The University of Utah (UU) was established in 1850 as University of Deseret by General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, a proposed U.S. state by the leaders of the LDS church. A provisional state government operated for ~ 2 yrs but was never recognized by the U.S. government. UU received its current name in 1892, 4 yrs before Utah became a state. Moved to its current location in Salt Lake City in 1900.
UU sits on 400 acres, enrollment of 37,121 (32,014 undergrad), $1.31B endowment. USN&WR rank No. 115 for public schools, WSJ No. 43 (highest ranked public school in west)
Famous alumni include– Robert Jarvik developer of artificial heart, cardiothoracic surgeon William DeVries performed 1st artificial heart transplant, Jim Clark founder Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Simon Ramo father of the ICBM, John Warnock co-founder Adobe Systems, Nolan Bushnell founder Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, Ed Catmull co-founder Pixar, J. Willard Marriott founder Marriott International, David Neeleman founder Jet Blue, Alan Kay father Object-Oriented Programming, Gordon Gee past president Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Brown, Colorado, Evelyn Wood speed reading innovator
Utah Athletics: 25 NCAA championships – 15 Skiing, 9 Women’s Gymnastics, 1 Men’s Bball
Colors- Red & White, nicknames Utes, Runnin’ Utes (bball), Red Rocks (gymnastics), mascot originally an American Indian, replaced in 1996 by Swoop (a body-suited red-tailed hawk), Marching band is Pride of Utah, Fight Song is Utah Man
Basketball started in 1908 (1,858 -1,052, .638), 1944 NCAA Champs, 1998 NCAA runner-up, 4 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights, 16 Sweet Sixteen, 29 NCAA appearances (last 2016), 29 Conf. championships (incl: RMC, MSC, WAC, MW), 3 WAC & 4 MW tourney championships. Naismith Memorial HOF coach Jack Gardner, AP National POY Andrew Bogut, No. 1 pick in 2005 NBA Draft (making UU only school in NCAA history with No. 1 pick in Bball and Football (Alex Smith) in same year. 7 retired numbers (4- Bogut, 12- Billy McGill, 22- Arnie Ferrin, 23- Danny Vranes, 24- Andre Miller, 33-Vern Gardner, 44-Keith Van Horn), 5 AP 1st Team AA’s, 10 Conf POY (Jakob Poeltl 2016 Pac-12), 7 1st Rd NBA draft picks (since ’93), 3 current NBA - Delon Wright, Kyle Kuzma, Poeltl
Winningest coaches: Vadal Peterson 385-230, Jack Gardner 339-154, Rick Majerus 323-95, Larry Krystowiak 137-96
Current coach: Craig Smith (3rd season): 43-44, .494. At Utah St 74-24 (2019 MW COY), .755, 3 NCAAs, South Dakota 79-55, .590, NIT, Mayville State 72-29, .713, 3 NAIA Div II appearances, 2007 NAIA D-II COY.
All-time vs. USC (26-26, .500), SC won last 5
Currently: 15-9 (6-7), W: Westminster, EWU, UCR, Wake Forest, St. Mary’s, Hawai’i, So. Utah, BYU, Utah Valley, Bellarmine, WSU, UW, UCLA, OSU, Oregon, Colorado; L: Houston, St. John’s, ASU 2, AZ 2, Stanford, WSU, UW
Utah NET 47, KenPom 44 (Note: SC NET 108, KenPom 104)
Utah scores 79.2 ppg +6.0), 47.0% FG, 36.4% 3FG, 8.9 3’s/g, 65.5% FT. Rebs 39.6 rpg (+2.6), Assists 17.6 pg, 11.8 TO (-1.0), 13.2 ppg off TO, Steals 6.3, Blks 4.5
Utah Leaders
Scoring: Branden Carlson 17.0 ppg (47.1% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 69.2% FT), Gabe Madsen 13.1 ppg (45.7% FG, 40.9% 3FG, 75.0% FT), Deivon Smith 10.7 ppg (43.0% FG, 36.1% 3FG, 60.0% FT),
Rebounds: Branden Carlson 7.0 pg, Keba Keita 6.4, Assists - Smith 5.8 (No. 2 Pac), Steals – Madsen 1.6, Blks – Branden Carlson 1.4 (No. 3 Pac)
SC scores: 74.4 ppg (-0.9), 44.7% FG, 35.2% 3FG, 7.8 3’s/g, 68.9% FT, Rebs 35.7 rpg (-0.9), Assists 15.7 apg, TOs 13.0 pg (+0.0), 14.8 ppg/TO, Steals 6.6, Blks 5.3
SC Leaders
Scoring: Boogie 16.4 ppg (42.9% FG, 42.3% 3FG, 76.3% FT), Collier 15.8 ppg (49.2% FG, 32.7% 3FG, 65.8% FT), Kobe 10.2 ppg (37.2% FG, 27.7% 3FG, 71.7% FT)
Rebounds: DJ 4.9 pg, Kobe 4.3, Vince 4.3, Assists – Collier 4.0 apg (No. 5 Pac), Kobe 3.4, Steals Kobe 1.9 (No. 2 Pac), Blks – Josh 2.4 (No. 1 Pac)
Pregame
I was sure most people would have better things to do than sit thru another loss, but after watching SC basketball for >40 yrs, I have seen worse, so I headed to Galen to support the team, because that’s what real fans do.
