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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- For the first few minutes against Cardinal
Stritch, the Utah Utes (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) looked like they were really going to
miss coach Rick Majerus.
After learning Majerus will rehabilitate his knee and not coach
until January, the Utes fell behind 9-2 before roaring back to beat
the NAIA school 93-47 Tuesday night.
|  | | Utah's Nick Jacobson gains control of the ball as Cardinal Stritch's Cale Vogel goes tumbling out of bounds. |
"We knew we were going to win, but we still needed to come out
with intensity and we didn't do that," said Jeff Johnsen, who
scored a career-high 20 points.
Majerus will miss about five weeks to strengthen a surgically
repaired knee. He traveled Monday to Las Vegas, where he plans to
undergo a rigid two-week rehabilitation program.
After Cardinal Stritch took the 9-2 lead on Greg Arnold's
jumper, Utah assistant coach Dick Hunsaker replaced the starting
lineup except Kevin Bradley with Chris Burgess, Britton Johnsen,
Trace Caton and Nick Jacobson. That group went on a 17-2 run over
the next five minutes.
"We didn't come out with the same fire as we had in Puerto Rico
(where Utah went 2-1 last week) and we had to turn it around to let
them know we weren't joking around," said Bradley, a junior
college transfer who was 8-for-10 from the field for the Utes (4-1).
Utah shot 55 percent and ran its home winning streak to 54
games, the longest in NCAA Division I.
Bill Neubauer and Arnold each had 12 points for Cardinal Stritch
(5-3), which dropped two games on its Utah road trip after starting
5-1.
"We knew we would have to play perfect in order to beat Utah
and for about three minutes that happened," Crusaders coach Dennis
Fox said.
With its tallest starter at 6-foot-5, the Milwaukee school was
outsized by the Utes, but used an array of long jumpers and
backdoor cuts for layups to keep within striking distance most of
the first half.
"We weren't pretty out there," Hunsaker said. "We embarrassed
ourselves in the first half. I'm sorry people had to watch that."
Utah closed the half with a 9-3 run, and used a 20-1 run early
in the second to make it 64-31. The Utes outrebounded the Crusaders
46-20.
"After halftime they left me open and I happened to be hitting
my shots tonight," said Johnsen, who scored 13 of his 20 points in
the second half.
Hunsaker was the associate head coach under Majerus at Ball
State from 1987-89 and later led the Cardinals to two NCAA
tournament as head coach.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Utah Clubhouse
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