LSU came into the game 12-1, but that included wins over Jackson State, Alcorn State, Northwestern State, McNeese State, Southeastern Louisiana and almost everyone else you wouldn't know.

The Utes won five in a row this year, then lost four of five and have now won four straight.

Tuesday's game was a homecoming for LSU coach Trent Johnson. Long ago and not so far away, he was supposed to be the Utes' coach. In between Rick Majerus' retirement and Ray Giacoletti's employment, Johnson — then coaching at Nevada — was the top candidate for the Utah job. Too bad it wasn't reciprocal. Johnson said he was happy at Nevada, then took the Stanford job.

Meanwhile, Utah went into a slide that ended with Giacoletti being fired in 2007.

That hurt on two counts. First, Utah still considered itself one of the best programs in the West. But that didn't seem to matter to Johnson — even though Utah gave him his first Division I job as an assistant coach from 1986-89. Then the Utes hired Giacoletti, who failed.

"When you're rebuilding and refocusing a program, it's a process," Boylen said.

On Tuesday night, the process seemed to be working. The Utes are now 10-5, having won five of their last six.

At one time the team looked like a lot of pieces scattered about the floor. Now the assembly instructions are starting to make sense.

"Maybe," said Boylen, "there's some trust that's building."

E-mail: rock@desnews.com