Founder’s Room is mostly empty. Who will Enfield send to address the embarrassing loss to mediocre Stanford? He sends crowd favorite Chris Capko to defuse any potential pent-up hostility.
After thanking people for still showing up, he says the team was told practice would be tough this week, and if they weren’t ready to go hard, they should go home. No one quit. They had 3 spirited practices that he hoped would be a leading indicator of their play tonight. At this point in the season, it’s no secret we aren’t playing good defense, man or zone, or rebounding well and he hoped the work they were putting in at practice would finally show up in games.
They will return to the original starting lineup of Boogie, Kobie, Josh, DJ and Isaiah, hoping that experience pays off. He says, ‘I will throw it open for suggestions, I know someone has some for me, c’mon who has suggestions?’ He gets questions instead. Regarding Utah, they are very experienced (Sr Carlson served a 2-yr mission and is 25!), they shoot well and are big, playing two 7-footers. Watch for 3-pt shooter Madsen shoot-first PG Smith. We want to take away their 3-pt shooting, after Stanford made a school record 19. He says it may not look like it, but they are really emphasizing rebounding in practice. Boogie is still hobbled but healing and needs to be better with moving without the ball and setting screens. Last question is “how often do you practice FTs?” (laughter from the room). Capko said ‘honestly every other day, because you can only really work on fixing one thing each practice.’
Going into the arena, it appears pretty empty, but a late-arriving crowd boosts attendance to 5211. I spot former Assistant Jason Hart (G-League Ignite coach), Drew Peterson, Demar DeRozan, Trinity Rodman and incoming PG Trent Perry. At halftime, DJ Malski calls up LA hip-hop artist r3chilibearz to make a ‘Shot for a Shirt.’ FT missed - no shirt for Mr. chilibearz – haha.
The Utes look overconfident in warmups, especially Madsen who has a smug face that you wanna punch. You know the saying “on any given night”, well I’m hoping tonight they get their comeuppance!
Game
Right off the bat (wrong sports idiom?) SC comes out with energy and looks ready to compete. It’s a welcome change, as is Kobe emerging from his funk and scoring the first 2 SC buckets. SC is playing tough defense and moving the ball on offense. The game was tied at 6-6, but SC would take the lead at 15:30 and stretch it to 24-11 at 8:00, on a Kobe 3FG, the largest lead of the game. UU wasn’t shooting well, but managed to cut the lead to 5 pts, 34-29 at the half.
SC clamped down on Madsen, holding him to 2 pts and 0-2 3FGs. Carlson was also a non-factor with only 5 pts, all coming in the last 1:58 min. PF Keba Keita and Smith supplied most of UU’s points.
SC was led by Kobe and Collier with 7 pts each. SC played an 8-man rotation, and all scored. They had 13 assists on their 14 baskets.
