Cleveland promises team will compete, turn it around

The friendly red-clad Ute fan reached the top of the stairs to the portal in the Huntsman Center after Utah dispatched BYU 69-60 and said: "Good luck writing this one up."

I didn't quite know what he meant; he was gone within seconds.

No mystery, really. The game turned out as expected. The MWC champions prevailed, cut down the nets, held the trophy, rose above the struggling Cougars down the stretch and protected an 11-year unbeaten streak against their rival on home turf.

Andrew Bogut proved to be the Hammer with his 26 points and 13 boards. Once the Aussie got out of idle and clutched into gear, the Utes had spurts of 9-0 and 10-0 and the Cougars were wading ankle deep in the swamp.

What proved to be surprising was the fight BYU gave the 13th-ranked Utes in their hostile wigwam.

Simple summary? Utah won; BYU ran 90 yards in a 100-yard dash.

In pre-game warm-ups, with students leaning over the rails screaming insults, I thought BYU looked vulnerable. What transpired minutes later said something different. The Cougars actually set the tone of the game and were the aggressors.

All week long, the Cougars were fair game to poke fun at. After a sick loss at Air Force Monday night that head coach Steve Cleveland said was the most embarrassing performance he'd seen at BYU, you wondered if the Cougs were finished and would mail the rest of the season in.

Not Saturday. For the Cougars, their performance was about a solar system away from what we saw in Colorado Springs.

The Cougars collected fouls quicker than shopping coupons to start the game. They went after Bogut. When the smoke cleared the Cougars had leads of 12-4, 17-7, 20-9, and until Bogut led a last-gasp rally to end the first half on a 7-0 run to tie at 29, the Cougars led 29-22.

To that point, BYU led in practically every category except trips to the line where Utah had a 16-2 advantage in tries and converted 11.

Austin Ainge outscored Bogut 8-2 early, mostly on inside moves, reverse layins and a pop-up jumper. Bogut got his first field goal more than 11 minutes into the game.

But followers of Utah know, this is how Utah's played most of the season, with a sprint in the final 20, and this time they outscored BYU 40-31.

The game was intense.