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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah men’s basketball program released its nonconference schedule for the 2017-18 season Monday.
The schedule features a home matchup against SEC opponent Missouri and away matchups against Butler, a Sweet 16 team in the latest NCAA Tournament, and BYU. The matchup against BYU is the first contest between the two programs since Utah took a one-year break from the rivalry.
Utah will play seven nonconference home games, starting with an exhibition matchup on Nov. 2 against Montana Tech. Other home games include Prairie View A&M (Nov. 10), Mississippi Valley State (Nov. 13), Missouri (Nov. 15), Eastern Washington (No. 24), Hawaii (Dec. 2) and Northwestern State (Dec. 20).
The Utes will also participate in the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Nov. 20-22 where they will play Ole Miss and the winner of the Rice-UNLV matchup. Utah will also participate in the first-ever Beehive Classic at Vivint Arena in a matchup against in-state rival Utah State on Dec. 9.
The two road games for Utah include a trip to Indiana to take on Butler on Dec. 5 and BYU in Provo on Dec. 16. Utah opens up the season with a Night with the Runnin’ Utes on Oct. 17.
“We are looking forward to our nonconference schedule heading into the upcoming season,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said in a prepared statement. “It will be a challenging schedule for our team and it should be very motivating for our program as we continue to work and get better over the next four months.”
The Utes originally had a home-and-home series scheduled with Xavier, but Utah said the Big East canceled the game. It added that Xavier Athletic Director Greg Christopher said the university was open to completing the second half of the series at a later time, but that no future date had been scheduled.
Our 2017 Non-Conference schedule has been released!
— Utah Basketball (@Runnin_Utes) June 26, 2017
📰 » https://t.co/CQvt4SUOzX#GoUtespic.twitter.com/0KZ7fHsSjD
Last season, Utah was criticized for its relatively weak schedule in terms of RPI, finishing nonconference play with a 251 RPI last season. That weak schedule hurt Utah’s chances of a quality schedule leading into Pac-12 play. However, Krystkowiak reasoned at the time that he needed a weaker schedule to help a young roster get some wins and develop.
Although marginal, Utah has improved its schedule for the upcoming season in terms of RPI, moving up to somewhere around 200 by averaging the upcoming team’s final RPI from last season. Utah, however, will be without star forward Kyle Kuzma, who was drafted No. 27 overall to the Los Angeles Lakers last week.
Utah will also be without freshman guard Devon Daniels and junior JoJo Zamora. Both decided to leave the program following the conclusion of the 2016-17 season.
Center David Collette will matchup against his former team Utah State for the first time since his departure in 2015. Collette left the Aggies two days prior to the start of the 2015-16 season and was denied a release from the program. Collette officially joined Utah at the conclusion of the fall semester in 2016 and was a vital starter for the program.
