Utah Men's Basketball Notes - MWC Semifinals - University of Utah Athletics

March 10, 2005

Mountain West Semifinals

Utah Runnin' Utes (26-4, 13-1 MWC) vs. UNLV Runnin' Rebels (16-12, 7-7 MWC)
March 11 ? 7:04 p.m. (MST) ? Pepsi Center (19,099) ? Denver, Colo.

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

The Game At A Glance

Utah Head Coach: Ray Giacoletti         UNLV Head Coach: Lon KrugerAlma Mater: Minot State, 1985        Alma Mater: Kansas State, 1975Record at Utah: 26-4 (1st Season)    Record at UNLV: 16-12 (1st Season)Overall Record: 143-87 (8th Season)  Overall Record: 334-245 (19th Season)
Rankings: Utah is No. 15 in the Associated Press polland No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.
Television: ESPN+Plus (Shown on KJZZ-TV 14 in Salt Lake City).Also available on ESPN Full Court (pay-per-view) and ESPN International.Rich Waltz (play-by-play) and Irv Brown (analyst).
Radio: Utah Sports Network(Hot Ticket 700/KALL-AM in Salt Lake City and affiliate stations).On the Internet at www.UtahUtes.com and www.HotTicket700.com.Matt Thomas (play-by-play), Mark Rydalch (analyst) and Bill Riley (host).
Series Record: Utah leads 17-13Utah's Record Home/Away/Neutral: 10-2/6-9/1-2Current Streak: Utah has won 5 in a row.Last Meeting: Utah won 57-53 on Feb. 7, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nev.

After This
Should the Runnin' Utes defeat UNLV, they will advance to the Mountain West Tournament championship game on Saturday at 8:04 p.m. (MST). The game will be televised by ESPN.

Quickly On Utah
The Runnin' Utes (26-4, 13-1 MWC) take on UNLV (16-12, 7-7 MWC) in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Friday at 7:04 p.m. (MST) at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.

Utah has won 21 of its last 22 games and three in a row. The Runnin' Utes defeated Colorado State 62-49 in the MWC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

Utah is ranked in the Top 25 for the seventh consecutive week, coming in at No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The Utes are the Mountain West Conference regular-season champions, winning the league race by three games. This is Utah's fourth MWC title in the league's six year history and its first outright.

Sophomore center/forward Andrew Bogut (7-0, 245) leads the Utes in scoring (20.6 ppg), rebounding (12.2 rpg) and blocked shots (56), and is shooting 63.6 percent from the field. Bogut has 21 double-doubles this season. Senior guard Marc Jackson (6-1, 175) is second in scoring (10.8 ppg), hitting 47.8 percent of his three-point attempts (54-of-113) and 85.3 percent of his free throws. Jackson is first on the team in assists (3.86 apg). Junior forward Bryant Markson (6-6, 190) is third on the team in scoring (10.1 ppg) and second in rebounding (3.9 rpg). Junior forward/guard Richard Chaney is fourth on the team in scoring average (8.9 ppg). Junior guard Tim Drisdom (6-3, 203) is second on the team in assists (3.24 apg) and has a 2.23 assists to turnover ratio.

As of March 8, the Utes ranked second in the NCAA in field goal percentage (52.5), third in rebound margin (+10.4), eighth in scoring defense (57.1 ppg), 14th in scoring margin and (+12.2 ppg) and 44th in free throw percentage (73.0). Andrew Bogut was ranked third in rebounding (12.0 rpg), third in field goal percentage (63.7), 15th in scoring (20.6 ppg) and 50th in blocked shots (55). Richard Chaney and Marc Jackson ranked 26th (86.4) and 38th (84.9), respectively, in free throw percentage.

Utah's Conference Tournament History
The Utes have competed in 22 conference tournaments--16 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference and the past six in the Mountain West Conference--posting a 27-17 (.614) record. In the Mountain West Tournament, the Utes claimed the title as the No. 3 seed in 2004 after losing in the semifinals each of the previous four years. The Utes won WAC Tournament titles in 1995, `97 and `99.

