It has been an incredibly long offseason for the University of Utah men’s basketball team, center Branden Carlson said last month at the Pac-12 media day, because of the way coach Craig Smith’s first year at the helm went.
Well, the waiting ends Monday, as the Runnin’ Utes kick off Smith’s second season by hosting Long Island University at the Huntsman Center. Tipoff is at 9 p.m. (due to it being a double-header with the Utah women’s game) and will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
“I definitely think we are going to be better this year,” Carlson said in San Francisco. “Just the mindset that this team has compared to last year and the physicality our team plays with, and just how cohesive we are together should lead to more success.”
“You know, I am just living in the moment, day by day, and am just enjoying every minute of it. It is my final year, so trying to not look back and have any regrets. So I am excited to get this season going.” — Utah wing Marco Anthony
After Marco Anthony and freshman Luka Tarlac were held out of the exhibition game against Westminster last Wednesday — a 93-58 Utes win — Smith said Friday that Anthony should be good to go, but Tarlac is still questionable.
“Luka gave it a whirl and it didn’t go so well (in practice Friday),” Smith said.
Utah fans should see more of BYU transfer Gavin Baxter, who is still on a minutes restriction in his recovery from an ACL injury suffered last December as a Cougar.
“He had a great practice (Friday), but I would anticipate there will be some sort of restriction,” Smith said. “… The beauty of this is he is a veteran and has been through this before.”
Echoing what Carlson said, Anthony said it feels like this team “has been playing together for years” and is ready to see how it matches up against another Division I opponent.
“You know, I am just living in the moment, day by day, and am just enjoying every minute of it,” Anthony said last month. “It is my final year, so trying to not look back and have any regrets. So I am excited to get this season going.”
Utah is 99-16 all-time in home and season openers; Smith is 5-3 in openers as a Division I head coach and 3-1 when those season-openers have been played at home. He said just because this is the first game of the season, it is no less important than any other.
“Every game matters,” he said. “We don’t play 82 games (like the NBA). … We only play 31 games and every game truly does matter, and has direct implications on getting an NCAA Tournament bid, or not.
Bad losses can really set you back. Great wins can really propel you forward.”
Smith said the Utes know very little about the Sharks, who are coached by former NBA star Rod Strickland. Strickland, 55, was named LIU’s new coach on June 30, and was most recently director of the NBA G League’s professional path program.
Long Island had a 16-14 overall record last season and finished third in the Northeastern Conference with a 12-6 league mark.
Only seven players are back from last year’s Sharks teams, while the other eight are newcomers and six of those players are transfers.
“It is a very different prep, so we gotta be locked into personnel,” Smith said.
After Monday’s game, Utah’s four-game homestand continues Friday with a 5 p.m. tipoff against Cal-State Bakersfield.
Smith said fans should come out for the “pageantry of college athletics where hopefully we can get this going, and get people in here and have that home court advantage.”