Utah will face a couple of old conference foes this week on the hardwood, but they aren’t former Pac-12 opponents.
On Wednesday, the Utes will travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU for the third time since 2011, when both teams were in the Mountain West Conference.
Utah (9-6, 1-3 Big 12) will then return home to the Huntsman Center on Saturday night to host rival BYU, another former MWC member.
The Utes have their work cut out for them as they try to ride the momentum gained in Saturday’s blowout win over Oklahoma State.
Utah forward Ezra Ausar had 21 points while Keanu Dawes and Jake Wahlin each netted 16 points in the 83-62 win over the Cowboys. It snapped the Utes’ four-game losing streak and gave them their first-ever Big 12 win.
“I think we took a big step,” Ausar said. “I’m not gonna say that we’re 100 percent there, but we took a big step. … We’ve just been, really, taking it one game at a time and not looking ahead. We just executed this week’s plan. We won. So now it’s really onto the next.”
The Horned Frogs (9-6, 2-2) — coming off an impressive 71-67 win over BYU — are perfect at home this season.
“We did it down the stretch,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “Defense got a little better. Got some deflections, which is what we needed to do. And we took care of the basketball, which is most important, so that’s how we won the game.”
Dixon believes his team, led by Noah Reynolds coming off a 21-point performance, needs to work on mental mistakes. He’s also hoping to get a boost from the fans and crash the boards harder after BYU outrebounded the Horned Frogs 35-24.
“We need a great crowd for Utah. It’s a big week. We’ve won every home game,” Dixon said. “We’ve got to get on the glass. We’ve got to get that figured out, so that’s what we’re going to work on.”
Utah went to the Pac-12 for the 2011-12 season, and TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012-13.
–Field Level Media
