Before any other teams tipped off their Pac-12 basketball schedules in early January, Arizona State blistered Utah's defense for 28 points in the game's opening 10 minutes and 20 seconds.
The Utes have improved considerably since that moment, when they trailed the Sun Devils by 17 points. Utah remains in the bottom of the country defensively in the season-long analytics, but keeps producing just enough defense in key stretches of games. That happened again in Thursday’s 83-76 win over Arizona, as the Utes moved to 8-4 in the Pac-12, claiming sole possession of second place in advance of ASU’s visit Saturday night.