Marriott Center
Provo, Utah
Time: Saturday, 7:00 p.m. MST
TV: BYUtv
What To Watch For:
Don't Underestimate The Utes. This is not last year's Utah team — and if any Cougar players think of them as such, they do so at their own peril. Last season, the Utes were an embarrassment. They won six games. They got blown out by some horrendous teams. They failed to draw more than a few thousand people for home games. It was terrible. But this is a different year and a different team. They have already matched their win total from 2011-2012, with their only two losses coming to up-and-coming Sacramento State and a Larry Brown-coached Southern Methodist team that looks entirely legit. No, they're not Duke or Indiana, not by a long shot. But they're also not terrible. They may not even be bad. They might actually have climbed all the way to average. These Utes cannot be taken lightly.
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines. The Marriott Center will be packed to the gills tonight, and as would be the case for a chess match played between the Cougars and the Utes, the crowd will be on the edge of frenzy right from the start. The key for BYU is to stamp out Utah's hopes early on with a quick start, allowing the crowd to get fully into the game. This is a young Ute team, many of whom have never experienced what they're about to face when they step onto that court, surrounded by 21,000 screaming, borderline crazy people. That is intimidating, especially the first time you do it. If the Cougars can jump on them early and build a big lead, they might be able to take Utah's young players out of the game mentally, giving themselves a nice cushion to play with as the night goes on. If they don't start fast and Utah quickly quiets the crowd, that massive advantage will be somewhat neutralized.
Who's Our Third? Truth be told, this BYU team has been pretty predictable thus far. We know what Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws are going to give them. They are fairly consistent. Unfortunately, their combined production has not been enough in many cases, and the Cougars have not had another player step up as a viable third option. The most natural fit seems to be Matt Carlino. Though he has started the season in a virtual ice age offensively, he has played this role successfully before. We know he has the ability — somewhere in there — to create his own offense and get hot for long periods of time. If he can ever shake this mega-slump he's been in, he could provide some key punch that has been missing. If not, somebody else needs to start stepping up. Brock Zylstra, Craig Cusick, anyone really. But Haws and Davies can't get it done by themselves.
With a full week off to think about the beatdown they suffered in Ames last Saturday, there's no telling how BYU will come out in this one. I hope they come out fired up to lay the smackdown on their number one rivals — but you never really know with this team. To be sure, Utah is a decent team that has notched some good wins. If the Cougars don't come to play, they certainly could stun the Marriott Center and pick another one up tonight. Do I think that's likely? Not particularly, but it's certainly possible.
This Ute program has been the laughingstock of the state for the last 10 years, and I'm sure they'd love nothing more than to stop all that talk by sticking their collective sneakers right in BYU's mouth. Dave Rose's men can prevent that by simply playing a good, clean game. This is their game to lose. But as they say, weird things tend to happen in rivalry games. It should be fun to watch.
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