Markson inspired by TV comment about Bogut getting no help

TUCSON, Ariz. — As a lot of college basketball players do, Bryant Markson was watching ESPN. On Friday night, before the Utes played Oklahoma on Saturday, he heard something that gave him a little extra motivation.

"I was watching ESPN last night and somebody said Andrew Bogut is out there all by himself," he said. "That's just not the case. We've been helping him all year. It's a five-player game."

Bogut ended up as just the fourth-leading scorer in a game for the first time all season, finishing with 10 points, although he did add 11 rebounds and seven assists.

But look what the "other" guys did.

Justin Hawkins scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Marc Jackson scored 17 points on 4-of-5 from 3-point range, while Markson scored 16 points and pulled down five rebounds.

"We came out and played hard and showed what we could do," Markson said.

WHO ARE WE PLAYING: How focused has Utah coach Ray Giacoletti been on this week's NCAA games?

So much that he had no idea — really — who the Utes would face in the next round.

"I don't even know who's in the other bracket or what's going on," he said. "At this point, it's March 19th and we're still alive for another week."

A lot of coaches act like they have no idea about anything beyond the game they just played, but Giacoletti was sincere.

When told the Utes would play the winner of the Kentucky-Cincinnati game later that night, Giacoletti shrugged: "Is that who it is? Great."

Giacoletti said the team will enjoy the victory for the rest of Saturday, and then he and the coaches will get to work on the Wildcats, as it turns out, Sunday morning.

HISTORY LESSON: Maybe Giacoletti doesn't even know about the Utah's ugly history against Kentucky.

Here it is:

The Utes have lost to Kentucky five times in NCAA tournaments since 1993.

In 1993, Kentucky defeated the Utes in the second round at Nashville, Tenn. In 1996, it was in a third-round game in Minneapolis. In 1997, the Wildcats beat the Utes in a fourth-round game in San Jose, and in 1998, of course, Kentucky beat Utah in the NCAA finals in San Antonio.

The fifth time was two years ago at Nashville, where the Wildcats beat the Utes 74-54 in a second-round game.