Utah Utes basketball: Another quick, athletic, veteran foe

SALT LAKE CITY — Call it what you want — deja vu, Groundhog Day, a broken record — but for the Utah men's basketball team, it seems like the same thing over and over again.

Almost every team the Utes have played this year is a smaller, quick, athletic team with veteran players, which will be the case again Saturday when they take on Illinois State at the Huntsman Center at 4 p.m.

The game is part of the Mountain West Conference-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series, which began this year and will continue for at least three more seasons.

The Redbirds come into Saturday's game with a 7-2 record, with losses to Niagara last week and Ohio University earlier this week. Like most other Ute opponents, they play a three-guard system with the tallest starters being 6-foot-8 and 6-7, with three seniors, a junior and a freshman in the starting lineup.

"They have speed, quickness and physicality and three good senior players," said Utah coach Jim Boylen. "It will be another contrast against our size and length and younger players."

The Redbirds are led by Osiris Eldridge, a 6-3 senior guard from Chicago who averages 18.1 points per game. The other senior starters are Dinma Odiakosa, a 6-8, 255-pounder from Nigeria (12.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg), and Lloyd Phillips, a 5-10 guard who averages 10.4 ppg and 4.3 assists.

One big concern of Boylen's is the Redbirds' rebounding, as they have outboarded opponents by an average of 8.2 rebounds per game.

"Their two inside guys are physical and (the team) had 16 offensive rebounds the other night," he said.

The Utes, who have had all of their players for just three games this year, may be missing JC transfer Jay Watkins, who is suffering some of the effects of his groin injury in October. He will be a game-time decision, according to Boylen. Jason Washburn, a backup center who missed a couple of games with a concussion, will play.

After today's game, the Utes will head to California next week to play at Pepperdine on Wednesday, the same night the Ute football team is playing down the road in San Diego. Then after a two-day break for Christmas, the team returns to play Texas-San Antonio on Dec. 28.