Craig Smith looking to reclaim the 'Huntsman magic' after Utah win over BYU

SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time in at least six seasons (and likely more, if anyone is being honest), the Huntsman Center was electric for a men's basketball game Saturday night.

The setting was a final nonconference meeting between two rival schools. Neither fan base was willing to give an inch in what felt like a 50/50 split between the two schools in the amount of boos and cheers made throughout the full 40 minutes of game time.

There were occasional lulls — times where the sustained intensity dipped for brief moments — but there was passion all around the arena for the announced 15,648 people in attendance, the fourth-largest crowd in Utah history.

At times, even the public address announcer was shouted down by the raucous crowd not willing to concede to the other fan base.

In short, it was a perfect college basketball setting.

For the past decade, the game itself didn't have much meaning — outside of the annual bragging rights obtained, but even that was muted compared to football — other than being another game on the schedule. In two different conferences and both teams at varying levels of competition of the years, the passion hasn't been the same.

Maybe it was the fact that the games will soon mean something when the two are joined again in the same conference, or it was the natural state of where the two programs are today — BYU ranked No. 14 at the time and Utah making inroads to be an NCAA Tournament team again.

Whatever the reason for the increased passion Saturday, it was a taste of the environment Utah head coach Craig Smith hopes to reclaim for Runnin' Utes games.

The product on the court, obviously, needs to be good for fans to come to games, and Smith and his players have tried over the last three seasons to put out a product worth watching, but he said the fans have a large role in wins and losses.

"Fans impact winning in an elite way, and you could feel our energy — or their energy — all night long, and just willed us during some tough times during that second half," Smith said Saturday. "And so I can't thank our fans enough for coming out and showing up and showing out the way that we did.

"We want to get this Huntsman magic back, because this place is an elite home court when we have it packed like that. I've never felt that; it's my first time experiencing it like this."

There's been moments in the Huntsman Center — Smith pointed to Utah's win over a ranked Arizona team last season — but there's been nothing that could compare to the energy felt Saturday night.

"It was really good," senior center Branden Carlson said. "It was a great environment. I want to thank all the Ute fans that came out to this game and brought so much energy and really helped to keep us going throughout the tough stretches."

The BYU fans helped add to the electric environment, but with an improved product on the court — Utah is receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, is 32nd in the NET rating released Sunday, and is a projected bubble team to make the NCAA Tournament — Utah is potentially on its way to having a team worth watching again.

But will the fans continue to show up?

The resume this season, which features a 1-1 record in Quad 1 games and an undefeated record in Quad 3 and 4 games, and Utah's ability to be competitive with an improved roster is reason enough to hope that fans will make their way to the Huntsman Center and bring back some of that "magic" Smith believes the arena has for his team.

"It just shows what we're really capable of," Carlson said of Utah's win over a ranked BYU team. "We were able to beat a top-25 team, and we've hung with a top-10 team, as well. We know that we can compete, and we have the players and the pieces and the mindset to do that, we just have to be able to come out and execute every game, every half."

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