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 80 ||||||
| Christian PoPoola Jr. #48 SG | Las Vegas, NV | Bishop Gorman High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Apr 22, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 78 ||||||
| Jaxon Brenchley #58 PG | Hyrum, UT | Mountain Crest High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Aug 31, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Devante Doutrive #67 SG | Woodland Hills, CA | Birmingham High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Sep 14, 2017 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Utah Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. "Utah Utes 2017 Player Commits". ESPN.com. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 1, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Montana Tech | W 95–45 | – | Jon M. Huntsman Center (9,097) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 8:00 pm, P12N | | Prairie View A&M MGM Resorts Main Event campus-site game | W 83–62 | 1–0 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (9,887) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Nov 13, 2017* 8:00 pm, P12N | | Mississippi Valley State | W 91–51 | 2–0 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (9,690) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Nov 16, 2017* 6:00 pm, P12N | | Missouri | W 77–59 | 3–0 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (12,064) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Nov 20, 2017* 10:30 pm, ATTSNRM | | vs. Ole Miss MGM Resorts Main Event Heavyweight semifinals | W 83–74 | 4–0 | T-Mobile Arena (8,107) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 22, 2017* 10:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. UNLV MGM Resorts Main Event Heavyweight championship | L 58–85 | 4–1 | T-Mobile Arena (8,424) Paradise, NV |
| Nov 24, 2017* 6:00 pm, P12N | | Eastern Washington MGM Resorts Main Event campus-site game | W 85–69 | 5–1 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,264) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Dec 2, 2017* 5:00 pm, P12N | | Hawaii | W 80–60 | 6–1 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,896) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Dec 5, 2017* 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Butler | L 69–81 | 6–2 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,638) Indianapolis, IN |
| Dec 9, 2017* 5:30 pm, P12N | | vs. Utah State Old Oquirrh Bucket/Beehive Classic | W 77–67 | 7–2 | Vivint Smart Home Arena (7,729) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Dec 16, 2017* 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at BYU Rivalry/Old Oquirrh Bucket | L 65–77 | 7–3 | Marriott Center (16,272) Provo, UT |
| Dec 20, 2017* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Northwestern State | W 84–62 | 8–3 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,125) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Pac-12 regular season ||||||
| Dec 29, 2017 8:00 pm, FS1 | | at Oregon | W 66–56 | 9–3 (1–0) | Matthew Knight Arena (9,661) Eugene, OR |
| Dec 31, 2017 4:00 pm, P12N | | at Oregon State | W 66–64 | 10–3 (2–0) | Gill Coliseum (4,751) Corvallis, OR |
| Jan 4, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 14 Arizona | L 82–94 | 10–4 (2–1) | Jon M. Huntman Center (13,543) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Jan 7, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | No. 4 Arizona State | L 77–80 | 10–5 (2–2) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (12,123) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Jan 11, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at UCLA | L 64–83 | 10–6 (2–3) | Pauley Pavilion (8,739) Los Angeles, CA |
| Jan 14, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | at USC | L 67–84 | 10–7 (2–4) | Galen Center (4,822) Los Angeles, CA |
| Jan 18, 2018 8:00 pm, P12N | | Washington | W 70–62 | 11–7 (3–4) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (12,378) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Jan 21, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | Washington State | W 82–69 | 12–7 (4–4) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (11,241) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Jan 25, 2018 7:30 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 21 Arizona State | W 80–77 $^{OT}$ | 13–7 (5–4) | Wells Fargo Arena (11,536) Tempe, AZ |
| Jan 27, 2018 3:30 pm, FOX | | at No. 11 Arizona | L 73–74 | 13–8 (5–5) | McKale Center (14,644) Tucson, AZ |
| Feb 2, 2018 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Colorado | L 55–67 | 13–9 (5–6) | Coors Events Center (7,645) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 8, 2018 6:00 pm, FS1 | | Stanford | W 75–60 | 14–9 (6–6) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (14,038) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Feb 10, 2018 7:30 pm, P12N | | California | W 77–43 | 15–9 (7–6) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (14,358) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Feb 15, 2018 7:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington | W 70–58 | 16–9 (8–6) | Alaska Airlines Arena (8,170) Seattle, WA |
| Feb 17, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Washington State | W 77–70 | 17–9 (9–6) | Beasley Coliseum (2,924) Pullman, WA |
| Feb 22, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN | | UCLA | W 84–78 | 18–9 (10–6) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,141) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Feb 24, 2018 12:30 pm, P12N | | USC | L 58–74 | 18–10 (10–7) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,598) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Mar 3, 2018 5:00 pm, P12N | | Colorado | W 64–54 | 19–10 (11–7) | Jon M. Huntsman Center (13,751) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Pac-12 Tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2018 9:30 pm, FS1 | (3) | vs. (6) Oregon Quarterfinals | L 66–68 | 19–11 | T-Mobile Arena (13,194) Paradise, NV |
| NIT ||||||
| Mar 14, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (2) | (7) UC Davis First Round – Saint Mary's Bracket | W 69–59 | 20–11 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (3,452) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Mar 19, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | (2) | (3) LSU Second Round – Saint Mary's Bracket | W 95–71 | 21–11 | Jon M. Huntsman Center (5,528) Salt Lake City, UT |
| Mar 21, 2018* 8:00 pm, ESPN | (2) | at (1) No. 25 Saint Mary's Quarterfinals – Saint Mary's Bracket | W 67–58 $^{OT}$ | 22–11 | McKeon Pavilion (2,309) Moraga, CA |
| Mar 27, 2018* 5:00 pm, ESPN | (2) | vs. (4) Western Kentucky Semifinals | W 69–64 | 23–11 | Madison Square Garden (7,865) New York City, NY |
| Mar 29, 2018* 5:00 pm, ESPN | (2) | vs. (4) Penn State Championship | L 66–82 | 23–12 | Madison Square Garden (11,175) New York City, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||