For the half:
UU shot 34.4% FG (11-32), 8.3% 3FG (1-12), 85.7% FT (6-7), 21 rebs, 5 assists
SC shot 42.4% FG (14-33), 28.6% 3FG (4-14), 40% FT (2-5), 16 rebs, 13 assists
2nd Half
SC scored the first 4 pts for a 38-29 lead and maintained a 9 pt lead until 45-36 on Vince’s jumper at 16:17. A 15-4 run by the Utes, capped by Cole Bajema’s three at 13:05 gave them a short-lived lead at 51-49. SC went on a 9-0 run to go up 7 pts 58-51at 8:33 and looked to have a comfortable 8 pt lead at 3:46, but nothing comes easy for SC. UU cut the lead to 2 pts 66-64 at 2:01 and after back and forth missed shots, Boogie was at the line with 11 secs remaining for a 1 and 1, and a chance to put the game away. He missed the front end and Smith grabbed the rebound and sped down the court for a game tying lay-up, except Josh Morgan swatted the shot off the glass from behind, without fouling and with 6 secs left the long rebound was grabbed by Rodman who tore down the court for a layup at the buzzer.
Trojans win 68-64! Man it feels great to win!
Final Stats
UU shot 36.7% FG (22-60), 19% 3FG (4-21), 75.2% FT; 39 rebs, 14 assists, 13 TO, 4 blks, 5 stls
SC shot 40.6% FG (26-64), 20% 3FG (5-25), 61.1% FT (11-18), 34 rebs, 20 assts, 8 TO, 7 blks, 10 stls
The Trojans played the type of defense Andy Enfield’s teams are known for but haven’t been able to find much this season. After giving up 19 threes to Stanford, they allowed only 4 tonight. A lot of struggling teams would have quit after the 31-point loss, but for SC this game was about pride.
For UU, Smith scored 19, Carlson 15. Smith led with 9 rebs & 7 assts, Keita led with 2 steals & 2 blks.
For SC, Collier scored 15, Rodman 12 pts & team-high 7 rebs, Collier led with 6 assts, Josh with 4 blks, Boogie with 4 stls.
SC moves to 10-15 (4-10), while Utah drops to 15-10 (6-8).
Next up for SC is Colorado 16-9 (7-7), at 7 pm Saturday at Galen. It’s rumored that SC basketball alums on NBA All-Star break may attend this game.
Fight on! Beat the Buffs!
UU sits on 400 acres, enrollment of 37,121 (32,014 undergrad), $1.31B endowment. USN&WR rank No. 115 for public schools, WSJ No. 43 (highest ranked public school in west)
Famous alumni include– Robert Jarvik developer of artificial heart, cardiothoracic surgeon William DeVries performed 1st artificial heart transplant, Jim Clark founder Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Simon Ramo father of the ICBM, John Warnock co-founder Adobe Systems, Nolan Bushnell founder Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, Ed Catmull co-founder Pixar, J. Willard Marriott founder Marriott International, David Neeleman founder Jet Blue, Alan Kay father Object-Oriented Programming, Gordon Gee past president Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Brown, Colorado, Evelyn Wood speed reading innovator
Utah Athletics: 25 NCAA championships – 15 Skiing, 9 Women’s Gymnastics, 1 Men’s Bball
Colors- Red & White, nicknames Utes, Runnin’ Utes (bball), Red Rocks (gymnastics), mascot originally an American Indian, replaced in 1996 by Swoop (a body-suited red-tailed hawk), Marching band is Pride of Utah, Fight Song is Utah Man
Basketball started in 1908 (1,858 -1,052, .638), 1944 NCAA Champs, 1998 NCAA runner-up, 4 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights, 16 Sweet Sixteen, 29 NCAA appearances (last 2016), 29 Conf. championships (incl: RMC, MSC, WAC, MW), 3 WAC & 4 MW tourney championships. Naismith Memorial HOF coach Jack Gardner, AP National POY Andrew Bogut, No. 1 pick in 2005 NBA Draft (making UU only school in NCAA history with No. 1 pick in Bball and Football (Alex Smith) in same year. 7 retired numbers (4- Bogut, 12- Billy McGill, 22- Arnie Ferrin, 23- Danny Vranes, 24- Andre Miller, 33-Vern Gardner, 44-Keith Van Horn), 5 AP 1st Team AA’s, 10 Conf POY (Jakob Poeltl 2016 Pac-12), 7 1st Rd NBA draft picks (since ’93), 3 current NBA - Delon Wright, Kyle Kuzma, Poeltl
Winningest coaches: Vadal Peterson 385-230, Jack Gardner 339-154, Rick Majerus 323-95, Larry Krystowiak 137-96
Current coach: Craig Smith (3rd season): 43-44, .494. At Utah St 74-24 (2019 MW COY), .755, 3 NCAAs, South Dakota 79-55, .590, NIT, Mayville State 72-29, .713, 3 NAIA Div II appearances, 2007 NAIA D-II COY.
