After rocky start, Utes are getting act together

It didn't look possible back in November when the Utes had just gotten blasted by Texas Tech and Connecticut in the Preseason NIT.

But heading into the start of Mountain West Conference play Monday night, the Utes have an impressive 12-3 record with nine wins in their last 10 games.

Sure, the Utes had several gimme wins against the likes of Savannah State, Southern Utah and Whitworth College. But after the embarrassing 32-point loss to UConn, few figured the Utes would beat Colorado and Weber State on the road and wondered if they could beat Utah State and Pepperdine at home.

The 12-3 mark matches last year's 12-3 record entering league play as the most non-conference wins for a Rick Majerus-coached team.

That's a bit deceiving, however, because in the old WAC, the Utes had an 18-game league schedule for a few years, followed by a 16-game schedule with fewer non-league games. With a 14-game schedule, the MWC plays as few league games as any conference in the country.

During Majerus' tenure, his teams have averaged 9.6 wins and 2.3 losses in non-league games with a best non-league mark of 11-0 in 1997-98.

INJURY BUGS: Injuries have always bugged Majerus, and this year has been a tough one for the Utes with Tim Frost missing much of the year with his bad back and other players such as Justin Hawkins and Bryant Markson missing time.

"I can guarantee Markson has missed more practices than he's made. Hawk is always hurt. (Tim) Drisdom is usually hurt. Frost has been hurt all year. It's who can practice and who can play. We really don't have any offensive rhythm," said Majerus.

The good news for the Utes is that Hawkins, who missed the last game with a hyper-extended knee, will likely play Monday against UNLV after his MRI was negative. As for Frost, it appears his status will be game to game and he'll play when he's able. Majerus even said he can play in games without practicing.

"Whenever he wants to play, he can play," Majerus said.

Frost actually practiced Friday for an hour, but he said afterward that he never knows from day to day how his back will react. He said he'll try to play as much as possible the rest of the way since it's his senior season.

JAKE'S PACE: Nick Jacobson has been steadily moving up the all-time Ute scoring list. He passed Alex Jensen into 19th place with his 18-point performance against Pepperdine and after getting seven against Whitworth, is just three points behind Ken Gardner (1968-71) with 1,288 career points.