SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah basketball team has just one senior on its roster this year, but most folks probably don’t even know that, with the talk all season about the Utes’ 11 freshmen and four sophomores. In fact, even the most diehard Ute fan might not even know who Marc Reininger is.
The 6-foot-9, 230-pounder has hardly played the last four seasons, usually in the waning minutes of blowout games. For his career, he has scored less than 10 points, while playing fewer than one season’s worth of games. This year, when he had a legitimate chance for more minutes, he has been limited to just three games because of injuries.
Yet if you ask coach Larry Krystkowiak and Ute players, they’ll tell you Reininger, who will be honored Saturday before the game with Colorado (12:30 p.m. MST), is an integral part of the Ute team.
“He’s an awesome kid and he’s worked tremendously hard,” said Krystkowiak. “There’s never any question where Marc’s heart is. He’s always dialed in and he provides a spark for our guys. He’s a terrific student, a terrific teammate — he stands for everything we believe in around here with our basketball program.”
The young players on the team look up to Reininger because of his experience in the program.
“He’s the one vet on the team that’s been through it all, so he’s the one guy we look up to for advice and stuff,” said sophomore forward Riley Battin. “He’s a great guy to be around and a great guy to have in the locker room and he’s a good friend. He’s a four-year program guy, a great person. I just feel bad for the luck he’s had this year with the ankle and his nose.”
Freshman Branden Carlson added, “Marc has definitely been a positive influence and a great friend. The one thing he’s done for me is his positivity. He’s been out with an injury, but every day he has this positivity and energy and gives me some energy as well.”
Oh those injuries.
Even though he only played in seven games last year and five the year before that, Reininger might have had a chance for more minutes this year after several players graduated or left the team prior to this season, including starting center Jayce Johnson.
However, Reininger suffered a severe ankle injury early last summer (“probably the worst ankle sprain I’ve witnessed” said Krystkowiak) that sidelined him for more than five months. When he was finally healthy at the start of the Pac-12 season, he played in three games, including a game back in his home state in front of family and friends. He played 11 minutes against Colorado and scored four points, including a 3-pointer, and hauled down four rebounds, all career highs.
He made a pair of free throws the following week at Arizona and played against Arizona State, but the following Monday in practice, he got smacked in the nose by a teammate and suffered a serious concussion that has kept him out of action ever since.
Though he has been on scholarship the past two seasons, Reininger came to Utah as a walk-on after playing for Regis Jesuit High in Monument, Colorado. He was never a star in high school, in fact he was only a part-time starter for his team.
But he had attended a summer camp at Utah after his junior year and was offered a spot as a walk-on and after his senior season, he accepted the opportunity.
“Other offers fell through,” he said. “Utah’s a great place, it was a great opportunity and I’ve never regretted it.”
Reininger is first to acknowledge that it hasn’t always been a bed of roses, basically being a practice player for four years. Did he ever get frustrated and just want to pack it in?
“I had some frustrating practices and it’s been up and down. But coming back to it every day to prove myself, has helped me to stick around. I love being around something that’s greater than myself, working with a group of brothers to attain a common goal.” — Marc Reininger
“Everyone has those thoughts at some point,” he said. “I had some frustrating practices and it’s been up and down. But coming back to it every day to prove myself, has helped me to stick around. I love being around something that’s greater than myself, working with a group of brothers to attain a common goal.”
He’s also witnessed a number of players come through the program who have left for one reason or another, which he calls “interesting.”
“There’s been so many guys come through the program, it’s interesting to see which guys do well and which guys don’t do well,” he said. “It comes down to ‘Are you bought-in to what the coaches are saying and what our program’s all about — hard work and discipline and love for the game and willing to play as a team.’ That’s what I’ve gotten out of it.”
Ask him the highlight of his Ute career and Reininger points to last season’s exciting comeback win over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion when Parker Van Dyke, one of his good friends on the team, sank a game-winning shot at the buzzer.
“That was the culmination of our team coming together in adversity and playing together,” he said. “Parker hitting that shot was kind of the peak of that teamwork.”
Reininger is graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, not an easy one by any means. “It’s definitely not easy, but it’s definitely been rewarding,” he says.
As he approaches his final home game, when some of his family members will be on hand, Reininger is keeping his fingers crossed that he’ll be cleared to play at least a few minutes Saturday afternoon against Colorado, as does his coach.
“He’s been a great teammate to our guys, he does a lot of things with a smile on his face,” said Krystkowiak. “We’re going to celebrate for him Saturday and send him out on a high note.”