Utah Utes basketball: Boylen wants consistency from team

FORT WORTH — After a roller-coaster season so far, the Utah men's basketball team is looking for a little consistency heading with the second half of the Mountain West Conference season.

That starts Wednesday night when the Utes take on TCU at 6 p.m. MST at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

The Utes have enjoyed many highs, with wins over the likes of Illinois, Michigan, LSU and UNLV on the road, along with many lows with losses to Idaho, Seattle, Pepperdine and Wyoming. The lowest low may have come a week ago when the Utes were beaten 65-50 at home by Colorado State.

Utah coach Jim Boylen said this week he is excited to have his team at full strength with freshman Marshall Henderson back from a one-game suspension, Jason Washburn healthy after a bout with stomach flu and Jay Watkins and Kim Tillie shaking off earlier injuries. Now he's talking about consistency.

"We've got to continue to improve offensively and be consistent," he said. "We need to be more consistent at defensive rebounding, more consistent getting loose balls and more consistent getting blocked-shot loose balls."

In TCU, the Utes are facing a team that is coming off a 14-point road win over Air Force after dropping four games in a row. Last month in Salt Lake City, Utah broke away in the second half for a 65-45 victory.

The Horned Frogs have one of the more experienced teams in the league with seniors Zvonko Buljan (12.5 ppg) and Edvinas Ruzgas (11.6 ppg), Sophomore guard Ronnie Moss leads TCU in scoring at 14.5 ppg and he's expected to be joined in the starting lineup by freshman guard Xavier Roberson (4.0 ppg) and freshman forward Nickola Cerina (4.7 ppg).

Greg Hill, a 6-foot-2 JC transfer, didn't play against the Utes last month, but was the key to the Frogs' victory over Air Force last week, making 7-of-10 3-pointers for a team-high 23 points.

"Hill didn't play the first time and he's a 3-point shooter and gives them another scorer," said Boylen. "You have to defend Ruzgas from the 3, and Buljan and Moss are scorers. I thought the key to our win last time is that we made other people beat us. We kept the three other guys down."

As for the Utes, Boylen wasn't sure who would be starting, but David Foster, Henderson and Luka Drca have started every game this year that they've been available. Also Watkins has started the past two games and will likely get the starting nod this evening. The other starting spot will likely be filled by either Carlon Brown, Jace Tavita or Shawn Glover, each of whom has started several games this year.

After Wednesday night's game, the Utes return home for a pair of games against two ranked MWC teams — No. 15 New Mexico on Saturday at 7 p.m. and next Wednesday, Feb. 17, against No. 23 UNLV.

Utes on the air

Utah (10-12, 3-5) at TCU (11-13, 3-6)

Tonight, 6 p.m. MST

Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, Fort Worth, Texas

TV: The mtn. Radio: 700 AM

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