What Utah's Alex Jensen said following win over West Virginia

Runnin' Utes led by as many as 15 before coming away with 5-point win over the Mountaineers

Utah Runnin' Utes head coach Alex Jensen talks to his players during a timeout during the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Hope Coliseum. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

It wasn't pretty, but Utah did just enough to earn its first road win of the season Wednesday in a 61-56 triumph over West Virginia from Hope Coliseum.

The Runnin' Utes (10-16, 2-11 Big 12) dug in their heels defensively, holding the Mountaineers (16-10, 7-6 Big 12) to their second-lowest point total at home this season while bottling up their leading scorer, Honor Huff, who finished with 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field.

Seydou Traore paced Utah with 17 points, Terrence Brown added 16 and eight rebounds and Don McHenry chipped in 16 points.

Here's what Jensen had to say after his team snapped its 15-game road losing streak.

On getting off to a fast start

"That's been kind of a focal point for us all year. I can promise that I don't think any team has walked through or watched more film on jump balls, because it's kind of ironic how the games have gone, especially on the road."

"If we don't start well, it's a hard force to come back, especially on the road, but the start was really good."

On the message to the team as West Virginia made its run

"[The Mountaineers] play hard, they defend the whole game. We started off well. I thought we moved the ball well, we made shots. I didn't remind them too much, but, like, they're gonna make a run, right? I tried to use my timeouts."

"I think TB did a good job keeping his composure and running the control on the tempo. I think we had seven turnovers in the first half and five in the second. It's been a point of emphasis for us offensively, not turning it over."

On Utah winning the rebounding battle

"We kind of had different focal points throughout the year; rebounding has kind of been one. I think Josh Hayes was great off the bench. Even Terrence; I think he ended up with eight, and that was great. Right from the start he had a couple big rebounds in the in the first half, and then even those loose balls at the end were huge."

"Collectively, we did a good job rebounding. It's been a focal point because we give up size in a lot of these games."

On slowing down Honor Huff

"He's one of those guys who could score a lot of points in a little amount of time. We started Seydou on him, and he did a great job."

"It's kind of a point I've been making to our guys; focus on the defensive part of it. Seydou took the challenge of guarding Huff, and it's amazing how it makes your offensive game easy. There was a couple late in the game where James [Okonkwo] did a great job, he was aware of him coming off that pick, and we were a little bit late and he kind of he jumped out there for a second."

"I think collectively as a group, we were aware of him for most of the nights, and did a good job."

On Don McHenry's shotmaking

"We need Don to win, and I think the point I've tried to ask Don to do is be aggressive. I think he did a much better job defensively."

"I think Don did a good job of just keeping it steady ... not getting too high [or] too low. We need Don to make shots to win."

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