Freshman guard Parker Van Dyke has been waiting for Saturday’s rivalry game for a long time.
Growing up, the East High graduate’s Saturdays were often spent in the Huntsman Center cheering on the Utes. As such, Van Dyke understands the importance that the rivalry has in the community.
“It’s been that game on the schedule that I have circled and have been trying to prepare for a long time, pretty much my whole life,” Van Dyke says.
Van Dyke will get his first shot at Brigham Young when the Utes welcome the Cougars to the Huntsman Center Saturday night.
Sophomore forward Jordan Loveridge is also a Utah native and got to experience his first rivalry game last season.
“It’s a different type of game,” Loveridge says. “The fans are fighting for bragging rights. It feels like a playoff game, it’s fun.”
The match up will mark the 255th time that the two programs have faced off on the hardwood. BYU has won seven straight and 11 of the past 12 in the series. The last time the Utes beat BYU was January of 2009, when Van Dyke was still in middle school.
The Cougars come into Saturday’s contest sporting an 8-3 record with their only losses coming against ranked opponents.
On average the Cougars put up a shot within 11 seconds of the shot clock, a mark that leads the nation. The Utes are expecting a fast-paced game.
“They run, but we like to run,” sophomore guard Brandon Taylor says. “We know we have to stop them in transition. That will probably be a big key.”
Taylor’s backcourt mate Delon Wright is looking forward to the up-tempo game.
“I like fast-paced, I don’t like it when teams slow it down,” Wright says. “I think it will be fun to play against a team that likes to push it too.”
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak doesn’t want his team to change who they are against the Cougars but is emphasizing the importance of rebounding against a good transition team.
“We aren’t going to go in with the intention of slowing it down,” Krystkowiak says. “They play uptempo but I think we have shown the ability to do the same thing. They are a great offensive rebounding team so before we can think about pushing the tempo we have to worry about securing defensive rebounds.”
Both the Cougars and Utes look different than when they played each other a year ago in a hard-fought 61-58 BYU victory in Provo.
Only Loveridge, Dallin Bachynski, and Renan Lenz saw time for the Utes in last year’s contest. Taylor was on the team but didn’t get his number called against the Cougars.
“They didn’t get to see who I was, and they haven’t seen anyone else who we have on this team, except Jordan [Loveridge],” Taylor says. “So I am excited as a team to go out and just play.”
It will be Utah’s first glimpse of the freshman Cougar center Eric Mika. The former Lone Peak High star has proven to be a force down low in the early season, averaging 14.3 points to go along with 6.1 rebounds. Utah has used a big man rotation so far this year and Krystkowiak will look to Lenz, Bachynski, and Jeremy Olsen to try and slow Mika.
“I know how big it is for Utah fans to finally get a win against BYU,” Wright says. “I think it’s finally the year, hopefully it’s the year.”
Utah and BYU tip off at 8:00 p.m. Saturday.
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