It wasn't about seeing kangaroos or snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef or "boom-netting" — getting pulled behind a boat on a net — although the Ute basketball team did all of those things on their 10-day trip to Australia.

For the Utes, their recent trip to the other side of the world was about becoming better as a team and bonding together.

New coach Jim Boylen believes his team accomplished that.

"It was a good trip, a very difficult trip," said Boylen, who took over the Ute program in March. "I don't think I've ever had a harder trip for a team as far as travel goes with six games in eight days on different courts and different surroundings. But we got better."

The Utes played before packed gyms that held anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 fans to one game that had 10 people watching. They endured questionable officiating and games against older, professional players while playing in unheated gyms in a place where it is winter right now.

Several of the players as well as the coach got sick on the trip, perhaps because of the cold conditions.

"It was 45 degrees in one gym — you could see the steam coming off the guys' heads," Boylen said.

But on the whole, it was a great experience and just what Boylen wanted as a new coach to get to evaluate and teach his team.

The Utes went 3-3 on the tour, winning their first game and final two, including an 85-80 victory over the national champion Brisbane Bullets.

"The conditions were tough, but we battled and grew as a team," Boylen said. "We played our best basketball at the end."

Boylen felt his team came together during the fourth game against the Sydney Razorbacks. He said his team had several defensive stops in a row thanks to proper teamwork.

"We got it," he said. "We learned, it's not about me, it's about helping each other."

Just nine players went on the trip and one, Luka Drca was injured, leaving the Utes with eight players.

All the players had a chance to start and play a lot of minutes, and Johnnie Bryant and Luke Nevill actually came off the bench in several games.

Boylen said it was thrilling to see his two Australian players, Nevill and Stephen Weigh, play well in wins over Nevill's hometown Perth team and Weigh's hometown Rockhampton team.

"It was unreal, the experience of a lifetime," said Weigh, who particularly enjoyed playing before friends and family in Rockhampton for the last two games. "I think it was great to play against a lot of different styles of basketball. And we bonded really well as a team."

"It was tough practicing every day, but it made us tougher and stronger," said Nevill. "We had a good, tight group."

"We made strides in getting mentally tougher and being more consistent," added Bryant.

Boylen said he'll let his players get acclimated back into school the next couple of weeks before starting up individual workouts. His players will lift weights three times a week and run sprints one afternoon a week to keep in shape before practice officially starts.

"The great thing about the trip is that we've done it already," Boylen said. "We're never going to have a tougher trip. If we can do it there, we can do it again. We've established a bar."

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