No. 14 BYU faces first, only nonconference true road test Saturday against rival Utah

PROVO — Plenty is different for BYU men's basketball as it transitions to its first year in the Big 12.

No longer chasing Quad 1 nonconference games with a bout in the top-rated college basketball conference in the country secured, the Cougars have run circles around a pre-league competition schedule that features wins over San Diego State, Arizona State and North Carolina State around a host of buy games in the friendly confines of the Marriott Center.

BYU is 8-0 for the first time since Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in 2010-11, No. 14 in the latest Associated Press Top 25, No. 1 in the NET ratings for the first time since the metric came into being six years ago, and No. 6 in KenPom with a top-10 adjusted offense and top-12 adjusted defensive efficiency.

But for as much as things change in and around the BYU men's basketball team, other things stay the same — like Saturday night's rivalry road tilt with Utah, the 263rd in the series' history (5 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Network).

"In-state games are super fun, they're special; they have a life completely of their own," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "This Utah team is a great team, and Branden Carlson is an all-Pac-12 vet and has been one for a long time. They've got incredible size, and can really shoot the ball. Craig (Smith) does a great job coaching them, and they play in a great arena. In-state games are magic."

Carlson missed the Runnin' Utes' 88-86 win Tuesday night over Southern Utah with an undisclosed injury, and Smith said his status for the weekend remains questionable.

Ben Carlson started in his place, and former Wasatch Academy star Keba Keita had 23 points and eight rebounds with two blocks and two steals in 24 minutes against the Thunderbirds.

Almost regardless of the personnel, though, these games seem to matter — even for a non-Utahn leading scorer like Jaxson Robinson at BYU, or Gabe Madsen, the Rochester, Minnesota, native who leads all Utah players not named Carlson at 14.3 points per game.

But for those who grew up in the Beehive State, the rivalry showdown is regularly circled on every schedule, must-see-television with the ultimate bragging rights at stake as the two schools' football programs haven't met since 2021.

"It's super fun to play in-state rivals, with and against guys you grew up playing," said BYU wing Trevin Knell, the redshirt-junior from Woods Cross who played on the same AAU team as Carlson. "With a lot of stuff that has been going on, this game is going to be personal. Like Deion Sanders likes to say, they like to make things personal. So it's going to be a fun game, and I feel like we're going to be ready for that fight — or that competitive outbreak."

Pope doesn't like to use words like "fight" or "brawl" in relation to athletic contests any more. But in-state rivalry games often bring a little more of an edge, even in a series where BYU has won 12 of the last 16 meetings over their rivals located less than 50 miles to the north, with an all-time advantage of 134-129 in the 14th longest rivalry in NCAA Division I men's basketball.

BYU forward Fousseyni Traore is questionable, at best, for Saturday's game after missing the last two contests with a hamstring injury. But the Cougars have averaged 81.8 points while shooting 48.8% from the field with 40.8 rebounds per game, including double-digit offensive boards in each contest.

Saturday's game will also be the last in the series before the in-state affair shifts back to becoming a conference match, with Utah's impending move to join BYU in the Big 12. Commissioner Brett Yormark has strongly hinted that such rivalry games will be a priority in scheduling, both in football and men's basketball, including leaving open the strong insinuation that the two teams will play each other both home and away after shifting to a 20-game league schedule with the additions of the Utes, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado in 2024-25.

"You just look forward to them, because you know it's going to be super, super competitive," Pope said. "Like it should be. It's why in-state games are special; they're fun for the fans, and every game for us is so huge for us right now. We love it."

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