UTAH-BYU OPEN WAC SEASON VS. EACH OTHER

With all the hype and attention given the Utah and BYU football teams and their recent bowl victories, perhaps not may folks realize that the Utah and BYU basketball teams open their Western Athletic Conference seasons Tuesday night . . . against each other.

The 9-2 Utes and 9-3 Cougars meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. (KSL-TV) at the Marriott Center in Provo. The two longtime rivals were picked as the top two teams in the preseason WAC polls.For Utah, the big game isn't coming at a great time. The Utes are beginning to resemble last year's team that was racked with injuries.

The Utes will be without starting forward Jimmy Carroll, who suffered a severe dislocated finger at practice Saturday. A bone broke the skin in the ring finger on his shooting hand and required stitches. Carroll is expected to be out approximately 7-10 days.

Also backup center Doug Chapman will miss the game because of a sprained ankle suffered in Friday's win over Northern Arizona.

Other Utes hobbling include Micheal Doleac, who is still getting over an ankle sprain, Mark Rydalch, who is still working his way back from a torn knee ligament and missed practice Sunday, and Ma Jian, who hurt his ankle in practice Sunday.

Ute coach Rick Majerus is most concerned about the loss of Carroll.

"Carroll's is a tough injury. He was playing 22 minutes a game and helping us in so many different ways."

Majerus isn't sure yet how he'll compensate for the loss of Carroll. He'll either start sixth man Alex Jensen or go to a smaller lineup and start Rydalch if he's able to play. Freshman Drew Hansen and walk-on Ryan Hunt will likely see increased playing time.

Although he has been pleased by his team's overall performance in the preseason, Majerus is plenty concerned about playing BYU so early in the season.

"BYU is a veteran club with very good players," said Majerus. "It's obviously going to be very difficult for our guys because we're so young. They've got guys with receding hairlines and we've got Doleac, who doesn't even have body hair."

Majerus points out that most of the BYU players are older, returned missionaries, such as Russell Larson, Ken Roberts, Shane Knight, Mark Durrant and Randy Reid.

"Larson is a terrific player, Roberts is good and (Roger Reid's) sons are both good," said Majerus. "They should be the odds-on favorite to win the WAC with their veteran team."

The Utes are led by sophomore Keith Van Horn, who besides averaging 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, is shooting 60 percent from the field and 89 percent from the line. JC transfer Brandon Jessie is second on the team with a 14.7 scoring average.

Because of the WAC's reverse-oder schedule, Utah and BYU won't meet again until the regular-season finale March 4 in Salt Lake.