Despite illness, Bogut leads Utes to victory

In this case, the 10 p.m. start actually helped the University of Utah basketball team, which nearly had to play without its top player in Monday night's 72-58 victory over rival Brigham Young University.

Earlier in the day, Utah coach Ray Giacoletti thought Andrew Bogut was "done." The 7-foot Australian had been suffering from migraine headaches and vomiting and didn't even travel on the team bus down to Provo.

Bogut felt the same way himself much of the day, that there was no way he'd play, particularly each of the 10 times or so he was throwing up because of his migraine headaches.

It really wasn't until about 9:15 p.m., less than an hour after getting two IVs in the locker room that Bogut knew he would play. A couple of hours earlier it may not have been possible.

"I was chucking up all day," said Bogut. "At one stage, my head hurt so bad I didn't know what to do. I was punching the wall and my bed."

"People have no idea what he went through today," Gacoletti said.

"He threw up about 10 times today so we left him home and brought him down later. We put two IVs in him at 9 o'clock just to see if he could go out and warm up."

Bogut ended up playing 37 minutes of the 21st-ranked Utes' 13th straight victory, which moved them to 6-0 in Mountain West Conference play and 18-3 overall. He sat out for about 30 seconds in the first half, and a similar amount in the second half, before finally going out for good with 2:22 left and the Utes up by 17.

While Bogut appeared tired and perhaps a half step slow, you wouldn't know it by his production. Aside from his 10 "upchucks" and two IVs, Bogut's line for the night was outstanding.

He made 7 of 10 field goals and 6 of 8 free throws for 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds, passed out four assists and blocked five shots, tying his career high.

"People have no idea how tough that kid is," Giacoletti said. "I take my hat off to him because he's such a team guy."

Interestingly, it was other Utes besides Bogut, who stepped up during the early part of the second half when Utah's big burst pretty much put the game away.

The Utes went on a 16-3 run over the first 5:13 of the second half without Bogut even scoring a point. Justin Hawkins and Bryant Markson each scored seven points apiece after Marc Jackson started off the scoring with a left-handed drive along the baseline.