All-time vs. USC (26-26, .500), SC won last 5
Currently: 15-9 (6-7), W: Westminster, EWU, UCR, Wake Forest, St. Mary’s, Hawai’i, So. Utah, BYU, Utah Valley, Bellarmine, WSU, UW, UCLA, OSU, Oregon, Colorado; L: Houston, St. John’s, ASU 2, AZ 2, Stanford, WSU, UW
Utah NET 47, KenPom 44 (Note: SC NET 108, KenPom 104)
Utah scores 79.2 ppg +6.0), 47.0% FG, 36.4% 3FG, 8.9 3’s/g, 65.5% FT. Rebs 39.6 rpg (+2.6), Assists 17.6 pg, 11.8 TO (-1.0), 13.2 ppg off TO, Steals 6.3, Blks 4.5
Utah Leaders
Scoring: Branden Carlson 17.0 ppg (47.1% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 69.2% FT), Gabe Madsen 13.1 ppg (45.7% FG, 40.9% 3FG, 75.0% FT), Deivon Smith 10.7 ppg (43.0% FG, 36.1% 3FG, 60.0% FT),
Rebounds: Branden Carlson 7.0 pg, Keba Keita 6.4, Assists - Smith 5.8 (No. 2 Pac), Steals – Madsen 1.6, Blks – Branden Carlson 1.4 (No. 3 Pac)
SC scores: 74.4 ppg (-0.9), 44.7% FG, 35.2% 3FG, 7.8 3’s/g, 68.9% FT, Rebs 35.7 rpg (-0.9), Assists 15.7 apg, TOs 13.0 pg (+0.0), 14.8 ppg/TO, Steals 6.6, Blks 5.3
SC Leaders
Scoring: Boogie 16.4 ppg (42.9% FG, 42.3% 3FG, 76.3% FT), Collier 15.8 ppg (49.2% FG, 32.7% 3FG, 65.8% FT), Kobe 10.2 ppg (37.2% FG, 27.7% 3FG, 71.7% FT)
Rebounds: DJ 4.9 pg, Kobe 4.3, Vince 4.3, Assists – Collier 4.0 apg (No. 5 Pac), Kobe 3.4, Steals Kobe 1.9 (No. 2 Pac), Blks – Josh 2.4 (No. 1 Pac)
Pregame
I was sure most people would have better things to do than sit thru another loss, but after watching SC basketball for >40 yrs, I have seen worse, so I headed to Galen to support the team, because that’s what real fans do.
Founder’s Room is mostly empty. Who will Enfield send to address the embarrassing loss to mediocre Stanford? He sends crowd favorite Chris Capko to defuse any potential pent-up hostility.
After thanking people for still showing up, he says the team was told practice would be tough this week, and if they weren’t ready to go hard, they should go home. No one quit. They had 3 spirited practices that he hoped would be a leading indicator of their play tonight. At this point in the season, it’s no secret we aren’t playing good defense, man or zone, or rebounding well and he hoped the work they were putting in at practice would finally show up in games.
They will return to the original starting lineup of Boogie, Kobie, Josh, DJ and Isaiah, hoping that experience pays off. He says, ‘I will throw it open for suggestions, I know someone has some for me, c’mon who has suggestions?’ He gets questions instead. Regarding Utah, they are very experienced (Sr Carlson served a 2-yr mission and is 25!), they shoot well and are big, playing two 7-footers. Watch for 3-pt shooter Madsen shoot-first PG Smith. We want to take away their 3-pt shooting, after Stanford made a school record 19. He says it may not look like it, but they are really emphasizing rebounding in practice. Boogie is still hobbled but healing and needs to be better with moving without the ball and setting screens. Last question is “how often do you practice FTs?” (laughter from the room). Capko said ‘honestly every other day, because you can only really work on fixing one thing each practice.’
