When talking about the college academia equivalent of a difficult opponent in the college basketball world, Alex Jensen’s first game coaching in a Big 12 Conference matchup is essentially bypassing the freshman courses and going straight to graduate level.
When Jensen and the Utah basketball team open up league play Saturday at the Huntsman Center, the Runnin’ Utes will face the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats — a squad that is 13-0, talent-rich and a solid mix of seasoned veterans and young playmakers.
“It starts with rebounding (against Arizona),” Jensen said. “... If you look at a lot of their games, there’s a three-, four-minute stretch where they blow it open, like against Alabama. (It) usually starts with rebounds.
“To give us a chance, if we can have five guys rebound, I think we can use our speed and get out and hopefully score off of our defense and rebounding. I don’t want to use the word pace or fast, but it’s just, that’s one of our advantages. It doesn’t mean run and take early, bad shots, but basically more passes, fewer dribbles.”
The Utes and Wildcats will tip off at 2 p.m. MST at the Huntsman Center on Saturday. The game will be live-streamed on Peacock and broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
It will be Utah’s first taste of Big 12 basketball, and Utes guard Don McHenry said it’s “just a battle after every shot” with Arizona.
“I’d say the physicality, just being tough,” McHenry said of what stands out about Big 12 basketball. “Teams like Arizona, they get on the offensive glass. ... I think it’s just tougher.”
Arizona is the embodiment of that description, behind a group that includes seniors Jaden Bradley, Anthony Dell’Orso and Tobe Awaka, as well as junior Motiejus Krivas, alongside a trio of freshman starters in Koa Peat, Brayden Burries and Ivan Kharchenkov.
The Wildcats are already 6-0 against Quad 1/Quad 2 opponents and own victories over Florida, UConn, Alabama, Auburn and UCLA.
Saturday’s game is the start of a long — potentially rewarding, no doubt draining — road for a Utah program that is 8-5 coming out of non-conference play. The Utes’ best win came over Ole Miss in the Acrisure Series in Palm Springs, California, while their worst loss was a home defeat against Cal-Poly.
Utah has gone 3-5 in its last eight games, including a nine-point setback at Washington on Monday.
“I think we’re as prepared as we can be for the Big 12. I don’t think anything prepares you for it then going through it. I think we’re at a good place.”
— Utah coach Alex Jensen
Still, there’s a sense of fortitude surrounding Utah as it sets for the most grueling part of the schedule — that the preseason has helped them grow as a group.
“We’ve gotten a lot better and figured out the roles on a team, which is not the easiest thing to define. … I think we’re as prepared as we can be for the Big 12. I don’t think anything prepares you for it (more) than going through it. I think we’re at a good place," Jensen said.
“There were opportunities we let slip by us in the preseason, but hopefully we’ve learned from them and as we hit Big 12, that we can improve on that and be competitive.”
Outside expectations for Utah in the Big 12
National analysts are predicting that it will be an especially challenging Big 12 season for Utah as Jensen continues to build his program.
That’s expected for a program with such heavy roster turnover. While Utah has a top trio of McHenry, fellow guard Terrence Brown and forward Keanu Dawes — all of whom average double-digit scoring and serve key leadership roles for the team — there is still plenty of seasoning going on up and down the roster.
KenPom, HaslaMetrics and Bart Torvik each have Utah as the underdog in nearly every game in conference action — KenPom and Torvik predict one win for the Utes in league play at this point, in the home game against Colorado in March. HaslaMetrics doesn’t currently have another win on the remaining schedule.
In his preview of Big 12 conference basketball early this week, Deseret News BYU beat writer Jay Drew predicted the Utes would finish 15th in the league, ahead of Cincinnati. He also had the Cougars fourth.
That’s a drop from Utah being projected to finish 13th in the league’s preseason poll.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, in his Big 12 Bracketology preview released Friday, had a rather discouraging placement for Utah. While all other 15 teams in the league were placed in tiers from “Final Four contenders” to “long shots,” Utah was the lone team at the bottom in a category titled, “Maybe next year.”
