Utah opens big week of local rivalries with game vs. Southern Utah

Utah can earn some in-state bragging rights this week.

The Utes (5-2) host Southern Utah on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City before welcoming their biggest rival, No. 14 BYU, on Saturday.

The games are part of a six-game homestand for Utah.

Utah enters this fun week of Beehive State basketball, winning back-to-back games against Saint Mary’s (78-71) and Hawaii (79-66).

The Utes led by five at the half against Hawaii before blowing it open in the second half while building a 16-point lead. Branden Carlson scored 17 with six rebounds, Hunter Erickson added 15 points, Keba Keita contributed 14 points and seven rebounds and Cole Bajema had 10 points.

Utah shot 52.6 percent while holding the previously unbeaten Rainbow Warriors to 42.1 percent shooting.

“It was kind of a choppy and uneven game, I guess you could say,” Utah coach Craig Smith said. “I thought we did some really, really good things and some not so good things. Hawaii is a good team, like they’re going to have a great year.”

In its most recent outing, SUU (2-5) lost its second WAC game of the season to Seattle, 73-63.

The Thunderbirds trailed by nine at halftime before falling behind by as many as 17 points in the second half.

Zion Young scored a team-high 14 points for SUU. Prophet Johnson added 12 points, Chazz Hutchison totaled 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks and Dominique Ford drained three 3-pointers en route to 10 points.

SUU struggled from the field as a team, though. The Thunderbirds shot just 38.9 percent overall and 25 percent from 3-point territory.

“We don’t know what we don’t know. And right now we are figuring out how tough it is to win at this level,” SUU coach Rob Jeter said. “But we are showing glimpses of how good we could really be.”

—Field Level Media