The Utes' .614 combined winning percentage in WAC (1984-99) and MWC (2000-04) tournaments ranks second among the conference teams. UNLV at .750 (15-5) is first, while New Mexico at .568 (25-19) and BYU at .514 (19-18) rank third and fourth, respectively.

Scouting UNLV
The Runnin' Rebels, the Mountain West Tournament's No. 4 seed, are 16-12 overall and tied for fourth place in the league during the regular season with a 7-7 record. Following its 57-53 loss to Utah in Las Vegas on Feb. 7, UNLV has won seven of its last eight games. The Runnin' Rebels wrapped-up the regular season with a 76-66 win at BYU last Saturday night before defeating Wyoming 70-63 in the MWC quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.

Senior forward Odartey Blankson (6-7, 220) leads the Rebels in scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg) and is second in free throw percentage (83.4). Senior guard/forward Romel Beck (6-7, 185) is second on the team in scoring (13.4 ppg), second in three-point percentage (39.7) and first in free throw percentage (83.8). Senior guard Jerel Blassingame (5-10, 170) leads UNLV in assists (5.79 apg) and has 30 steals. Junior forward Luis Amundson is second on the team in rebounding (7.9 rpg). Blankson was named first team all-Mountain West Conference.

The Rebels ranked second in the Mountain West in scoring offense (73.3 ppg), eighth in scoring defense (72.4 rpg) and fifth in rebound margin (+1.3 rpg) during the regular season.

Lon Kruger is in his first season at UNLV and has a 334-245 career record over 19 years.

Utah vs. UNLV Series Notes
? Utah and UNLV have met 30 times. The Utes lead the series 17-13 and have taken 11 of the last 14 games, including five in a row.

? The Runnin' Utes won both games this season, prevailing 70-52 on Jan. 10 in Salt Lake City and 57-53 on Feb. 7 in Las Vegas.

? Utah and UNLV have met six times in post-season play with UNLV holding a 5-1 advantage. The Utes and Rebels have met the last three years in the MWC Tournament. UNLV won 76-60 on March 8, 2002 and 64-41 on March 14, 2003. Both of those games were in the semifinals in Las Vegas. Utah won last season 73-70 on March 13 in the MWC championship game at the Pepsi Center on a Nick Jacobson three-pointer.

? Utah is 1-2 against UNLV on neutral courts. The Utes' win came in last year's MWC championship game. The Runnin' Rebels beat the Utes twice in the NCAA West Regional semifinals, winning 88-83 on March 17, 1977 in Provo, Utah, and 83-66 on March 21, 1991 in Seattle, Wash.

? In conference regular-season play, Utah has an 13-2 advantage, winning 10 of the last 11. Since both teams became members of the Mountain West Conference in 1999-2000, Utah leads 10-2.

? Ray Giacoletti is 2-0 against UNLV.

? Lon Kruger is 0-3 against Utah. In addition to facing the U. twice this season, his Florida team lost to the Utes 81-78 on April 1, 1992 in the NIT Final Four.

MWC Quarterfinals Rewind
Andrew Bogut scored 11 of his 21 points over the first four minutes and the Utah perimeter took over from there, leading the 15th-ranked Utes to a 62-49 win over Colorado State in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday.

Bogut, widely regarded as the best player in the country, also grabbed 17 rebounds, although he was held in check for long stretches of this game against the eighth-seeded Rams.

With the conference's freshman of the year, 7-footer Jason Smith, shutting down the big Australian--even rejecting his shot three times--it was Marc Jackson and Bryant Markson who helped top-seeded Utah (26-4) pull away.

Jackson (14 points, five assists) made two free throws, a three-pointer and converted a three-point play during a 19-4 run in the second half that turned a one-point halftime deficit into a 55-39 lead.

