Utah Men's Basketball Notes - Game #25 - University of Utah Athletics

Feb. 20, 2003

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Game #25

Utah Runnin' Utes (20-4, 8-1) vs. Brigham Young Cougars (18-6, 7-2)

Feb. 24 * 10:00 p.m. (MST) * Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000) * Salt Lake City

The Game at a Glance

Utah Head Coach: Rick Majerus       BYU Head Coach: Steve ClevelandAlma Mater: Marquette, 1970         Alma Mater: UC Irvine, 1976Record at Utah: 303-86/14th Season  Record at BYU: 103-75/6th SeasonCareer Record: 402-138/19th Season  Career Record: 103-75/6th Season
Rankings: Utah (AP: No. 23, ESPN/USA Today: RV). BYU (AP: RV, ESPN/USA Today: RV)
Television: ESPN. Bob Carpenter (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst).
Radio: Utah Sports Network (KALL-910 AM in Salt Lake City and affiliate stations).On the Internet at www.UtahUtes.com.Bill Marcroft (play-by-play), Mark Rydalch (analyst) and Brad Stone (host).
Series Record: Utah leads 117-116Utah's Record Home/Away/Neutral: 68-46/46-64/3-6Last Meeting: Utah defeated BYU 79-75 on Jan. 25, 2003 in Provo, Utah.

Looking Ahead

The Runnin' Utes make their final road trip of the regular season, playing New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, March 1 at 1:05 p.m. (MST) and Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday, March 3 at 7:07 p.m. (MST).

Quickly On Utah

The Runnin' Utes (20-4, 8-1 MWC) go for their ninth consecutive win, hosting Brigham Young (18-6, 7-2 MWC) in a showdown of the top two teams in the Mountain West Conference on Monday at 10:00 p.m. (MST) in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game will be televised as part of ESPN's "Big Monday" and broadcast on KALL-910 AM and the Utah Sports Network.

Utah, ranked No. 23 in the AP poll, has won 15 of its last 16 and lost only once since Dec. 17. The Utes are in sole possession of first place in the Mountain West, leading second-place BYU by one game. Last weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah defeated San Diego State 76-62 on Saturday night and went into overtime to outlast UNLV 86-80 on Monday. Utah is 13-0 at home this season, 6-2 on the road and 1-2 on neutral courts. The Runnin' Utes ranked sixth in the NCAA in scoring defense (59.5 ppg) and 29th in three-point percentage (38.7) as of Feb. 18.

Three Utes are averaging double figures in scoring. Junior center Tim Frost (6-10, 236) has the lead in scoring (12.9 ppg) and is second in rebounding (4.6 rpg). Junior guard Nick Jacobson (6-4, 200) is second in scoring (12.8 ppg) and is shooting 43.3 percent from three-point range (58-for-134). Senior forward Britton Johnsen (6-10, 210) is third in scoring (12.3 ppg) and leads the effort in rebounding (7.0 rpg). Freshman point guard Tim Drisdom (6-3, 203) leads the Utes in assists (3.4 apg). Sophomore guard Marc Jackson (6-1, 177) is Utah's top scorer in MWC play (15.4 ppg) and is the team's most accurate shooter across the board, hitting 54.7 percent from the field, 52.6 percent from three-point range and 86.4 percent from the free throw line.

Johnsen Named NABC All-District 13

Senior forward Britton Johnsen has earned first team all-District 13 honors by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Johnsen is averaging 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game this season despite tearing a ligament in his right thumb in mid-December. After missing two games with the injury, Johnsen returned in late December and played with a splint on his thumb for the next month. This is the second consecutive year Johnsen has been named all-District 13.

Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, the 150 student-athletes, from 15 districts, are now eligible for the NABC Division I All-America Team to be announced at the conclusion of the 2002-03 season.

Caton Earns Academic All-District Recognition

Senior forward Trace Caton has been named to the Verizon Academic All-District VIII team. Caton was joined on the team by Jason Blair of San Diego, Carl English of Hawaii, Shawn Redhage of Arizona State and Blake Stepp of Gonzaga.

Caton, the Utes' team captain, has started all 24 games this season, averaging 4.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 29.1 minutes per game. The Alamosa, Colo., native has a 3.71 GPA in Spanish and has regularly appeared on the Dean's List and honor roll.

The all-district selections advance to the national ballot. The 2003 Verizon Academic All-America team will be announced March 6. Utah has had four Academic All-America honorees during Rick Majerus' 14-year tenure.

Utah Cracks AP Top 25 Poll

The Runnin' Utes are ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation this week for the first time since early in the 2000-01 season. In the Associated Press poll released Monday afternoon, Utah was ranked 23rd with 180 points. The Utes were 27th (60 points) in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Utah was last ranked the week of Dec. 4, 2000 when it was 22nd in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls.