“Utah hasn’t been close to the tournament since 2020 or actually made the field in a decade. First-year coach Alex Jensen is going to need some time,” Lunardi wrote.
Rotations and depth heading into Big 12 play
The Utes have established a rotation through the non-conference portion of their season, with Brown, McHenry and Dawes being joined in the starting lineup by wing Seydou Traore and big man James Okonkwo.
Young guys like Kendyl Sanders and Obomate Abbey are seeing extended minutes, as are Jacob Patrick (though he’s missed a few games due to injury) and Josh Hayes.
Recently, though, Utah was able to get redshirt freshman forward Ibi Traore on the court for the first time as Ute after an injury kept him sidelined over his first year and a half at the school.
The Utes have also added an international mid-year addition in Spain wing Lucas Langarita — the process of finding another talent began in earnest when fifth-year senior transfer Babacar Faye suffered a season-ending injury before the year started, opening a roster spot.
Traore, for his part, has played in two games and averaged 7.5 minutes per contest, slowly getting back in the flow of the system on game days.
“We got here and he was injured, so I didn’t know him really well. He did what I always tell all of our guys, we’re gonna put him in for three or four minutes, but he made us play him for longer,” Jensen said. “That’s something we’ve talked about, is he’s earned his opportunities, and I imagine he’ll get his opportunities.”
Langarita, meanwhile, will bring a wealth of international experience when he eventually steps onto the court. That timeframe is TBD.
“The one thing about Lucas, like a lot of the kids overseas, they’ve kind of played at a higher level. It hasn’t been AAU ball, so there’s a maturity,” Jensen said.
“There’s also going to be a learning curve when he gets here. We’re well aware of that, but he’s played against men, he’s a little bit older, and in most Europeans, he’s got a good feel, great passer, likes to play. That transition is going to be be fun for him and blending a guy in during the middle of the season.”
Arizona’s recent history playing at Utah
First things first, though: there’s the game against No. 1 Arizona on Saturday, then a trip to Colorado next week before contests with No. 10 BYU and No. 15 Texas Tech in quick succession. The Utes host the Cougars on Jan. 10, before traveling to Provo on Jan. 24.
It’s a daunting start to Big 12 play, though most games at conference time will be a grind. The Big 12 is rated the second-toughest conference nationwide by Team Rankings and WalterNolan.com, which uses NET rankings to guide its ratings, while CBS Sports has the Big 12 as the top conference in the country.
Arizona, in its most recent visits to the Huntsman Center, have had difficult outings against their former Pac-12 foe.
The Wildcats didn’t make a trip to Salt Lake City last year, their first year in the Big 12, but the two years prior, the Utes pulled an upset (beating then-No. 4 Arizona 81-66 in the 2022-23 season) and took the Wildcats to triple overtime (an eventual 105-99 Wildcats win in 2023-24).
Utah also has three other wins over Arizona in Salt Lake City since 2016, though Saturday’s game is expected to be a blowout.
“It’s got my full attention,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd told the Arizona Daily Star about this weekend’s game. “Utah’s a Big 12 team. They’ve got a great basketball tradition there. They’ve got a new head coach who I’m sure is trying to figure this college basketball thing out, and I’m sure he’s learning fast. So we expect Saturday to be a knock-down, drag-out game.”
Finding continuity after the December schedule
Over the past month, Utah has only played five games — a byproduct of the college schedule, as teams often practice more while working through the holiday season and the end of college semesters.
It can provide road bumps in the pursuit of maintaining continuity as the calendar flips over to a new year.
From now through the first week of March, Utah will play 18 conference games, with eight weeks that include two games and two other weeks with a single contest.
Finding a rhythm again as conference play begins will be among the challenges that Utah — and every team in the Big 12 — faces as conference play begins.
“I think it’s just having a plan, knowing that you get a break, having a plan for working out and keeping your body going,” McHenry said. “It started beforehand ... just staying in the gym.”