Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus No. 9-Seed Cincinnati (1st Round) on March 10, 2026 , Loss , 66, to, 73
Final Score
Men's Basketball
66
vs No. 9-Seed Cincinnati (1st Round)
73
The University of Utah Athletics
No. 8 Utah vs. No. 9 St. Louis
3/15/2000 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Associated Press
GAME: No. 9 Saint Louis (19-13) vs. No. 8 Utah (22-8), Midwest Regional, First Round.
TIME: Thursday, 10:10 p.m. EST.
SITE: Cleveland State Convocation Center, Cleveland, Ohio.
Saint Louis, which burst a few bubbles with its stunning run through the Conference USA tournament, squares off with an inconsistent Utah squad.
The ninth-seeded Billikens became just the fifth team in NCAA history to win four games in four days but the third from Conference USA to accomplish the feat. First-year coach Lorenzo Romar guided his team to a victory over Southern Mississippi in the first round before Saint Louis upset a distracted Cincinnati squad after star center Kenyon Martin broke his leg. The Billikens then upended Tulane and DePaul for their first C-USA tournament title.
"We're obviously thrilled that we were able to come out and gain an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament," Romar said after Saturday's 56-49 win over DePaul.
Guard Justin Love, who was held to just eight points in the championship game, averages 18.5 points and has made 42.3 percent (69-for-163) of his 3-point shots. He is the only player averaging in double figures for the Billikens.
Utah (22-8) is in the field of 64 for the sixth straight season and received an at-large bid from the Mountain West Conference. The eighth-seeded Utes, who went 5-5 in their last 10 games, shared the regular-season title with UNLV but were bounced in the semifinals of the conference tournament by BYU.
When healthy, Hanno Mottola leads the Utes. The senior forward from Finland missed 11 games this season due to various injuries but averaged 17.4 points. Alex Jensen, who was named MWC Player of the Year by the coaches, contributed 13.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game and has made 45.7 percent (48-for-105) of his shots from beyond the arc.
Coach Rick Majerus is 6-0 in first-round games with the Utes, who were upset in the second round last season by Miami of Ohio. He did guide Utah to the 1998 NCAA tournament championship game, losing to Kentucky.
The winner of this game will play either No. 1 seed Michigan State or No. 16 seed Valparaiso in the second round Saturday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Saint Louis - F Justin Tatum (8.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg), F Matt Baniak (5.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg), C Chris Heinrich (5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G Love (18.5 ppg, 2.6 apg), G Dave Ferguson (6.7 ppg, 2.2 apg). Utah - F Mottola (17.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), F Jensen (13.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg), C Nate Althoff (10.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg), G Tony Harvey (9.4 ppg, 2.5 apg), G Jeremy Killion (9.4 ppg, 1.8 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Saint Louis - Automatic bid, Conference USA tournament champion. Utah - At-large bid, Mountain West Conference.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Saint Louis - 3-6, 5 years. Utah - 31-24, 21 years.
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