Utes Seeing 20/20 Once Again

With its win over UNLV on Monday, Utah hit the 20-wins mark for the 11th time in 14 years under Rick Majerus' direction. Two of the years the Utes failed to get 20 wins, Majerus did not coach the entire season. In fact, the Utes have won 20 games each of the past eight seasons with Majerus on the bench (he missed all but the first game of the 2000-01 season when Utah finished 19-12.

Majerus' 20-win seasons at Utah: 1990-91 (30-4), 1991-92 (24-11), 1992-93 (24-7), 1994-95 (28-6), 1995-96 (27-7), 1996-97 (29-4), 1997-98 (30-4), 1998-99 (28-5), 1999-2000 (23-9), 2001-02 (21-9), 2002-03 (20-4).

Scouting The Cougars

Brigham Young is 18-6 overall and in second place in the Mountain West Conference with a 7-2 record. The Cougars have won five of their last six. BYU was riding a four-game winning streak before losing at UNLV 61-54 last Friday night to move their road record to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in conference play this season. The Cougars bounced back with a 66-64 win over San Diego State at home on Monday night.

Senior guard Travis Hansen (6-6, 210) ranks fourth in the MWC in scoring (16.6 ppg). He is also leads the Cougars in assists (2.7 apg) and is second in rebounding (4.9 rpg). Junior forward Mark Bigelow (6-7, 195) is 10th in the conference in scoring (13.7 ppg) and fourth in three-point percentage (.449), hitting 53-of-118. Junior center Rafael Araujo (6-11, 265) who is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and transferred from Arizona Western College, ranks second in the league in rebounds (8.7 rpg). Araujo is also third for BYU in scoring (10.8 ppg), shooting 56.4 percent from the field.

BYU ranks fourth in the Mountain West in scoring (72.8 ppg), third in scoring defense (63.8 ppg), first in free throw percentage (.745), first in three-point percentage (.409) and first field goal percentage defense (.404). The Cougars also rank fifth in the NCAA in three-point percentage and 27th in free throw percentage.

Head Coach Steve Cleveland

Steve Cleveland is in his sixth season at BYU and has a 103-75 career record. Last season, Cleveland guided BYU to an 18-12 record and the second round of the NIT.

After two losing campaigns, he guided the Cougars to 20-win seasons in 1999-2000 (22-11) and 2000-01 (24-9). Those two seasons rank among the school's all-time top eight seasons in wins. In 2000-01 with a 24-9 overall record and a 10-4 mark in MWC play, Cleveland took BYU to its first NCAA Tournament since 1995, its first conference regular season title since 1993 and its first conference tournament championship since 1992. Cleveland took BYU to the NIT for the first time in 2000. Before taking over at BYU, Cleveland was the head coach at Fresno City College.

Utah-BYU Series Notes

* Utah and BYU meet for the 234th time on Monday night. The Utah vs. BYU series ranks 10th among NCAA Division I rivalries in number of games played.

* The Cougars are the Utes' oldest rivals in a series that dates back to a 32-9 win by BYU on Jan. 23, 1909 in Provo, Utah.

* The Utes lead the all-time series 117-116 after getting a 79-75 win on Jan. 25 in Provo, Utah. The Runnin' Utes have also won 15 of the last 18 meetings.

* In conference regular season play, Utah has a 114-110 edge.

* In Salt Lake City, the Utes have a 68-46 advantage and have won eight in a row. Their last loss to BYU at home was 64-62 on Jan. 8, 1994.

* Utah's most decisive win over BYU during the Rick Majerus era was 36 points (85-49) on Feb. 6, 1997 in Salt Lake City.

* BYU's most decisive win against Utah under Rick Majerus was 31 points (96-65) on March 10, 1994 in the WAC Tournament.

* Rick Majerus is 18-10 against BYU all-time with all of those games taking place during his tenure at Utah. He is 9-2 in Salt Lake City and 8-4 in Provo. Even though Kerry Rupp led the Utes to the win earlier this season in Provo as the acting head coach, Majerus still gets credit for the win.

* Steve Cleveland is 3-10 against Utah.

Last Meeting

Marc Jackson scored 17 points and Britton Johnsen had 12 points and 12 rebounds as Utah ended Brigham Young's home winning streak at 44 games by beating the Cougars 79-75 on Jan. 25 in Provo.

The Utes were playing without coach Rick Majerus, who missed the game to attend the funeral of the stepfather of former All-American Andre Miller. Assistant Kerry Rupp took over for Majerus and the Utes got the first win by an opponent at the Marriott Center since Feb. 17 2000, when New Mexico beat the Cougars 78-74.

The Utes were 25-for-51 (.490) from the floor and outrebounded the Cougars 38-33. Tim Frost scored 16 and Nick Jacobson finished with 13 points and caught the final rebound as time expired in front of a crowd of 21,412, the largest at BYU since Utah visited in January 2000.

