SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz struggled to shoot from the three-point line and dropped their 16th straight road game, falling to the Denver Nuggets 129-93.
Collin Sexton led Utah while Kyle Filipowski added 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Game Blog: Road Trip Opens With Loss In Denver
One Of The Worst Shooting Nights In Team History
The Jazz fell behind by double-digits early in Friday’s contest as they failed to connect on their first three-point shot.
For the first time this season, Utah didn’t connect on a three in the first quarter of a game, and was haunted by poor shooting all night.
The Jazz shot just 7-40 from the three-point line, marking the first time in team history the team failed to connect to shoot better than 18 percent from downtown when attempting at least 36 threes.
Great fight from the @utahjazz youngsters in the second quarter who have trimmed the @nuggets lead to 4, 39-35.
Jazz have hit four straight threes after opening the game 0-10. #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/ItKgrrWvti
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 29, 2025
“We went 7-40 from three,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “If you shoot 17 percent from three in this league, that’s going to be a hard night.”
Previously, the team has had two games of 6-35 shooting from the three-point line.
The Jazz were left hoisting threes after Denver shut down the paint.
Led by Nikola Jokic’s 27 points, Denver outscored Utah 64-46 in the paint, and held the Jazz to just 23-47 shooting down low, including 13 blocked shots.
“That’s just too many decisions around the basket that weren’t clean,” Hardy said.
Doing things on both side of the ball pic.twitter.com/asdl3TPobf
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) March 29, 2025
Cody Williams’ ongoing woes continued, connecting on just 1-6 from the field while missing all four of his three-point attempts.
Isaiah Collier missed all seven of his field goal attempts despite trying just two three-pointers.
Keyonte George was 5-17 from the floor, including 2-8 from three, KJ Martin went 0-4, while Svi Mykhailiuk connected on 1-5 field goal attempts.
“I thought we generated a bunch of good looks, and they didn’t go,” Hardy concluded. “I’m not hiding from the fact that we just got our butts kicked, but it’s not because the team didn’t compete and play hard.”
MVP Campaign Launched For Oscar Tshiebwe
Heading into their matchup with the Nuggets, the Salt Lake City Stars launched a G League MVP campaign for two-way center Oscar Tshiebwe.
Players and coaches wore custom Tshiebwe MVP shirts that included a picture of the Salt Lake City Stars big man who has dominated the G League this season.
The Utah Jazz and SLC Stars came together to support and highlight two-way player @Oscartshiebwe34 in a campaign for the 2024-25 NBA G League MVP award@utahjazz HC Will Hardy and the team surprised Tshiebwe with “Vote Oscar for MVP” shirts on their roadtrip in Denver! 👏🌟🎶 pic.twitter.com/hiYOv0I1yG
— Salt Lake City Stars (@slcstars) March 28, 2025
Tshiebwe finished the Stars regular season averaging a stunning 17.1 points and 19.1 rebounds in a campaign that included multiple 20-point, 20-rebound games, and even a 21-point, 30-rebound performance earlier this month.
The Kentucky product has repeatedly suited up for the Stars for afternoon games, only to be tasked with taking the floor for the Jazz later that evening.
Tshiebwe led the Stars to a 21-13 record in the G League and a playoff berth. The postseason begins on April 1.
The second-year big man recorded seven points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes against the Nuggets.
Next Broadcast
The team will travel to face the Charlotte Hornets on Monday at 5 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on KJZZ, streamed on Jazz+, and heard on97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10- 12 p.m. with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone . Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.