Thanksgiving Week has turned into Feast Week in the college basketball world, with multi-team events throughout the country — and even outside the U.S. — showcasing intriguing nonconference matchups.
Utah basketball will have its taste of the MTE action this week, as the Runnin’ Utes head to Palm Desert, California, for the Acrisure Series.
For a Utah program coming off a frustrating 92-85 home loss against Cal Poly, the event will allow the Utes to see if they can show progress when the competition is elevated.
On Tuesday, the Utes will face Grand Canyon in the nightcap of a five-game day (10 p.m. MST, CBS Sports Network).
Then on Wednesday, Utah will take on either Iowa or Ole Miss before a short Thanksgiving break.
Utah (5-1) played its first six games of the season at home — that included wins over San Jose State, Weber State, Holy Cross, Sam Houston and Purdue Fort Wayne.
While the Utes, who have 12 new players on the roster this season, showed their share of growing pains in those five wins — particularly in the victory over Weber State, when Utah had to rally from down 10 to force overtime — Utah was able to overcome its inconsistencies and win five straight when they were the favorite.
Against Cal Poly, though, Utah came out flat and was outdone by a Mustangs team that exploited the Utes’ defensive deficiencies — an issue that showed up long before the loss to Cal Poly.
“Our guys got to just individually take the challenge to guard, to play defense,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said after the loss, when Cal Poly shot 50% on the Huntsman Center floor and made 14 of 25 3-pointers.
“We told them they were going to come fast, they were going to shoot a lot of threes. So we had to talk and get back and keep the ball out of the paint, and I think we kind of eased our way into the game.”
The Utes can ill-afford to have long ineffective stretches in California if they want to earn a win or have a shot at two.
“We know why we lost, and we know it’s a very controllable thing,” junior forward Keanu Dawes said after the Cal Poly loss.
“I think (it was) effort and energy and focus, and obviously it’s not a loss that we wanted, but sometimes losses are kind of the best things that happen, especially when it’s still early in the season. So our goal is to just learn from it and not let it happen again.”
What to watch for from Grand Canyon
The Lopes, who joined the Mountain West Conference this offseason, will provide a good challenge to the power conference Utes.
Grand Canyon has made the NCAA Tournament four of the past five years as a member of the WAC, and now they’ll have the chance to show they can elevate their game in one of the top mid-major conferences.
While the Lopes are 3-2 on the year so far, they are currently ranked No. 100 in the KenPom ratings, 21 spots above Utah at No. 121.
Grand Canyon played two exhibition games against power conference teams, losing by five to Baylor on the road and by six at home to USC.
The game against Utah starts a stretch where the Lopes will play three power conference teams in their next four contests, They’ll take on either Iowa or Ole Miss in their second Acrisure Series game, then Grand Canyon hosts Oklahoma State on Dec. 6.
“They have great size and length, and they can really score the ball, but it’s more about us and executing what we want to do systematically. That’s my top concern,” Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said about the Utah game, according to the team’s website.
While the Utes are led in the frontcourt by double-double threat Dawes and the guard duo of Terrence Brown (25.2 points per game) and Don McHenry (16.7 ppg), Grand Canyon will challenge the Utes with guys like lengthy guard Jaden Henley.
The 6-foot-7 Henley will be a handful for Utah’s backcourt — he averages a team-high 16.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Fellow guard Makaih Williams averages 13.2 points and is the team’s top 3-point shooter, having made 10 of 27 on the year, and 6-8 forward Nana Owusu-Anane is a double-double performer, with averages of 12.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest.
“We know exactly what we’re going to prepare for,” Henley said, per the team website. “We hit the drawing board after Saint Louis (a 78-64 loss on Nov. 15). We have to win two big games. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’re going to step into the gym with a clean slate.”
A quick look at Iowa and Ole Miss
Both the Hawkeyes and the Rebels come into the tournament unbeaten at 5-0 on the young season.
Iowa’s best win thus far was an 81-62 win over Xavier at home.
The Hawkeyes and Utes have faced each other each of the past two seasons — last year, Iowa beat the Utes in a neutral-site matchup in South Dakota, while Utah beat the Hawkeyes in the NIT at home two years ago.
Guard Bennett Stirtz leads three Iowa players in double-figures, averaging 17.6 points per game, while forward Alvaro Folgueiras added 12.4 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds.
Ole Miss’ best win has been an 83-77 victory over Memphis at home.
Guard Ilias Kamardine is one of three Rebels averaging over 14 points per game, as his 15.8 average leads the team. He also averages 5.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds per contest.
Forward Malik Dia adds averages of 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Iowa is currently No. 29 in KenRom’s ratings, while Ole Miss is No. 34.
If Utah wins Tuesday night, they’ll face the winner of Iowa-Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. MST on Wednesday night.
If the Utes lose to Grand Canyon, they’ll face the Iowa-Ole Miss loser at 10 p.m. MST Wednesday.