Utah Utes basketball: Runnin' Utes open season today vs. Southwest Baptist

Although most Utah fans will be focused on the unbeaten Ute football team and its game against San Diego State later in the day, the Utah basketball team will kick off its season today against Southwest Baptist at 2 p.m. in the Huntsman Center.

For coach Jim Boylen's Utes, today's opener will be the first of four games in a week's time in what Boylen calls "a pro week" for his team.

After playing Southwest Baptist, the Utes play Wisconsin-Green Bay Tuesday night at home before going to Florida for a pair of games against Mississippi and Morgan State on the weekend.

"It's a good week for us to see where we're at," Boylen said. "Hopefully, with four seniors, we can fight our way through it."

The Utes have been practicing for a month and have played an unofficial scrimmage against Colorado in Boulder and beat up on Grand Valley State in an exhibition game last week.

Even though the Utes held Grand Valley State to 44 points on 30 percent shooting, Boylen is not happy with his team's defense.

"I'm still concerned about our defensive execution," he said. "Defense is how we're going to build a program."

He also added, "We're turning the ball over too much and our offense has to get better."

While Southwest Baptist, a Division II school from Missouri, may sound like a cupcake, Boylen says it is a good program, ranked as high as No. 6 in preseason polls. He feels the Bearcats will be a more challenging opponent than a lot of Division I programs might be.

"They are a highly ranked Division II team and are as good or better than a lot of (Division I) 200 to 250 RPI teams," he said. "They are a quality opponent."

Ute center Luke Nevill will have a challenge from 6-11 Matt Rogers, who had 19 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots in a 87-79 exhibition loss to Southern Illinois last week. A preseason Division II all-American, Rogers averaged 14.9 points and 7.8 boards last year.

Besides Nevill, the Utes plan to start Kim Tillie and Carlon Brown at forwards, and Lawrence Borha and Luka Drca at guards, with Tyler Kepkay and Shaun Green coming off the bench.

Utes on the air

Southwest Baptist at Utah

Today, 2 p.m.

Huntsman Center

TV: none Radio: 700 AM

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E-mail: sor@desnews.com