What Alex Jensen said after Utah put together its most complete game of the season vs. Eastern Washington

Runnin' Utes head coach broke down 24-point win over the Eages

Utah Runnin' Utes head coach Alex Jensen improved to 8-4 as a head coach with Saturday's 101-77 win over the Eastern Washington Eagles. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

By Alex Jensen's account, the Utah men's basketball team put together its most complete game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, pulling away for a 101-77 victory over Eastern Washington.

The Runnin' Utes had struggled against some of its other mid-major competition over the course of nonconference play, though the defensive lapses and self-inflicted miscues that plagued them at times in November never had an opportunity to rear their ugly head into Saturday's contest at Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Led by 20-point performances from Don McHenry (27), Keanu Dawes (21) and Terrence Brown (20), Utah (8-4) set new season-highs in points (101), made field goals (39), assists (23) and margin of victory (24 points) during its victory over Eastern Washington (2-10).

"I think it was the best game for 40 minutes," Jensen said after the game. "We kind of controlled it and stayed in control and followed the game plan."

Here's more from Jensen's postgame press conference.

On Keanu Dawes' performance

"I think he was aggressive, and I think our guards helped with that. I think a good moment tonight was when they were in the press — we told them all week we were gonna see a lot of press and to be aggressive — and KD catching it and taking it all the way; I think that was encouraging."

"And you gotta change your personality on the court. Keanu's a great kid, but again, we're gonna continue to need more from him. But yeah, he made a jump tonight."

On not letting Eastern Washington get back into the game

"We've talked about that in the timeouts. Like not playing the score — you could be up 10, you could be there on a run, but we got to do the same thing. And we told them that at halftime, I asked them: 'How do we get the lead right? What we can do better? Don't let up. Keep doing that, playing with the pass, being aggressive, and scoring off our defense.' Which I think we did a better job in the second half of doing."

On Don McHenry's performance and leadership

"He's another guy — pretty much every guy I want a little bit more from — but I tell him all the time, he's one of the few seniors on the team, and he's got to be vocal. But I think Don — he's playing off the ball more than he has in the past, and he does a great job of letting the game come to him and picking his spots and being patient him."

"And [Terrence Brown] has really done a good job with that and and they've done a better job playing off each other. But again, I think just the leadership — I want all of them to talk more. But Don again, he's one of the few seniors, so his leadership's been good.

On Utah's selflessness, playing without the ball

"I think that's been the lost art in the last little while. I think fewer and fewer players get to this level and they know how to play without the basketball, because I think that's the one thing that I can teach them, like how to create opportunities off the basketball. They all grew up only knowing how to score with the ball, but I keep hitting them on — play with the pass, change sides of the floor and score together, which I think they did a good job."

On being ready for Big 12 play

"We'll find out soon enough. I tell them all the time — Washington's gonna be a good game going into the conference. But if you just look at what the Big 12 is doing, it is hard to make an argument against it not being the best conference in the in the country. So, our goal is again competing against ourselves and getting better.

"The rest will take care of itself. There's a lot of good teams and good coaches with veteran teams. I think we're excited and we'll be ready."