Who’s Playing
Cent. Arkansas Bears @ Utah Utes
Current Records: Cent. Arkansas 0-1, Utah 1-0
How To Watch
What to Know
The Utah Utes will take on the Cent. Arkansas Bears at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at Jon M. Huntsman Center. The Utes will be strutting in after a win while the Bears will be stumbling in from a defeat.
Utah is looking to give their home crowd another W after opening their season at home on Monday. They put a hurting on Alcorn State to the tune of 100-59. With the Utes ahead 50-31 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Gabe Madsen was the offensive standout of the matchup as he went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc en route to 27 points plus two steals. What’s more, he also posted a 66.7% field goal percentage, which is the highest he’s posted since back in December of 2023. Another player making a difference was Keanu Dawes, who scored 13 points plus six rebounds.
Utah was working as a unit and finished the game with 29 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now racked up at least 20 assists in five consecutive games dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Cent. Arkansas had to hit the road for their first game and unfortunately the road hit them back. It’s going to take some time for them to recover from the 88-50 bruising that BYU dished out on Tuesday. The Bears’ loss continues a disappointing trend for the team, making it six in a row dating back to last season.
Cent. Arkansas’ defeat came about despite a quality game from Elias Cato, who went 9 for 13 en route to 21 points.
Everything came up roses for Utah against Cent. Arkansas in their previous meeting back in December of 2019, as the squad secured a 98-67 victory. Will Utah repeat their success, or does Cent. Arkansas have a better game plan this time around? We’ll find out soon enough.
Looking forward, the game looks promising for Utah, as the team is favored by a full 27.5 points. They finished last season with a 14-16 record against the spread.
The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Utes as a 27-point favorite.
The over/under is 152.5 points.
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Series History
Utah won the only game these two teams have played in the last 5 years.
- Dec 07, 2019 – Utah 98 vs. Cent. Arkansas 67
