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SALT LAKE CITY — On the surface, Abilene Christian sounds like a typical pay game to start the college basketball season.
It's a program that has competed at the Division I level for less than 10 seasons and is typically scheduled to give the opposing team an early-season tune-up while Abilene Christian collects a check for its services. The model is simple, and it works.
On the surface.
But the Wildcats are anything but your typical early-season warmup game. Abilene Christian, which is in its first year of its membership in the Western Athletic Conference after eight seasons in the Southland Conference, is coming off a second-round loss in the NCAA Tournament earlier in the season.
The Wildcats upset Texas in the opening round before falling to Final Four bound UCLA. They had the 26th best defense and led the country in turnovers, according the KenPom.com, which made for a difficult matchup for any team to contend with regardless of the location or circumstances.
"There are different options and you we want to play good competition," Utah head coach Craig Smith said of the Wildcats. "This is a good team and it's a good program."
Smith, who officially begins his coaching tenure at Utah Tuesday (6 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks), scheduled Abilene Christian as an early test to see how his team handles the pressure of playing against a team that forces a multitude of turnovers and puts teams in uncomfortable situations. It's an opportunity to see if his team has "championship DNA."
"We try to schedule all kinds of different styles of play that prepare you for conference plan and, hopefully if you do it right, the NCAA Tournament, and so these guys are very, very unique in what they do," Smith said. "They're fun to watch. Should be an exciting game."
But the Wildcats are a different team to start the 2021-22 season. Abilene Christian returns only 60.4% of its scoring from last season's roster, with bigs Kolton Kohl, Joe Pleasant and Clay Gayman no longer on the roster. The four made were three of the four top scorers on the team and provided a good presence for the Wildcats.
Abilene Christian is also under new leadership after previous head coach Joe Golding was hired away to UTEP and his longtime associate head coach Brette Tanner, who was credited with the program's tough defense, was promoted to the top post. So while there has been significant changes to the program, the DNA remains.
"They know how to win," Smith said of the Wildcats. "There's a lot of guys on that team that just understand winning and know what it takes to win. ... They've been through the battle, so to speak, and so they know what it takes. But it's an important game."
The Runnin' Utes, which also underwent significant change in the offseason, will get its first true test from the onset of the season. Utah had a "secret scrimmage" against Wyoming and a Division II exhibition contest against Westminster Thursday, but Tuesday counts.
And while Utah, which was projected to finish 10th in the Pac-12 in the preseason media poll, is expected to be superior competition to that of Abilene Christian, Smith said his team will make plenty of mistakes in the season opener. But he hopes the end result will be in his team's favor and one that gives him a better look at how his team responds to adversity.
'Exciting to be out there': Utes prepare for season with exhibition win over Westminster
Points were scored, but the final result didn't matter. Call it a warm-up game."We're gonna make some mistakes tomorrow, guys. Like there's gonna be some 'I can't believe we did that' moments," Smith said. "Hopefully there's some 'I can't believe we did those' moments on the positive side, too. We've had three really good days of practice.
"We've thrown a lot at our guys and so I feel like we're prepared to go, but it is hard to replicate their speed because they are everywhere at all moments."
The season opener will be similar to that of the exhibition, except Thursday night's result counts. Smith will continue to experiment with various roster lineups to see what gives his team the best chance to succeed.
"I anticipate playing a lot of guys (Tuesday), quite frankly," he said.
That decision will come down to the "feel" of the game and the various situations Utah will be presented against the Wildcats. He wants everyone on the roster to "be ready."
That may include veteran guard Both Gach, who has yet to receive an answer from the NCAA on his transfer waiver he submitted earlier in the year. The NCAA is on an unpredictable timeline and could rule ahead of tipoff Tuesday night, or Gach could be left to sit on the bench until the organization gets around to answering his petition.
Regardless of Gach's status, Smith said the team is ready to play — with or without him.
"He's been getting reps," Smith said. "Obviously not quite as many with some of that, but he's been on the floor all the time. He looks great. He knows what's going on. He's got a good feel for what we're trying to accomplish. He's practiced well, so if he can go he'll play."
On the surface, Utah won't need Gach in the season opener, but Abilene Christian hopes to play spoiler to Smith's tenure at Utah with a season-opening win with its aggressive style of play.
