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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Runnin' Utes (1-6) still seek their second win of the season when they host Cal State Fullerton (4-3) tonight at 7 p.m.
But they'll have to do it without their leading scorer, Josh Watkins, who was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. Watkins ranks second in the Pac- 12 in scoring with 17.7 points per game, and also averages 4.9 assists.
“I have suspended Josh Watkins indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team," head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "Josh will not be participating in any team activities until he has met certain obligations we have laid out for him. It’s an unfortunate circumstance but we hope he can meet these obligations and become a part of our team once again. This is a team matter and I will not be discussing the details of his suspension any further.”
The suspension leaves Utah without an active senior, with David Foster still recuperating after undergoing foot surgery in November.
Junior center Jason Washburn becomes the Utes' active leading scorer with 10.7 points per game. He also leads the Pac-12 in field goal percentage at 64.6 percent, and grabs 7.3 rebounds per game. Junior guard Chris Hines is next in scoring with 9.7 points per game.
Freshman Kareem Storey is expected to start in Watkins' place Wednesday night. Storey has averaged 3.9 points and 2.1 assists in 19.3 minutes per game. He and several other players will have to step up to compensate for Watkins' absence.
The match-up with CSF will be the 12th all-time meeting between the two schools, with Utah leading the series 9-2. The Utes have won the last five straight meetings and are 6-1 at home against the Titans.
The last meeting occured on Nov. 15, 1997, which Utah took 87-59. Utah ended up making a Final Four run that season, going all the way to the national championship game, led by Andre Miller and Michael Doleac.
This season, however, the Utes are off to their worst start in school history, having lost six-straight games by an average margin of 20 points. Mostly everything that could have gone wrong so far has, with the young team playing under a new head coach and neither of its two seniors currently active.
Utah's biggest of many statistical concerns lies in its turnover margin, which ranks ninth-worst in all of NCAA Division I basketball. The Utes also rank near the bottom defensively at No. 312 in total defense out of 342 Div. I schools. They give up open 3-point shots at an alarming rate, ranking No. 321 in the nation with opponents averaging 40.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Utah's dire struggles have caught national attention, including a picture of Cedric Martin and Storey on the front page of ESPN.com's NCAA basketball homepage on Tuesday. Jason King's look around the nation places the Utes as the worst team in any of the big six conferences. Eamonn Brennan also takes a look at Utah's troubles in another ESPN article.
Krystkowiak knows it will be difficult for his young team to win without Watkins.
"We don't have a real deep team to begin with," he said. "So many times if you have a young team, or if you are a little bit fragile maybe, and not tested — road tested — and you have a couple things go against you, we need some guys to kind of step up and put an end to it instead of just kind of succumbing to it."
Cal State Fullerton has also had its share of struggles this season. The Titans managed to end a three-game losing streak of their own after beating SIU-Edwardsville 79-57 last Saturday. CSF won its first three games over Redlands, Nichols State, and Louisiana-Lafayette before falling to Houston Baptist, Cal State Bakersfield, and Wichita State.
Junior guard D.J. Seeley leads the Titans with 16.7 points and 5.4 boards per game, with senior forward Omondi Amoke scoring 13.9 with 8 rebounds.
Two other players average double figures for CSF: sophomore guard Isiah Umipig with 13.4 and junior guard Kwame Vaughn with 12.4.
Tonight's contest will be Utah's first home game since falling to Montana State on Nov. 19. The Utes will remain in Salt Lake City for three more games over a 12-day stretch, including the rivalry match-up with BYU on Saturday afternon.
