The first meaningful late-season game in six years between longtime basketball rivals Utah and BYU will be played this afternoon at the Huntsman Center.
First place, as well as the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Mountain West Conference tournament, will be on the line when the two 8-3 teams square off. You have to go back to March 1995, when the Utes and Cougars played for the WAC title, to find a regular-season contest as significant.
Despite the importance of the game, there's not much hype coming from the Ute and Cougar coaches and players.
Acting Utah coach Dick Hunsaker would only make senior Nate Althoff available to the media this week, and while most BYU players were made available on Wednesday, they were careful not to say anything inflammatory.
Hunsaker calls the Utah-BYU rivalry "special" and "one of the best in the entire country."
However, he said "fans make rivalries, players and coaches don't" and insisted his team would approach the game like any other.
"It will be the status quo; it's the next game on our schedule," he said, repeating a familiar refrain. "I'm well-aware there are more games to play."
"It's nice to see we're competitive (with Utah) again," said BYU coach Steve Cleveland. "It's where we've wanted to be for a long time."
The players are a little more forthcoming about this being not just another game.
BYU senior Mekeli Wesley said, "This (game) is huge. The stakes are high. It's definitely different. This is a place we've never been before."
"On paper it certainly is a huge game for both teams as well as in-state bragging rights," said Althoff.
Hunsaker said the key to a Utah victory will be shutting down BYU's "big three" of Wesley, Terrell Lyday and Trent Whiting, who average 16.3, 15.7 and 14.8 points, respectively.
"They fuel so much off Whiting, Lyday and Wesley," he said. "They are exceptional."
On the other hand, Hunsaker says, "We obviously can't let somebody else get away from us," pointing to Eric Nielsen (6.5 ppg), who hurt the Utes in last year's MWC tournament; Daniel Bobik (3.8 ppg), who has given the Cougars some good play lately; and Nathan Cooper (4.8 ppg), who has more experience in Utah-BYU games than anyone else on the floor.
The Utes hope to use their superior depth to their advantage, something they weren't able to do in the earlier loss in Provo. For that game they were missing center Chris Burgess, who was out with an ankle injury and virtually without guard Kevin Bradley, who was in Hunsaker's doghouse at the time, playing just seven minutes.
The two junior transfers have played a big part of the Utes' recent surge that has seen them win six straight games since the 69-61 loss to BYU that wasn't as close as it looks.
Bradley has averaged 13.8 points on 50 percent shooting and 48 percent from 3-point range the past six games. Meanwhile Burgess has averaged 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots the past three games as he has worked his way back from that ankle injury.
While Burgess will start at center, Bradley will come off the bench as he has for the past 14 games for the Utes. Travis Spivey took over point guard duties against Texas and has improved markedly since then. He has averaged 4.4 assists and 2.3 turnovers the past 14 games and in the past three games has 20 assists to only five turnovers.
Nick Jacobson (7.6 ppg) will start at the other guard spot, with Britton Johnsen (8.6 ppg) and Phil Cullen (9.6 ppg) at the forward positions. Jeff Johnsen (8.7 ppg) and Althoff (8.4 ppg) will play significant minutes off the bench along with Bradley (11.0 ppg).
The Utes have settled into an eight-man rotation the past few games, but Hunsaker said he won't hesitate to go beyond the first eight.
"Those eight guys have been playing with energy and defensive commitment," he said. "But if there's a situation where we have to go beyond the top eight, the other guys — nine, 10, 11 and 12 have all logged quality minutes."
Last year, Mike Puzey was one of the heroes in the Utes' 77-62 victory at the Huntsman Center when the Utes bounced back from an early 11-point deficit. Hunsaker said Puzey, who had 10 points and seven rebounds in that game, would have played more this year, but has been plagued by a foot injury that is painful to play on. He also said he wouldn't hesitate to call on swingman Trace Caton, freshman guard Marc Jackson or freshman center Lance Allred.
Besides the five starters and Bobik, the Cougars can turn to freshmen Jake Chrisman and Derek Dawes, Kentucky transfer Nate Knight and backup point guard Matt Montague.
After today's game, the Utes and Cougars both go on the road for games at Air Force and New Mexico next weekend.
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