Going into the arena, it appears pretty empty, but a late-arriving crowd boosts attendance to 5211. I spot former Assistant Jason Hart (G-League Ignite coach), Drew Peterson, Demar DeRozan, Trinity Rodman and incoming PG Trent Perry. At halftime, DJ Malski calls up LA hip-hop artist r3chilibearz to make a ‘Shot for a Shirt.’ FT missed - no shirt for Mr. chilibearz – haha.
The Utes look overconfident in warmups, especially Madsen who has a smug face that you wanna punch. You know the saying “on any given night”, well I’m hoping tonight they get their comeuppance!
Game
Right off the bat (wrong sports idiom?) SC comes out with energy and looks ready to compete. It’s a welcome change, as is Kobe emerging from his funk and scoring the first 2 SC buckets. SC is playing tough defense and moving the ball on offense. The game was tied at 6-6, but SC would take the lead at 15:30 and stretch it to 24-11 at 8:00, on a Kobe 3FG, the largest lead of the game. UU wasn’t shooting well, but managed to cut the lead to 5 pts, 34-29 at the half.
SC clamped down on Madsen, holding him to 2 pts and 0-2 3FGs. Carlson was also a non-factor with only 5 pts, all coming in the last 1:58 min. PF Keba Keita and Smith supplied most of UU’s points.
SC was led by Kobe and Collier with 7 pts each. SC played an 8-man rotation, and all scored. They had 13 assists on their 14 baskets.
For the half:
UU shot 34.4% FG (11-32), 8.3% 3FG (1-12), 85.7% FT (6-7), 21 rebs, 5 assists
SC shot 42.4% FG (14-33), 28.6% 3FG (4-14), 40% FT (2-5), 16 rebs, 13 assists
2nd Half
SC scored the first 4 pts for a 38-29 lead and maintained a 9 pt lead until 45-36 on Vince’s jumper at 16:17. A 15-4 run by the Utes, capped by Cole Bajema’s three at 13:05 gave them a short-lived lead at 51-49. SC went on a 9-0 run to go up 7 pts 58-51at 8:33 and looked to have a comfortable 8 pt lead at 3:46, but nothing comes easy for SC. UU cut the lead to 2 pts 66-64 at 2:01 and after back and forth missed shots, Boogie was at the line with 11 secs remaining for a 1 and 1, and a chance to put the game away. He missed the front end and Smith grabbed the rebound and sped down the court for a game tying lay-up, except Josh Morgan swatted the shot off the glass from behind, without fouling and with 6 secs left the long rebound was grabbed by Rodman who tore down the court for a layup at the buzzer.
Trojans win 68-64! Man it feels great to win!
Final Stats
UU shot 36.7% FG (22-60), 19% 3FG (4-21), 75.2% FT; 39 rebs, 14 assists, 13 TO, 4 blks, 5 stls
SC shot 40.6% FG (26-64), 20% 3FG (5-25), 61.1% FT (11-18), 34 rebs, 20 assts, 8 TO, 7 blks, 10 stls
The Trojans played the type of defense Andy Enfield’s teams are known for but haven’t been able to find much this season. After giving up 19 threes to Stanford, they allowed only 4 tonight. A lot of struggling teams would have quit after the 31-point loss, but for SC this game was about pride.
For UU, Smith scored 19, Carlson 15. Smith led with 9 rebs & 7 assts, Keita led with 2 steals & 2 blks.
For SC, Collier scored 15, Rodman 12 pts & team-high 7 rebs, Collier led with 6 assts, Josh with 4 blks, Boogie with 4 stls.
SC moves to 10-15 (4-10), while Utah drops to 15-10 (6-8).
Next up for SC is Colorado 16-9 (7-7), at 7 pm Saturday at Galen. It’s rumored that SC basketball alums on NBA All-Star break may attend this game.
Fight on! Beat the Buffs!
