What Alex Jensen said after Utah basketball's win over Holy Cross

Runnin' Utes beat Crusaders to start 2025-26 season with 3-0 mark

Utah Runnin' Utes head coach Alex Jensen and his team improved to 3-0 with win over Holy Cross Crusaders. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Utah hadn't exactly ironed out all the wrinkles in time for its third game under head coach Alex Jensen, though the Runnin' Utes did just enough when it mattered most against Holy Cross on Monday to remain undefeated in the early stages of the 2025-26 season.

It wasn't as dramatic as their overtime thriller on Saturday, but the Runnin' Utes (3-0) didn't exactly cruise by the Crusaders, either.

But Jensen's group clamped down defensively, while Terrence Brown and Seydou Traore led the way offensively in the second half, propelling Utah to an 87-69 victory from Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Despite jumping out to a double-digit lead early, Utah wasn't able to put away Holy Cross easily, as junior guard Joe Nugent and company managed to generate solid looks around the rim throughout, scoring 1.05 points per possession while knocking down nine 3-pointers. Nugent led with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting for the Crusaders, who got within seven points of the Runnin' Utes early in the second half before a 5-minute scoring drought collapsed any hopes of pulling off an upset.

Brown and Traore came up big down the stretch, combining for 20 of their team's 39 second-half points. Brown paced with 21 points, while Keanu Dawes added 14 and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Obomate Abbey played 25 minutes off the bench and ended the night with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal.

Here's what Jensen had to say after the game.

On rotating underclassmen into the game

"With [Babacar Faye] being injured, that provides a lot of opportunities for like Josh [Hayes] and Kendyl [Sanders], who before the season started, we didn't necessarily know if they were going to play. I think we wanted to keep guys fresh, and sometimes they make a mistake and they come out, but they're gonna go right back in. I think we're still experimenting with the combinations, with the rotations, and then that'll change when we get James Okonkwo back for the next game. Our guys did a good job staying ready."

On Terrence Brown's play to start the season

"Terrence is great because as a coach, the thing you try to teach him is patience. He wants to go hard and fast all the time, but I don't think he had a turnover tonight, but just kind of the message for him is, you got to organize our team. You got to make the reads."

"His habit is just to go harder and faster, but kind of feel the game, control the tempo of the game; and I think he did a good job. He maybe got carried away a couple times, but I think he made a big leap, just as the guy with the ball in his hands."

"It's not just about scoring, and I told him, Holy Cross is going to watch the tape against Weber [State], and you got to win the mind game with them and figure out how they're going to play you. So I think he did a much better job controlling the tempo the game for us."

On Obomate Abbey's performance off the bench

"I think Abbey played 12 minutes against Weber [State]. I mean, as a coach, you always go back and wonder what you could have done different. I think defensively he's very aggressive, and I think his teammates feed off of that, and I think he changed the game."

On his team's passing

"It was great. As you know, I make mistakes; there was a few that I learned from, again, in the Weber State game, so I tried to simplify it for them at halftime."

"A great phrase that I've learned is: play with the pass, change the sides of the floor and then usually it turns out better for us as a group and individually. But yeah, it was like drive and pass. Good to great. And I think we did a good job for the most part tonight."

On improvements he'd like to make defensively

"I think just overall, making it a priority; that's where the game starts. I always say if you're struggling shooting, instead of talking about shooting or taking more shots; go rebound, go defend. And usually it's funny how that helps you with your shooting."

"But there'll be times when we're going to be small, especially as we get into conference play. So we've got keep the basics, but we got to be able to change defenses. Tonight we started switching more, and I think our guys were ready for that. We weren't great in the post when we were switching — when their big guys would have our guards — so we got to be able to change and adjust on the fly. So I think just the mindset of making that a priority — not necessarily scoring, but just collectively as a group."