After crushing their first opponent in the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament8212;Southern University, 88-488212;the Runnin’ Utes will continue their home play, hosting Seattle University tonight at 7 p.m., before heading to Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Seattle will face the Utes having won its past two games, one against Weber State University on Sunday, and the other a hard- fought 85-84 upset win against Fresno State on Thursday.
“They’re a good team, and they’re coming off a big win against Fresno,” said head coach Jim Boylen. “They should be a challenge.”
Seattle has an experienced core of players, led by 6-foot-10-inch power forward-center Charles Garcia.
“Garcia is a big-time athlete and will be a tough matchup at either the 3, 4 or the 5,” Boylen said.
Garcia leads all Seattle scorers, averaging 24 points per game along with 10 rebounds and is complemented by two smaller forwards, Gavin Gilmore and Aaron Broussard. Broussard has proven to be a scoring threat as well and is the second leading scorer on the team, averaging 14.3 points per game.
Boylen said Seattle presents a challenge in that every player on the team is surprisingly athletic and able to run the floor well.
“They’re athletic, athletic, athletic,” Boylen said. “They have speed, quickness and length, and they play in an up-tempo style. It should be a heck of a game.”
The Utes will look to their duo of David Foster and Jason Washburn to slow down Garcia but will need to play tough transition defense in order to slow down the Seattle attack.
“We struggled with our transition defense early on,” said senior Kim Tillie. “But we’ve worked hard on it, and I think we’ll be ready.”
The game should prove to be a significant change of pace from the Utes’ victory Saturday, in which the Jaguars showed little fight and quickly allowed the Utes to take control of the game.
That game saw every healthy Utah player on the court, and one benefit of the blowout win was that it allowed Boylen to rest his starters, who should be fresh and ready to go against Seattle.
Of the Utah starting five, only Marshall Henderson played more than 20 minutes, and Tillie was able to rest for the entire second half.
Seattle has played an aggressive early season schedule for its school, and Boylen said it will come into Salt Lake City with an attitude that the Utes will have to match.
“They’ll come in here thinking they can win, and that’s what they should be thinking,” Boylen said. “And we’ll be ready.”
Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. The game will not be televised but will be broadcast on KALL 700 AM.
Mike MangumSophomore center David Foster powers in for a layup over Utah State?s Tai Wesley. The Utes host Seattle University tonight