The Utah men's basketball team just wrapped up its second full week of practice and is heading to Colorado today for its first game.

Huh?

That's right, the Utes are playing the University of Colorado on Saturday in Boulder in a full 40-minute game.

However, there won't be any fans or media, and no score will be kept.

In recent years, like most Division I schools, the Utes have played two exhibition games before the regular season. Now the NCAA allows a school to play another Division I school under certain conditions, which include no publicity from the schools, no fans, no media and no official score kept, although teams can keep stats on their own players for their own use.

Ute coach Jim Boylen feels this will be more beneficial to his team than playing an NAIA team and winning 83-40 like the Utes did last year when they defeated Montana Tech in an exhibition game.

"Instead of playing a team you beat by 30 because you have to play an NAIA school, we're going to play a Big 12 team on their home floor," said Boylen. He said Colorado will come to Utah next year for a similar preseason scrimmage.

The Utes will still play one exhibition game the following Saturday (Nov. 8) against Grand Valley State at 2 p.m. at the Huntsman Center before officially starting the season Nov. 15 at home against Southwest Baptist.

INTRASQUAD AFFAIR: The Utes did keep score Wednesday when they held an intrasquad scrimmage at the Huntsman Center.

They played four six-minute quarters with certified college officials officiating and stats kept.

The Red team, which had the presumed five starters — Luke Nevill, Shaun Green, Carlon Brown, Lawrence Borha and Luka Drca, won the contest 66-47 with Nevill leading the way with 25 points on 10 of 10 shooting. Freshman Jordan Cyphers led the White team with 21 points.

NOT THERE YET: Boylen says he has been emphasizing three main things in his practices with his team so far — rebounding, defending and transition game — and he's not real happy with any of them so far.

"I feel like our rebounding is not where it needs to be and our defending is not where it needs to be," he said. "Our transition game has improved, but we need to get more consistent at it."

Boylen wants to take advantage of his team's conditioning as well as the altitude in Salt Lake and push the ball as much as possible on made baskets as well as missed baskets.

UTE NOTES: Utah has added a walk-on to its roster, Kyle Perkins, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound wing player from Colorado. He has played Division II basketball, at Colorado-Colorado Springs, so he won't be able to play this year, but he can practice with the team. ... Freshman Chris Hines, the 6-footer from Houston, has still not practiced full speed with the team because of a severe sprain to his right ankle, but he is expected to start practicing next week. ... With Hines out, Tre Smith, a walk-on from Cyprus High School, has been running the point for the second team much of the time. ... The first ESPN/USA Today coaches poll was released Thursday and includes Ute opponent Gonzaga at No. 11 and Oklahoma at No. 14. Another Ute opponent, LSU, is tied for 32nd in the "others receiving votes" category, while UNLV is 26th and BYU 36th. ... Utah's game at Missouri State on Nov. 28 has been dropped from the TV schedule by the The mtn. Network. The Utes' games the previous week at the Glen Wilkes Classic against Mississippi and Morgan State will not be televised either. The home game against Oregon Dec. 3 will be the first televised game.

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