Travis Hansen, who scored 21 and had 12 rebounds, gave BYU a 57-56 lead midway through the second half, but the Cougars couldn't hang on to it while going 11-for-27 from the floor. BYU shot 54 percent in the first half.

Rafael Araujo had 19 points and nine rebounds, Mark Bigelow added 16 points and Ricky Bower scored 10 for the Cougars.

Jackson gave Utah a 65-63 lead on a three-point play with 6:34 left in the game, then broke a 65-all tie when he drove through the BYU defense for a layup that put the Utes up for good.

The Cougars had several chances in the last two minutes but couldn't take advantage of them. Down 71-67 with 1:50 left, Nashif missed a pair of free throws. About a minute later, Bower got BYU to 73-69 and had a chance at a three-point play after being fouled by Johnsen, but Aroujo was called for a lane violation.

BYU cut it to 77-75 with 6.5 seconds left, but that was it for BYU as Jackson sealed it with two more free throws, completing a 17-for-17 performance from the line.

The Old Oquirrh Bucket

Monday's game concludes Utah's bid to win the Old Oquirrh Bucket trophy for 2002-03. The Old Oquirrh Bucket (named after the Oquirrh Mountains to the west of Salt Lake City) is the symbol of in-state basketball supremacy in Utah. The trophy is awarded every year to the in-state college team (Utah, BYU, Southern Utah, Utah State and Weber State) which has the best win-loss record against in-state competition. So far this season in the in-state battles, Utah is 3-1, Utah State is 2-1, BYU is 2-2, Weber State is 1-2 and Southern Utah is 0-2.

Utah has won the Old Oquirrh Bucket 11 times since its inception in 1974-75, including six years in a row from 1994-95 to 1999-00.

Great Britton: Senior Forward Among MWC's Best All-Around Players

Senior forward Britton Johnsen (6-10, 210) was one of 50 players named to the Wooden Award Preseason All-America Team. He is also the reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year.

* Johnsen became the 29th player in school history to score 1,000 points against UNLV on Feb. 17. As he wraps-up his four-year career at Utah, Johnsen currently totals 1,008 points. He also has 542 rebounds in his career.

* This season, Johnsen appears in the top 20 in four MWC statistical categories, ranking 15th in scoring (12.3 ppg), fourth in rebounds (7.0 rpg), 12th in field goal percentage (.489) and 10th in steals (1.18 spg).

* Johnsen has scored in double figures in 15 of the 22 games he's played in this season, leading Utah in scoring six times. Dating back to the 2000-01 season, Johnsen has scored in double figures in 53 of his last 77 contests.

* Johnsen has led Utah in rebounding in 16 of the 22 games he's appeared in this season-including the last nine games-averaging 7.0 boards per contest. He also led the Utes in rebounding 14 of the final 20 games last season, averaging 7.4 rebounds per game during that stretch.

Frost Formidable Inside

Junior center Tim Frost (6-10, 236) has established himself as a strong interior presence in his first season with the Utes. Frost is first on the team in scoring (12.9 ppg), reaching double figures in 18 games this season and 11 of the last 12. He is also second in rebounds per game (4.6 rpg). Frost ranks 13th in the Mountain West in scoring and 16th in rebounds.

* An inside-outside threat, he is shooting 51.1 percent from the field to rank ninth in the MWC and 44.4 percent from outside the arc. He also has 18 blocked shots, getting a season-high of four against Colorado State on Feb. 8.

* Frost equaled his career-high with 22 points against UNLV on Feb. 17. He shot 8-of-13 from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the free throw line in 35 minutes.

Game #24 Rewind

Tim Frost scored 22 points and converted a pair of three-point plays in overtime as No. 23 Utah beat UNLV 86-80 Monday night in Salt Lake City, winning their Mountain West-record eighth straight conference game.

Frost, who tied his career high for points set before transferring from Portland, scored the first basket of overtime and was fouled, adding a free throw. He converted another three-point play and Tim Drisdom added a long three-pointer to make it 76-70 with 2:34 remaining.

Drisdom, who scored a career-high 17, was 4-for-4 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line as the Utes (20-4, 8-1 MWC) sank eight free throws in a row in the last minute to seal the victory.

Marcus Banks scored 30 points and Dalron Johnson added 20 for the Rebels (15-8, 4-5 MWC). The Utes started their conference winning streak with a 66-63 win over UNLV on Jan. 20.

Nick Jacobson scored 14 points and Britton Johnsen had 12 as the Utes won for the 15th time in their last 16 games.

Trace Caton made a three-pointer from the corner with 25.9 seconds left in regulation to give Utah a 67-65 lead before Banks made a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining to force overtime. Utah led 56-42 with 9:21 remaining with Banks and center J.K. Edwards sitting on UNLV's bench.