Markson (12 points) also scored four points and helped Utah with a three-quarter-court trap that the Rams had trouble handling in the second half.

Led by Smith, 7-1 center Matt Nelson and scrappy guard Micheal Morris, the Rams (11-17) looked like a team with too much talent to struggle the way they did this season. Smith roamed around the middle, hitting a couple shots directly over Bogut in the first half.

Just as impressive was the way Smith shut down the 7-foot center. After Bogut scored the first 11 points for Utah, he had trouble finding anything open in the middle.

Once, he had an easy layup swatted off the backboard by Smith. Another time, Bogut turned for what looked like an easy shot, only to see Smith come from the back side to reject him again.

But he couldn't be stopped forever. After CSU cut its 16-point deficit to seven, Bogut took a sweet pass from Jackson for a slam. Moments later, Jackson made an alley-oop layup from Tim Drisdom to push the lead to 11.

Nelson had 14 points, Smith had 12 and eight rebounds and Matt Williams had 12 points for Colorado State.

Notables From Game #30
Utah came back from a halftime deficit to win for the the fourth time this season. ... The Utes are now 7-0 when holding opponents to under 50 points in2004-05. ... Andrew Bogut has scored in double figures in all 30 games this season, running his double-figure scoring streak to 32 games dating back to last season. Bogut had his 21st double-double of the season and the 35th of his career. Bogut also had his 19th 20-point game this season and his 18th in the last 23 games. He has 22 career 20-point games. ... Marc Jackson had his 30th career double-figure scoring game, his 19th of the season, and his fifth in the last six games. ... Bryant Markson had his 19th double-figure scoring game this season.

Bogut And Jackson Season and Career Statistical Updates
? With 1,028 career points, Andrew Bogut is the 31st player in Utah history to score 1,000 points and currently ranks 29th. He is also just the third player to reach 1,000 points in two seasons (Jerry Chambers and Art Bunte are the others). His 16.3 points per game average ranks ninth-best at the U. With 691 career rebounds, his 10.9 average per game ranks seventh-best all-time at Utah.

? Bogut is moving up other career and single-season charts at Utah. His 56 blocked shots are first. With 100 career blocked shots, Bogut ranks fifth at Utah. If Bogut can maintain his 63.6 field goal percentage this season, he would set the school single-season record. Bogut's career field goal percentage of 61.1 (411-for-673) would also set the career mark at Utah. Bogut also ranks fourth in rebounds (365) and 11th in scoring (617) on the Ute single-season charts.

? On the Utah single-season and career charts, Marc Jackson is on pace to set the top marks for three-point percentage. Shooting 47.8 percent this season and 44.9 percent (84-for-187) during his career, Jackson is on pace to break the top single-season mark of 46.0 percent by Alex Jensen (1999-2000) and the top career mark of 43.4 percent by Chris Fulton (1986-88).

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Utah Men's Basketball Notes - MWC Semifinals

Mountain West Semifinals

Players Mentioned

Andrew Bogut

Richard Chaney

Tim Drisdom

Marc Jackson

Bryant Markson

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus No. 9-Seed Cincinnati (1st Round) on March 10, 2026 , Loss , 66, to, 73

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on March 7, 2026 , Loss , 75, to, 101

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Colorado on March 3, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 92

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Arizona State on February 28, 2026 , Loss , 60, to, 73

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus #4/5 Iowa State on February 24, 2026 , Loss , 59, to, 75

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus UCF on February 21, 2026 , Loss , 71, to, 73

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at West Virginia on February 18, 2026 , Win , 61, to, 56

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Cincinnati on February 15, 2026 , Loss , 65, to, 69

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus #3/3 Houston on February 10, 2026 , Loss , 52, to, 66

The University of Utah Athletics

Utah Men's Basketball Notes - MWC Semifinals

Mountain West Semifinals

Related News

Players Mentioned

Andrew Bogut

Richard Chaney

Tim Drisdom

Marc Jackson

Bryant Markson

Related Videos