SALT LAKE CITY — By virtue of its 74-72 overtime victory over Colorado Saturday afternoon, the Utah basketball team got some good news and some bad news concerning the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament this week in Las Vegas.
The win gave the Utes the No. 9 seed, meaning they’ll play in the first game Wednesday at 1 p.m. MDT at T-Mobile Arena. That’s the time of day the Utes prefer after usually playing in one of the night games in previous years in the tourney.
The Utes will play No. 8 seed Oregon State, a team they defeated 71-59 in Salt Lake in January and lost to 70-51 in Corvallis in February. Utah, Oregon State and Cal all finished in a tie for eighth place, but Oregon State got the edge over Utah because of its win over Oregon earlier this season.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak said he “loves the idea” of playing in the first game of the day because he doesn’t like waiting around all day for games.
The bad news is, if the Utes get by the Beavers they’ll be playing league champion and No. 1 seed Oregon, a team the Utes have lost to five times in the Pac-12 tourney, including four of the past five years.
However all the Utes care about now is the Beavers, who beat Stanford and Cal this weekend to move up to the No. 8 spot.
“Let’s go have some fun in March in spring time — my favorite time of year,” said Krystkowiak.
In the other Wednesday games, No. 5 Arizona will play No. 12 Washington at 3:30 p.m. MT, No. 10 Cal will play No. 7 Stanford at 7 p.m. and No. 11 Washington State will play Colorado at 9:30 p.m.