Utah Utes basketball: Nevill becomes force on boards, blocks

After getting named tournament MVP of the Glenn Wilkes Classic last week, Luke Nevill topped it off by being named Mountain West Conference Player of the week.

Nevill started off with 20 points and 14 rebounds against Green Bay and followed it with a 10-point, 10-rebound performance against Mississippi. Then he came up with 16 points and six rebounds in a Saturday win over Morgan State.

"I expect Luke to score, but what he's done is he's rebounded and he's blocked shots and become a force in the middle," said coach Jim Boylen. "He's been very coachable and has embraced his teammates more this year. I expect him to continue to learn and grow as a player."

For the season, Nevill is leading the MWC in rebounding with 11.0 per game and in blocked shots at 2.25 per game. He also ranks third in scoring at 18.5 and ninth in field goal percentage at 64.4 percent.

ANOTHER TOP TEN TEAM: It means little at this time of the year, but Utah is not only in the top 10 in football, but in basketball as well.

A Web site called RealTimeRPI.com list Utah as the No. 7 team in the country right now. For one thing, Utah's loss to Southwest Baptist doesn't count because it isn't a Division I school. For another, Utah's strength of schedule is 22nd.

On the other hand, BYU, which is 5-0, is ranked just 97th because its SOS is 228.

THAT LOSS: Boylen said he was "disappointed" but "not discouraged" after the loss to Southwest Baptist to open the season.

He said his team played parts of that game well, winning the free-throw game and the rebound game, but not doing well in transition defense. He also gave Southwest Baptist credit for making 16 3-pointers.

Boylen acknowledged he got some hate mail from Ute fans, but shook it off. "Did I feel negativity from the fans? Of course," he said. "That's why I wanted to come here because people do care and there is pressure to win here. "

NO RESENTMENT: You might think there might be some resentment from the basketball team that the Utah football team is getting so much attention, both locally and nationally.

However, you'll never hear that from Boylen.

"I've never looked at this like a competition between us and football," he said. "If football is great, that helps our program immensely with national exposure and recruiting. We recruit Texas real hard and football's real big in Texas."