Utah Utes basketball: Team focused on slowing down BYU's Jimmer Fredette

SALT LAKE CITY — When BYU and Utah met a little over a month ago in Provo, the Cougars held off a furious late rally by the Utes thanks almost entirely to Jimmer Fredette.

After Utah cut an 18-point deficit to five with a little more than five minutes remaining, the junior from New York scored 12 straight BYU points in a span of 2 minutes and 17 seconds to push the Cougar lead back up to 13 points, which turned out to be the final margin. Fredette's fantastic performance led Ute coach Jim Boylen to suggest Fredette might consider turning pro next year.

One of the big questions going into tonight's game is how healthy Fredette will be for the 7 p.m. contest at the Huntsman Center, where a sellout crowd, the first in the arena since the 2005 Utah-BYU game, is expected.

Fredette missed all but one minute of the second half of Saturday's loss to New Mexico because of a stomach virus and wasn't able to practice Monday. However he did practice Tuesday, and Dave Rose said, "He's progressing and feeling better now" and that he's "hopeful" he'll be near 100 percent for the game.

"He'll be ready," said Boylen. "We're acting like he's playing. He's a competitive kid and I don't see him missing this game."

The big challenge for Utah is how to stop Fredette, who is averaging 21.1 points and 4.9 assists per game.

"He made three guarded threes from 23 feet last game," Boylen said. "I don't know how you defense that, besides tackling him. You have to limit his opportunities and make him work for what he gets. He's a talented guy."

The Utes know they have to be cognizant of the rest of the Cougar starters, Jackson Emery, Tyler Haws, Noah Hartsock and Chris Miles, as well as Jonathan Tavernari off the bench.

"Their role players are playing well and Tavernari is always a concern with his ability to score and change the game," said Boylen. "He's always a focus of our defense."

Of Utah, Rose said, "I think they're a lot better offensively. They got more people who are scoring for them right now. Defensively, they're just solid."

The players are looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd in a rivalry game.

"These rivalry games are really intense and really emotional, but they're also fun," said BYU's Haws. "Because I've grown up around here and seen some of the games up there, I'm looking forward to being a part of it. But we're going to have to play really well to be able to win."

"There's a lot riding on this game and there's all the commotion from the last game," said Carlon Brown, referring the Marshall Henderson hit on Jackson Emery in Provo. "Guys should be extra chippy and the urgency will be higher. It's just one of those college games you look forward to with the whole state watching."