Utah 66, Rhode Island 50

— -- SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The elbow Bryant Markson took to the eye in the first half didn't wake him up as much as the talk Utah got from coach Ray Giacoletti at halftime. The Utes rallied from a sluggish first half and pulled away with an 11-0 run midway through the second in a 66-50 win over Rhode Island on Tuesday. "I think we just came out more aggressive on offense. In the first half our offense was looking horrible," said Markson, who led Utah with 17 points. "Coach gave us a good talk in the locker room -- basically to see if we have any heart. I think we proved it in the second half." The Utes outscored the Rams 43-26 in the second half, hitting 14 of 23 attempts from the field after shooting just 36 percent in the first half. Shaun Green scored 11 points and the freshman forward added five assists in his first start and just his second college game. Jonas Langvad scored 10 for the Utes (2-0). Both players are forwards, but were able to stretch Rhode Island's defense, then start getting the ball inside. "They packed their defense in and forced us to shoot the ball from the perimeter, but we can't just take the easy way out. we had to find a way to get post touches," Giacoletti said. "It doesn't hurt when Shaun and Jonas can knock down some 3s." Markson thought he was elbowed intentionally by Jon Clark in the first half, but there was no call on the play. He said the elbow caught him on the right eye and he remained slumped on the court as play moved to the other end. By the second half, Markson and the rest of the Utes were seeing pretty well. The Utes made 7 of 18 3-pointers, getting three from Green and two each from Markson and Langvad, who was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Jimmy Baron scored 16 and Will Daniels finished with 11 points for the Rams (1-1). "We were careless. We didn't run our offense all the way like we usually do. like we needed to tonight," Daniels said. "I think we were anxious on offense." Rhode Island led 24-23 at halftime after forcing the Utes into nine turnovers and just 9-for-25 shooting. But the Utes finally broke through the defense midway through the second half and led the rest of the way. Daniels put Rhode Island up 42-41 on a 3-pointer with about 9:40 to play, but Utah answered with an 11-0 run. Langvad started it with a 3-pointer, Markson hit two free throws, then converted a three-point play with 8:17 remaining. After forcing the Rams into a backcourt violation, Green came back with another 3-pointer to put the Utes ahead 52-42 with just under seven minutes to play. Green also had a key block during the run, knocking Darrell Harris' shot right back to him then forcing Harris to step out of bounds. "Probably putting him in a tough position, but that's just kind of where we're at," Giacoletti said of putting Green in the starting lineup so quickly. "I'm just proud of him and the way he's handled it. he's going to get better as we go along." Daniels made a jumper to give the Rams their first points in three minutes, then Utah scored the next five to pull away 57-44. The Rams lost guard Tyrese Sullivan in the first half when he twisted his ankle and had to be helped from the court.