Utah stuns No. 4 Arizona on 10th anniversary of Utes coaching legend

Unranked Utah’s biggest victory of the year, a Pac-12 opening 81-66 upset of No. 4 Arizona on Thursday night, came exactly 10 years after the death of Rick Majerus, the legendary coach who led the Utes to the 1998 national title game.

Majerus, who died of heart failure on Dec. 1, 2012, at 64 years old, led Utah to a 76-51 victory over top-seed Arizona in the Elite Eight in 1998 to advance to the Final Four that year.

When asked by a reporter about the anniversary, Utah head coach Craig Smith said his team didn’t know about it entering the game, but he said he’s always admired Majerus, the only head coach to lead Utah to the national title game.

“I remember as a young coach, when he was doing TV for a while, I would just love to listen to him because of his detail and ability to communicate,” Smith said after his team’s home win over the Wildcats on Thursday, two weeks after it had suffered a loss to Sam Houston State. “What a legendary figure. It’s pretty cool. But we did not share that with our guys, but I am going to share that tomorrow.”

Majerus, an assistant with Al McGuire’s 1977 Marquette team that won a national championship, coached Utah from 1989 to 2004. During that stretch, Utah reached the NCAA tournament 10 times.

Thursday’s game was the program’s first win over an Associated Press top-five team since Dec. 30, 2000, when it defeated then-No. 1 Alabama, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The program had lost 12 games in a row against top-five teams prior to Thursday’s win.

The Wildcats, ranked first in the country with a 64.5 percent clip inside the arc, struggled throughout their conference opener. After finishing 9-for-33 in the first half and entering the break with a 42-25 deficit, Arizona couldn’t close the gap in the second half. Although the Wildcats pulled within six points with 14:06 to play in the game, a Utah squad that was more relentless than it was efficient (the team shot 44 percent from the field) extended its lead down the stretch.

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