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
Runnin' Utes Host Grand Valley State In Exhibition Saturday
11/3/2008 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah men's basketball team opens the 2008-09 season Saturday with a home exhibition contest against Grand Valley State. The game tips off at 2 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tickets are available now at www.UtahUtes.com or by calling 801-581-UTIX.
"We are looking forward to taking on a quality opponent this weekend and we are anxious to get out and play in front of our home crowd," said Utah head coach Jim Boylen. "Last season GVSU was 36-1 and everyone knows that they beat Michigan State at home in a preseason game. This will be a big challenge for us and it should be a competitive game. It will give us an opportunity to look at our team, evaluate where we are and try to improve."
Utah enters its second season under the leadership of head coach Jim Boylen, whose focus continues to be defense, rebounding and the running game. The team blocked 113 shots last year, the sixth-highest team total in school history, led by senior Luke Nevill's 1.61 blocks per game, which topped the conference. After improving to No. 73 in field goal percentage defense from a No. 322 finish in 2006-07, Boylen's goal is to bring the team into the top 20 in that category.
The seven-foot two-inch Nevill, a native of Perth, Australia, enters the season as a Preseason All-Mountain West Conference selection following his second-team All-MWC effort in 2007-08. The Perth, Australia native is already ranked 19th all-time in scoring at Utah. He will look to raise his field goal percentage from an already solid .535, good enough for third in the MWC last year, nearer to the .637 he posted as a sophomore, second only to Roy Hibbert of Georgetown among centers across the nation.
Grand Valley State is a member of NCAA Div. II and belongs to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). GVSU is coming off a record-setting 2007-08 season in which the Lakers finished with a 36-1 record, the first No. 1 ranking in school history and a berth in the Elite Eight for the second straight year. Grand Valley State also won a GLIAC Championship and their third consecutive GLIAC North Division title.
The top returning scorer for the Lakers is senior guard/forward Pete Trammell, who averaged 10.2 points per game last year while pulling down 3.5 rebounds and handing out 2.3 assists.
Saturday's contest will mark the first meeting between the Runnin' Utes and Grand Valley State. It will be the first game of the season for both squads and is the only exhibition Utah will play. The Runnin' Utes will open up the regular season Saturday, Nov. 15, as they play host to Div. II Southwest Baptist at 2 p.m. at the Huntsman Center.
Players Mentioned
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