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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah basketball program announced an agreement to play Kansas during the 2014-15 season.
The Runnin' Utes will face the Jawhawks on Dec. 13, 2014, at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. There has been no word whether an agreement to play in Utah will come.
The matchup against Kansas will certainly improve Utah's non-conference schedule, which is in need of improvement to raise its status and improve its odds of getting invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Utah has played Kansas only one other time during the 1995-96 season. No. 2-ranked Kansas got a 79-68 victory over the No. 8-ranked Utes.
The Kansas announcement comes on the heels of BYU head coach Dave Rose saying the BYU-Utah rivalry game may be in jeopardy, similar to the football rivalry game. Speaking to Greg Wrubell on his weekly coaches show, Rose said the discussions surrounding scheduling has "kinda stalled."
"Coach (Jim) Boylen and I put that (four-game agreement) together. We were both really excited to continue the series even though the conferences were going in different directions. In the last two year, as we have played through this contract, we have had discussions about extending the contract, but right now, we are kinda stalled. These may be the last two games we get."
Neither school, however, has said the rivalry will not move forward.
Utah will likely return almost all of its team in 2014 and will add four-star recruits Brekkott Chapman and Kyle Kuzma to a team that is on the rise. Starter Renan Lenz is the team's only senior.
