The Utah basketball team is more than 10 days into official practice, with another 10 days until its first game — an exhibition game against Division II power University of Findlay (Ohio) on Nov. 7.

Tonight at 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center, the Utes will hold a preseason scrimmage with the public invited. There will be no other public events before the season-opener.

Coach Jim Boylen said he is encouraged by the way his young team is practicing so far, but he's also concerned with a few areas.

"I'm concerned about our turnovers and finishing plays at the rim," he said. "We also have to work on our execution level and skill level."

He said veteran players such as Kim Tillie, Carlon Brown and Luka Drca are playing well along with newcomers Jay Watkins, a 6-foot-7 forward from College of Southern Idaho; and Marshall Henderson, a 6-foot-2 guard out of Texas. He seems especially happy with the play of 7-foot-3 center David Foster, who returned from an LDS mission in May.

"David Foster gets better every minute of every day," Boylen said.

Foster is expected to split time with redshirt freshman Jason Washburn, a 7-footer from Michigan, who has been out all fall with a knee injury. Boylen expects Washburn to be back to full strength within a few days.

"As usual, the defense is a little ahead of the offense at this point," Boylen said. "I thought we made big strides last week in understanding the defensive system."

Boylen also said guards Chris Hines, Jace Tavita and Jordan Cyphers have to continue to grow and get better.

"I'm encouraged by our effort, but we still have a lot of work to do," Boylen said.

TOUGH OPENER: The Utes lost their home-opener to a lower-division school, Southwest Baptist, last year. They have another tough opener with a lower-division school this year, but at least this one won't count.

The Utes will have their hands full with Findlay, which won the Division II championship last year with a perfect 36-0 record. Four days before playing Utah, the Oilers play at Duke.

The game with Findlay will be played at noon to accommodate U. fans who want to see the football game against New Mexico that day at 4 p.m.

Utah kicks off the regular season on Nov. 13 with a game against Idaho in the Huntsman Center, followed by a game on Nov. 18 against Utah State.

OLD FACE, NEW BODY: Five years ago, Austin Robison was on the Ute squad as a 6-foot-6, 185-pound freshman for the 2004-05 squad that went to the Sweet 16.

He's back as a 6-6, 230-pound junior after spending two years on an LDS mission and two years at Salt Lake Community College, where he saw limited action. He played high school ball at Jordan High School.

The Utes have another walk-on from SLCC in Ricky Shoff, a 6-2 guard, who played for American Fork High before playing a year at Dixie College and last year at SLCC, with a mission to El Salvador in between. He averaged 7.8 points for SLCC's national JC championship team.

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