Runnin' Utes to Host MVSU on Monday

Monday, November 13

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Mississippi Valley State

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11/12/2017 11:30 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes - Game 2 (MVSU)

Utes to play first of two home games this week

Opponent: Mississippi Valley State
Date/Tipoff: Monday, Nov. 13, 2017 | 7 p.m. MST
Location: Salt Lake City (Huntsman Center)
Television: Pac-12 Networks (Mountain)
TALENT: Daron Sutton (PxP), Dan Belloumini (Color)
Radio: Utah Radio Sports Network
TALENT: Bill Riley (PxP), Jimmy Soto (Color)
Live Stats: Stats

Fast Breaks
• The Utes are coming off an 83-62 season-opening win against Prairie View A&M at the Huntsman Center this past Friday.
• Utah opened the regular season with a victory for the seventh straight year under head coach Larry Krystkowiak.
• The Utes shot 52 percent from the floor, while giving up just 38 percent to the Panthers. Senior David Collette led the way with a 5-for-5 effort from the floor and junior Sedrick Barefield followed converting 8-of-12 on the night.
• Barefield led the team with 22 points in the season-opener, giving Utah a 20-point scorer in the first contest of the season for the third straight season and fifth time out of the past seven seasons.
• The Utes and Delta Devils will be meeting for the first time when the teams take the floor on Monday. Utah is however, 4-0 all-time when facing teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

THE GAME
The Utah Runnin' Utes (1-0) will continue its three-game home stand to open the 2017-18 season, hosting the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (0-1) this Monday, Nov. 13. Tip-off between the Utes and Delta Devils is set for 7 p.m. MST.

COVERING THE RUNNIN' UTES
Monday's contest will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks (Mountain) with Daron Sutton calling the action and Dan Belloumini providing color commentary.

Fans can also follow the action on-line by logging onto Pac-12.com/live or watching via smart phones and tablets using the Pac-12 Now App, which can be downloaded at the Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon Apps Store.

Additionally, the contest can be found on the Utah Sports Radio Network (ESPN 700). Bill Riley will provide play-by-play, with the assistance of in-game analyst Jimmy Soto.

Live stats will be provided for both games with links to each contest found at www.UtahUtes.com or www.StatBroadcast.com.

LAST TIME OUT
Utah opened the regular-season with its seventh straight win under head coach Larry Krystkowiak, downing Prairie View A&M, 83-62, this past Friday evening at the Huntsman Center.

The Runnin' Utes led by just eight points at the break, up 39-31, but opened the second half with a 19-0 run to out pace the Panthers. Junior Sedrick Barefield scored 22 points and senior David Collette followed with 17 points. Senior Tyler Rawson chipped in with 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Utah shot 51.8 percent from the field, while limiting the Panthers to just a 38.6 percent effort. After giving up 48 percent to PVAMU in the first half, the Utes held its season-opening opponent to just a 31.3 percent effort in the second half. PVAMU managed to score eight of the game's final 12 points down the stretch, but all of their points came from the free throw line. PVAMU's last field goal of the second half came with 3:44 still left on the clock.

SCOUTING MVSU
The Delta Devils continue its three-game swing through the Beehive state after falling to BYU, 91-61, in Provo on Saturday. Following its contest against the Runnin' Utes on Monday, MVSU will head up to Logan to face Utah State on Wednesday.

Tereke Eckwood led a trio of double-digit scorers in the loss to the Cougars, pouring in a team-high 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field and a 2-of-4 effort from downtown. Dante Scott followed with 13 points (5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range) and Jamal Watson chipped in with 12 points (6-of-7). Scott led the team on the boards, pulling down six of MVSU's total of 28 rebounds on the evening.

MVSU shot just 37.5 percent from the field, while giving up 58.9 percent to the Cougars. The Delta Devils were outscored 39-18 in the paint, 18-8 in second-chance points and 7-0 in fast break points.

SERIES HISTORY
Monday's contest will mark the first-ever meeting between the Runnin' Utes and Delta Devils. Coach Krystkowiak however, is 1-0 all-time when facing MVSU after downing the Delta Devils 81-57, while coaching at Montana back on Dec. 9, 2005.

BAREFIELD SCORES 22 POINTS IN SEASON-OPENER
Junior Sedrick Barefield led Utah to a season-opening win over Prairie View A&M this past Friday, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, a 1-of-3 effort from downtown and converting 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

Utah has now had a player score at least 20 points in the season-opener for three straight seasons and five of the past seven years. Meanwhile, it was just the second time the Corona, Calif., native scored at least 20 points in a game and the first time since scoring 32 points against San Francisco back on Dec. 22, 2016.

