Utah Utes blow out Texas Christian, 65-45, in conference basketball opener

SALT LAKE CITY — On top of all the injuries it had already endured this year, the Utah basketball team had to replace a seasoned starter with a wet-behind-the-ears freshman for its Mountain West Conference opener Saturday afternoon.

"We had one senior starting with two freshmen and two sophomores ... it was a little scary," said Utah coach Jim Boylen.

As it turned out, Boylen had little to be scared about as his young team rolled to a comfortable 65-45 victory over TCU at the Huntsman Center.

It marked the Utes' 10th straight MWC home win as they improved to 8-7 on the year and a 1-0 start in MWC play.

Making his first college start in place of injured Kim Tillie, true freshman Shawn Glover scored 10 points and joined Luka Drca (14), Jay Watkins (11) and Carlon Brown (11) in double figures for the balanced Utes.

The key to the Utes' win was their defense as they held the Horned Frogs (8-8, 1-1) to 30.8 percent field goal shooting, including 25 percent from 3-point range. The Utes also came up with 11 steals, their second-best total of the year.

"I've said all along we have to do it with defense," Boylen said. "I really feel this team has made strides defensively. We've worked and worked and worked and it's started to carry over to the floor."

Leading the defensive effort was Jace Tavita, designated as the Utes' "stopper" by Boylen a couple of weeks ago when he inserted him into the starting lineup. Tavita held TCU's leading scorer, Ronnie Moss, in check and none of the Frogs' starters were able to make it into double figures.

Moss went 2-for-10, preseason all-MWC selection Zvonko Buljan was 2-for 11, Xavier Roberson shot 1-for-6, Nikola Cerina went 2-for-5 and Edvinas Ruzgas was 1-for-3. Only reserve Keion Mitchem was able to find the hoop, scoring 14 points on 6 of 13.

"Our defense was amazing," said Drca. "We had good scouting and we bought into it on the floor."

Boylen said the goal was to limit TCU's 3-pointers, noting that when the Frogs made six or less per game they lost. Well, for the night, TCU managed just 4 of 16 as the Utes applied pressure and the Frogs just flat out missed some wide-open treys.

"That team feeds off threes and I thought our ball pressure, our ability to high early shot challenge (made the difference)," said Boylen.