Utah Utes basketball: Utes stunned by D-II foe

For weeks now, we've heard all about the Utah basketball team's tough home schedule, so it shouldn't have been surprising that the Utes lost their first home game of the season Saturday afternoon.

However, this wasn't Gonzaga or Oregon or California or LSU that beat Utah.

The Utes were shocked by Southwest Baptist, a Division II school from Missouri, 80-79 at the Huntsman Center.

Southwest Baptist!

It was arguably the worst Utah home loss since a Ute team led by Tom Chambers and Danny Vranes was upset by a lower-division school called Midwestern to open the 1979-80 season.

That's taking nothing away from Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats took it to the Utes right from the start and deserved to win regardless of whether Lawrence Borha's driving shot with three seconds had fallen or not.

Except for a brief stretch early in the second half when the Utes fought back to take a five-point lead, the Bearcats outhustled, outshot and overall outplayed the taller, experienced Utes squad.

Still, this was a Division II school that beat the Utes on their homecourt, for crying out loud.

The fact the Utes lost to a Division II team didn't make a difference to Ute second-year coach Jim Boylen.

"To me, it's a game," he said. "Anytime you lose a game and don't play well at home, it's a problem. It's not good."

Boylen blamed the loss on three factors: the Bearcats' outstanding 3-point shooting, Utah's poor free throw shooting and Utah's inability to match up when the Bearcats went to a smaller lineup.

For the game, Southwest Baptist sank 16 of 32 3-pointers, compared to 4 of 12 for Utah. Utah went to the line 38 times compared to 13 for the Bearcats, but missed 11, with Luke Nevill missing six of 16 tries.

That was about all Nevill did wrong as he had a fine game with 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Utes. Shaun Green scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in his new role off the bench, while Borha had 10 points.

"Our foul shots killed us, me especially," said Nevill. "I make them all the time in practice, but come game time I need to do the same thing."

The Bearcats, with an experienced team that included seven seniors, came at the Utes from all angles with Tomas Brock, leading the way with 16 points, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. D'ante Harris and Brandon Clemons each scored 15, while Nick Korvacevich had 14 and Matt Rogers 12. In all, seven different Bearcats made 3-pointers.