Utah Utes basketball: Drca hopes to stay hot, lead Utes to MWC title

SALT LAKE CITY — For Luka Drca, it's his last chance as well as his first.

As the only senior playing on the Utah men's basketball team — now that Kim Tillie is sidelined for a couple of weeks with a knee injury — Drca wants to make the best of his senior season and perhaps take home another Mountain West Conference championship.

Drca and his teammates get their first chance today to show off their MWC title when TCU pays a visit to the Huntsman Center for a 1:30 p.m. contest.

The 7-7 Utes are coming off a pair of their best performances of the season, which also happened to be perhaps Drca's best two games of the season.

In a 69-47 win over UT-San Antonio, Drca scored a career-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting. And in the come-from-behind 61-59 win at LSU, Drca led the team with 14 points, 5 assists and 2 steals and was the best player on the floor, according to coach Jim Boylen.

"We're all excited," Drca said. "We, as older guys, know about conference play and talk to the younger ones about it. It means a lot to me because it is my last conference play."

Drca feels his team has played solid defense most of the year but has to play better on offense. Going 13-for-21 from the field in the last two games is a big improvement for Drca; he shot 37 percent before that.

"I've picked up my game," he said. "I was struggling with the shooting at the beginning of the season, but it's coming around. I think I put too much pressure on myself earlier in the year."

TCU (8-7) is coming off a 59-50 victory over Air Force in its conference opener Wednesday night in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs are just 1-4 in road games this year, with their win coming at SMU, 60-53.

The Horned Frogs are led by forward Zvonko Buljan, at 14.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Point guard Ronnie Moss is right behind him at 14.5 points per game and leads the MWC in assists at 6.5 per game. Other starters are guard Edvinas Ruzgas (13.1 ppg), forward Kevin Butler (6.7 ppg) and guard Greg Hill (6.5 ppg).

"Their team's quickness has always bothered us, and they're fast again this year," said Boylen. "They have team speed and multiple ball-handlers. Buljan is one of the better players in the league, and Moss is a very difficult guard to cover. They're very disciplined on the offensive end, they're difficult to guard and they'll put a lot of pressure on us."

With Tillie out, the Utes are expected to start true freshman Shawn Glover at forward in a lineup that includes David Foster, Jace Tavita, Marshall Henderson and Drca. Carlon Brown and Jay Watkins will come off the bench and play major minutes, along with Jason Washburn.

Utah is 11-4 all-time against TCU and has won the last three games against the Horned Frogs.

Following today's game, the Utes go on the road for a game next week against New Mexico on Wednesday night and one at UNLV next Saturday. They'll play TCU again in Fort Worth on Feb. 10.

Utes on the air

TCU (8-7, 1-0 MWC) at Utah (7-7, 0-0)

Today, 1:30 p.m.; Huntsman Center

TV: The mtn. Radio: 700 AM

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