Utah @ Ohio preview

With three wins to open the 2019-20 campaign, including a 73-69 victory over Minnesota last Friday, Utah may have looked past Coastal Carolina to a semifinal matchup with No. 23 Baylor in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in South Carolina. However, the Utes got blitzed in the second half and will instead try and regroup in a losers' bracket game when they play Ohio on Friday.

Utah was outscored by 16 points in the second half and shot just 33 percent from the floor for the game in the 79-57 setback in the quarterfinals to lose for the first time this season. Timmy Allen was the only Ute in double figures with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and also added a team-high nine rebounds. Ohio landed in the losers' bracket after suffering a 76-53 loss to Baylor on Thursday. Lunden McDay scored 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and Jason Preston added 12 points and three assists for the Bobcats, who have lost two in a row to the ranked teams in the eight-team field: No. 15 Villanova beat Ohio 78-54 on Saturday.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNews

ABOUT UTAH (3-1): Allen, who entered averaging 22.7 points and 8.3 rebounds, shot 6-of-12 from the floor and missed his third double-double of the season by a rebound. Fellow sophomores Both Gach and Riley Battin, who entered averaging a combined 30 points and 12.3 rebounds, totaled 11 points on 2-of-15 shooting and five rebounds. After graduating 67 percent of their scoring last season, the Utes are starting three sophomores and two freshmen.

ABOUT OHIO (3-2): Senior guard Jordan Dartis dished out a team-high four assists in the loss. Ohio, which shot 36 percent from the field and was outrebounded 42-32, including surrendering 17 offensive rebounds, was in the game until a 15-0 Baylor run in the second half. "Hats off to Baylor, they showed they're a top-20 team in the country," Ohio head coach Jeff Boals said. "We knew coming in we had a small margin for error. We had to block out, we had to take care of the basketball and make some shots. We didn't do that and give them credit for that."

TIP-INS

1. Utah won the only other meeting between the schools in 1973.

2. Bobcats freshman F Ben Roderick made his debut, scoring nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.

3. Allen has scored in double figures in 11 straight games dating to last season.

PREDICTION: Utah 78, Ohio 72