Utes ready for championship atmosphere against Arizona


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SALT LAKE CITY — When the Utah basketball schedule was released last year, many fans circled the home game with Arizona as the one must-see, must-attend game of the season.

The excitement for the game alone crashed the Utah ticketing system database Saturday when tickets went on sale to students.

Following Utah’s decisive win over Arizona State Thursday, several fans had already set up camp outside the Huntsman Center. The highly anticipated game is already sold out and is expected to be one of the hottest tickets in the state when two top-25 teams clash in a Pac-12 battle for first place.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any question as to what it’s going to be like Saturday,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “It’s going to be a little bit crazy. It really kind of defines college basketball; it’s what kind of environment you’re looking to play in, and we’re all excited to do so.”

If the conference stakes weren’t high enough, it’s Senior Night and Utah fans will say goodbye to seniors Dallin Bachynski and Delon Wright, who is one of the most dynamic athletes to play for the university in several years. Wright’s ability to change the landscape of the game at a moment has been key to Utah’s recent success.

“We’ve known what we’ve had here for a couple of years. He’s not concerned whether he’s perceived as the best player in the conference. He’s doing things the right way,” Krystkowiak said. “We didn’t want to have Senior Night, we wanted to have Senior Weekend, and we’ve been talking about that for a long time. There may be a little extra emotion Saturday night.”

Arizona, though, has been a thorn in Utah’s side — for any Pac-12 school for that matter — and is boasting a physical, defensive-minded resume. In Tucson, Arizona, a few months ago, the Wildcats let the Utes know who was boss and the leader of the conference, beating Utah, 69-51, in Utah’s worst loss of the season.


I don't think there's going to be any question as to what it's going to be like Saturday. It's going to be a little bit crazy. It really kind of defines college basketball; it's what kind of environment you're looking to play in, and we're all excited to do so.

–Larry Krystkowiak


“It is the one game we’ve played this year where we got thumped,” Krystkowiak said. “The Arizona team is the one game we’ve played this season where we walked out of there feeling like we had it handed to us.”

The difficult loss left a bitter taste in Utah’s mouth and has been a driving force and motivating factor for much of the season. For the coaching staff and players, in addition to the fans, the rematch game is an opportunity for Utah to show its ability against an elite team a week before the Pac-12 tournament.

“It’s just a great opportunity for them to come onto our home court and see what this environment is like and to see what it’s like when we catch momentum,” junior guard Brandon Taylor said. “I know we didn’t like going there, and I know they’re not going to like coming into here.”

But the physical nature of the game Saturday, particularly in rebounding the ball, is the biggest key. At Arizona, the Wildcats outrebounded the Utes 38-17 — a number Krystkowiak said is not acceptable.

“Anytime I need to talk about rebounding, I’ve mentioned the last couple of months; it’s just been talking about Tucson,” Krystkowiak said.

Win or lose, Utah is focused on winning the Pac-12 tournament — the main goal prefacing the season. From there, Utah hopes to take the next step with a successful run in the NCAA tournament.

“Our goal is to play in the championship game of the Pac-12 tournament; that’s six more games,” Krystkowiak said.

“The environment has changed ever since the summer. We knew that we were going to be a tournament team, or at least had the potential to be a tournament team,” Wright said. “We weren’t focusing on trying to get enough wins to go into the tournament; we were focusing on how we can keep improving so when we get to the tournament we can make some noise.”

Wright said a win against Arizona, though, would be a great way to end the season.

“We haven’t beat them since we joined the Pac-12, so that will be a great way to end the regular season, beating them,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll see them again down the road, but this will be a good time to get a win against them.”

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