But Ernest Turner and Johnson sparked a 21-4 run over the next 6:08 with four quick points each. Banks returned during the surge and capped it with a three-pointer to give UNLV a 63-60 lead, its first since the first half.

Despite being outrebounded 34-27, the Utes improved their home record to 13-0 this season.

Inside the Numbers

* In 11 of the 20 wins, Utah has held its opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field. The Utes have outshot their opponents 47.5 to 40.0 percent in their wins. In their four losses, the Utes have been outshoot 44.5 to 42.9 percent.

* The Utes have been even with or had the advantage over their opponents on the boards in 17 of the 20 wins. In their wins, the Utes have outrebounded the opponents by an average of 34.8 to 30.0. Utah had a season-best +16 advantage in its wins over Pepperdine (48-32) on Dec. 20 and Air Force (36-20) on Feb. 1. In three of the four losses, Utah has been outrebounded. Its average rebound deficit in losses is 35.0 to 30.3.

* Utah has yet to relinquish a lead with 5:00 remaining in the second half, going 19-0 when leading at that stage in the game. The Utes are also 17-0 when leading at halftime, 2-3 when trailing at the half and 3-4 when trailing or tied after 20 minutes. Utah's win over UNLV on Jan. 20 was its first when trailing at the half this season. The U. also came back from a 35-32 halftime deficit at Colorado State. The Utes came back to win their first game when trailing with 5:00 remaining against Air Force on Feb. 1.

* The Utes have had the advantage at the free throw line in their 20 wins, making 395 trips to the line compared to 365 for the opponents and shooting 70.6 to 67.4 percent. In the four losses, the opposite has been the case with the opponents outshooting Utah at the free throw line 141 attempts to 60, and making 93 (66.0 percent) to 34 (56.7 percent). Utah is 11-0 when it has more free throw attempts this season.

From Beyond The Arc

Utah is shooting 38.7 percent from three-point range to rank 29th in the NCAA as of Feb. 18. The Utes have hit at least 40 percent of their long-range shots 12 times and 50 percent or better on five occasions. Utah is 10-2 when shooting at least 40 percent from three-point land this season.

* Four Utes are shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc: Marc Jackson (52.6), Tim Drisdom (45.5), Tim Frost (44.4) and Nick Jacobson (43.3).

Getting Defensive

One of the trademarks of a Utah team during the Rick Majerus era is a stifling half-court defense. Since 1989-90, Utah has ranked in the top 30 in the nation 10 times in scoring defense, nine times in rebound margin, eight times in field goal percentage defense and eight times in scoring margin.

* This season, Utah ranked sixth in the NCAA in scoring defense as of Feb. 18, currently giving up 59.5 points per game.

* The Utes have held 15 teams under 60 points this season and four teams under 50 points.

* Eleven opponents have shot under 40 percent from the field this season. Colorado State on Feb. 8 is the only team to shoot 50 percent or better from the field on Utah in 2002-03. The Rams hit 24-of-48 shots.

* Utah has not allowed an opponent to score 80 points in 86 consecutive games that have ended in regulation. The last team to score 80 points on the Utes in a 40-minute game was Wyoming (88-61) on Feb. 28, 2000 in Laramie, Wyo.

Noting The Season

* Utah's eight-game winning streak is the longest in Mountain West Conference history. Utah had won six in a row each of the last three years. UNLV and Wyoming also won six straight conference games in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

* The Utes had a season-best effort from the free throw line to salt away their overtime win against UNLV on Feb. 17. Utah shot 92.3 percent, hitting 24-of-26. The Utes hit all 10 free throws in the overtime period and 10-of-11 in the second half. Utah scored a season-high 86 points against the Rebels.

Utes Tough At Home In The Huntsman Center

Utah is 193-17 (.919) in the Huntsman Center during the Majerus era and has never lost back-to-back home games. With Majerus on the bench, taking out the games he missed during the 1989-90 and 2000-01 seasons, the Utes are 175-12 (.936) at home.

* The Utes have won 132 of their last 139 games in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, including a 14-2 mark last season and a 13-0 start this season. Utah's current home court winning streak is 15 games.

* In conference home games over the last nine years, Utah is 63-2 (.969), which is the best record in the nation over that time span.

* Utah has gone unbeaten seven times in the 33-year history of the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Six of those undefeated home seasons have come under Rick Majerus: 1990-91 (16-0), 1992-93 (15-0), 1994-95 (15-0), 1997-98 (13-0), 1998-99 (14-0) and 1999-2000 (17-0).

* The Utes' all-time record in the Huntsman Center is 425-88. Utah got its 425th win in the history of the facility on Feb. 17 against UNLV.

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