Utah Bringing Refreshed Mindsets To Rivalry Matchup Against No. 23 BYU

Mar 7, 2025, 4:52 PM | Updated: 5:04 pm

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY—In the final regular season game of the year, the Runnin’ Utes will travel 50 miles down I-15 to take on the No. 23 BYU Cougars.

With the regular-season finale set to take place inside the Marriott Center, the Runnin’ Utes will look to record its first conference road win there since Feb. 8, 2006.

Gym time 💪 pic.twitter.com/5h2RgtLPVM

— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) March 7, 2025

As a team, Utah is 17-10 all-time when playing BYU in the last game of the regular-season and 6-6 when those games have been on the road.

Of those 27 games, Utah has won both that went into OT and lost the lone game where BYU was ranked.

Since Tuesday night’s loss to West Virginia, Utah announced Alex Jensen as the program’s head coach.

Alex Jensen Zoom called with players, coaches

“I talked to him first thing yesterday morning, and I had a great talk with him,” interim head coach Josh Eilert shared. “We had a great conversation and he’s leaning on me to lead the program.”

Following the announcement of Jensen’s hire, the players had the opportunity to talk with him after yesterday’s practice. Though not in-person, it was still beneficial for Jensen to meet and interact with them.

Runnin’ Utes welcome 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙭 𝙅𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙣 back home as head coach.

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— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) March 6, 2025

“The guys had a Zoom call with him and got the chance to have some face time with him, obviously, he would much rather be face to face, but that was best given the situation,” Eilert shared. “He was just super supportive of what we’re going through right now and understands it’s a hard situation for everybody involved.”

Given the unique timing of the hire, Jensen will continue to serve the Dallas Mavericks through the remainder of the season. However, his message was about staying focused on the task at hand and finishing the season the right way.

“He knows that right now is a sensitive situation being named head coach when the regular season isn’t even complete,” Eilert said. “He just wants the best for everybody in the program as we finish the season. He doesn’t have any intention to interfere with what we have going on right now and I think that’s the perfect way to handle it.”

Given all that the players have been through over the last 10 days, that vote of support and respect for what they’re going through was received quite well by players and coaches.

Fresh mind, fresh legs, focus on the game plan

“It was good timing to have a good day off, I told them to stay out of the gym and to enjoy themselves, do that for a day and we’ll come back and regroup,” Eilert shared.

In the final weeks of the season, rest days can be just as beneficial as hard practices. Following a tough loss, Eilert preferred his players get some rest to prepare for Saturday and next week’s Big 12 Tournament.

“At this point of the season, we try to avoid contact, and try to save as much of our legs as possible,” Eilert shared. “We’re going to go into Saturday with a fresh mind and fresh legs, knowing that we’re going to turn around and travel on Sunday.”

With Saturday’s matchup against the No. 23 BYU Cougars, the two teams have been on different trajectories since the Utes beat them in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

“They’re playing as good as anyone in the country, and they’ve been pretty steady,” Eilert shared. “We went through some rocky times here in the last few weeks with what we’re dealing with, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to come out with 100% discipline and effort in what we’re trying to do.”

With the rivalry game being played on the road, there is tremendous anticipation for the contest and environment. Still, Eilert and the players will remain focused on the game plan, and allow the energy in the arena to take care of itself.

“More than anything, you put together a game plan and you work to execute that game plan,” Eilert said. “You don’t make the game more than what it is. The environment is going to be great and the crowd’s going to be hyped up, we felt that here in Salt Lake, so the players know what they’re playing for.”

Since Utah’s 73-72 victory, Utah has gone 5-8 and fallen down the Big 12 standings with their recent results. Meanwhile, BYU has gone 11-2 in that same period. If the Utes want to pull off another rivalry upset, it will be much tougher than the first time around.

The BYU-Utah all-time series

BYU and Utah have been playing since 1908. They were conference rivals from 1923 to 2011, most notably in the WAC and Mountain West, before they split for the PAC-12 and WCC, respectively. Now, they are back in the same league, and the platform is one of the best hoop leagues in the land.

BYU leads the all-time series 134-131, with Utah winning each of the last two matchups.