Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin' Utes will welcome a Division I school to the Jon M. Huntsman Center for the first time this season when they host the Sacramento State Hornets Friday night.
Utah opened the regular season last Friday with a 104-47 thrashing of Division III Willamette. One week prior, the Utes made short work of Division II Simon Fraser in their only exhibition match, running away with a 71-36 victory.
True freshman forward Jordan Loveridge and sophomore center Dallin Bachynski each recorded double-doubles to lead the way in Utah's season-opener. Loveridge dropped 18 points with 10 rebounds and Bachynski finished with 11 points and 10 boards. Justin Seymour and Dakarai Tucker — also true freshmen — added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Although Utah's non-conference slate has been widely criticized for being full of lower-profile programs, there's no question the competition from here on out won't be the same walks in the park for Utah that Willamette and Simon Fraser were.
"I could sit here and hype up our high-scoring game, or that we did this, that, and the other thing," said senior center Jason Washburn, the Utes' leading scorer and rebounder from last season. "But in the end, we still played teams (whose) tallest guy was 6-5 — D-II and D-III schools. We did what we were supposed to do."
"We've taken the approach the whole year that we're the underdogs, and have got a lot to prove," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "There's not a lot of people outside Salt Lake that have a lot of belief in what we're doing. It's a great notch on somebody's hat to be able to say that they beat a Pac-12 team, so we know we're going to get the other team's best shot when they come in here."
"We're going to be going against some very athletic teams," junior guard Glen Dean said. "There's a lot of parity in college basketball right now. We can't come out and think that 'oh, just because we're in the Pac-12, this game is just going to be handed to us.' No. Regardless of which team we play — whether its Sac. State or Arizona or Duke — we have to come out with a chip on our shoulder to prove something."
Sacramento State is coming off a 10-18 season out of the Big Sky Conference, but has won each of its first two contests of 2012-13. The Hornets' two victories came on their home floor, beating both UC Merced and Cal State Bakersfield by double digits.
Five Hornets average double figures through two games, led by sophomore guard Mikh McKinney with 18 points. Senior forward John Dickson is next, averaging 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
"They've got four returning starters, some athleticism, and some mismatch problems," Krystkowiak said of Sac. State. "There's a 280-pound guy (senior center Konner Veteto) inside that can do some damage. They can get out and run. We're going to have our hands full for sure."
"They push the ball," Dean said. "So our primary focus is getting back and taking away their transition and making sure that they don't get any easy shots and early opportunities."
"They just came off a solid win against a solid program," Washburn said. "It's not going to be like against Willamette. We're going to have to grind it out a little bit."
This second meeting between these two programs will tip off at 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network. The two schools previously met back on Dec. 2, 1992 at the Huntsman Center, with Utah winning 74-45.
The Utes will look to get some momentum going into next week's Thanksgiving tournament when they welcome Idaho State, Central Michigan and Wright State to the Huntsman Center next Wednesday through Saturday.
Utes ink four for 2013-14
Krystkowiak has been busy on the recruiting front, making four signings for next season: Utah natives Brandon Miller and Parker Van Dyke, out of Brighton High and East High, respectively; as well as junior college standouts Marko Kovacevic and Delon Wright, from Western Nebraska Community College and City College of San Francisco, respectively.
"Our staff continues to work to keep the best Utah talent in Utah, and we feel that Parker and Brandon were two must-gets," Krystkowiak said. "Delon and Marko are coming from successful junior-college programs and know what it takes to win. They will bring experience to our program and will continue to develop into outstanding players."
Tyson Maddy has covered University of Utah athletics as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011.