Barefield's 16 first-half points set a new career-high for points through the first 20 minutes of play, surpassing his previous mark of 11 first-half points, which he scored against PVAMU last season on Dec. 17, 2016.

DOWNTOWN WITH RAWSON
Senior Tyler Rawson scored 16 points in the season-opener against Prairie View A&M on Friday, going 5-for-11 from the field overall and a 3-for-6 effort from the three-point arc. He connected on three of Utah's five three-pointers in the game.

His three trey's are the third-most he has tallied in a game, trailing only the four three-pointers he made last season against both Utah Valley (12/06/16) and Stanford (02/04/17).

COLLETTE PERFECT FROM THE FIELD
Senior David Collette was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in Friday's season-opener, finishing the game with 17 points. It marked the second time in his career that he shot a perfect 1.000 field goal percentage and the first since going 8-for-8 against Stephen F. Austin last season (12/25/16).

UTE NEWCOMERS
A total of five Runnin' Ute players made their debuts donning the Red & White this past Friday, which included four newcomers and one redshirt freshman.

Senior Justin Bibbins, who transfered into the U from Long Beach State, led all newcomers with nine points and dishing out four assists in Utah's win over Prairie View A&M. Sophomore Kolbe Caldwell, who transfered in from Shawnee Community College, scored six points on the evening, while redshirt freshman Chris Seeley chipped in with sis points, as well.

Incoming freshman Donnie Tillman pulled down four rebounds and led the team with two blocked shots in his debut, while fellow freshman Christian Popoola made one of his two field goal attempts for two points on the night.

THREE UTES IN DOUBLE-FIGURES
Utah had three players register double-digit scoring efforts in Friday's season-opener, with junior Sedrick Barefield leading the way with 22 points, and seniors David Collette (17 points) and Tyler Rawson (16 points) also posting scoring efforts in double-figures.

It marked the first time since Jan. 21, 2017, that three Utes scored at least 15 points each in a game. Lorenzo Bonam and former Ute Devon Daniels tallied 24 points, while Kyle Kuzma totaled 22 points in Utah's 94-72 win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena last season.

Runnin' UTES TO OPEN SEASON WITH SIX GAMES IN 14 DAYS
Utah will continue its run of six games through the first 14 days of the season when hosting Mississippi Valley State on Monday. The Utes, who are coming off a 21-point win in its season-opener this past Friday, will play Missouri later this week.

The following week, Utah will head to Las Vegas to play Ole Miss in the first game of the MGM Grand Resorts Main Event at T-Mobile Arena. The Utes will close out the tournament against Rice/UNLV before returning home to host Eastern Washington for its sixth game in 14 days.

RUNNIN' UTES TO PARTICIPATE IN BEEHIVE CLASSIC
Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment has partnered with Utah, BYU, Utah State and Weber State to form a new men's college basketball showcase at Vivint Smart Home Arena, beginning in this season.

The Beehive Classic, with Zions Bank as the title sponsor, will feature single-day, round-robin doubleheaders from 2017-19. Utah will open the classic against Utah State in 2017, followed with games against BYU in 2018 and Weber State in 2019.

Utah Picked Seventh in PAC-12 Preseason Media Poll
The Utah men's basketball team has been picked seventh in the 2017-18 Pac-12 men's basketball preseason poll, the league office announced earlier this season. Voted on by various different media members and outlets that cover the league, Utah garnered 129 of a possible 1,794 points in the poll.

Arizona was a near unanimous favorite, receiving 22-of-23 first-place votes and 273 points to land atop the preseason poll. USC was picked to finish second after receiving the other first-place vote and totaled 251 points as the predicted runner-up. UCLA was slotted third with 223 points, followed by Oregon in fourth with 203 points. Stanford rounded out the top five predicted finishers with 182 total points in the poll.

Arizona State was picked just ahead of the Utes in sixth with a total of 146 points and Oregon State followed Utah, picked to finish eighth with 125 points. Colorado tallied 112 points and was predicted to finish ninth, while Washington tallied 71 points to come in 10th. California (46 points) and Washington State (33) rounded out the final two teams in the poll.

UP NEXT
Utah will close out its season-opening three-game home stand this Thursday, Nov. 16, hosting the Missouri Tigers. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. MST inside the Huntsman Center.