Gordon Monson: BYU got the hype, but the Utes had something else in rivalry game

Hold on a minute here.

Wasn’t this supposed to be the year, despite some occasional indications to the contrary, that BYU basketball had a new infusion of talent — I mean, future NBA ballers — and Utah was thought to be a little down, a little out? Wasn’t this the season when BYU was thought to have fresh and fantastic (and expensive) coaching, even stealing some of that mentoring off the Utes’ bench, additionally headlining the hiring of a boss from the Phoenix Suns who was in the running for NBA head coaching jobs, and Utah had a lead dog whose presence and imperfection had worn Utah fans more than a bit thin?

Yeah, sure, the Utes had shown some life of late, and each side came in with just a 2-3 record in league, but that was simply a matter of the Cougars getting their wheels and axles properly pumped, greased and aligned, right?

Wrong.

All of the above might have, could have played out in front of a raucous rivalry crowd, illustrated plainly for everyone to see. But it didn’t. The Utes had one obvious advantage, a thunderous one as it turned out, and that was the building in which the game was played — the Huntsman Center.

The thunder clapped loud on Saturday night, Utah benefiting from a red storm in an overtime game, by the count of 73-72.

Both teams started their first contest played against one another as members of the Big 12 — and … what, their 265th, their thousandth, their zillionth in their longstanding series? — with nerves out, synapses jangled, each clearly aware of the importance of the outcome, each shooting as though they were wearing oven mitts.

A kind analysis of the first half would conclude that strong defense was being thrown all over the floor directly into the faces, the midsections, the arms, the legs and kneecaps of the other guys by both the blue and the red here, leading to a 30-27 margin favoring the Cougars.

A less kind analysis would surmise that neither one of these teams — and collectively speaking — was impressing anyone other than maybe Mom and Dad with their offensive performances. Everybody else was left to gawk at the inefficiency. BYU shot 32 percent, Utah 33 percent.

With any luck, the second half would be more pleasing to the eyes.

It was and it wasn’t.

The pace and the ball movement picked up, as did the scoring.

A 12-2 run by the Utes gave them the lead a fistful of minutes in, and Ezra Ausar’s power moves down low followed by multiple flushes — 14 points at that juncture, 12 in the first five second-stanza minutes — put Utah up by four. Ausar went on to dominate, totaling 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting. He was significant for the Utes.

Still, much of the rest of the game looked like one of those old western cartoons where two or more characters would get in a fight in front of a saloon, a cloud of dust kicking up, with stars and exclamation points spinning out of the cloud, and then, as the dust cleared, bumps and lumps would grow out of everyone’s assorted body parts.

Yeah, that was this. Which made for an exciting, competitive game, a deal that was far less than attractive, but a proper Big 12 brawl to the finish. BYU might complain that the Cougars only received from the refs 10 foul shots, making by their own fault just four. Utah got 32 free throws.

Either way, AD Tom Holmoe didn’t commandeer the postgame press room, claiming that the game was stolen from BYU by the officials. Coach Kevin Young has called for his players to focus on committing fewer fouls after previous games, and they didn’t listen here. In fact, at times, they were hacking away on purpose because the Utes struggled to make their assortment of attempts.

What happened was the teams traded baskets through to the end of regulation, Utah taking advantage of hammers around the hoop, especially from Ausar, who was too much of a force for BYU to handle.

In overtime … the Cougars went up, Ausar attempted to keep the Utes afloat, making shots, making and missing free throws. Missed foul shots really were a difficult thing for Utah. It hit only 53 percent of them. Egor Demin’s basket gave BYU a three-point lead, but Hunter Erickson, a former Cougar, hit a bomb, tying it at 70.

The final minute saw BYU’s Richie Saunders drive for a layup; Erickson make one of two free throws. Saunders then turned the ball over, setting up two more free throws for Erickson, who tied it at 72, then gave the Utes the lead.

Again, with 11 seconds left, the Cougars had the chance to slam the lid. They could not. Dawson Baker missed an off-balance shot, the ball bouncing out of bounds with six seconds remaining. Then, a foul against Utah put Trevin Knell on the line. He missed the front end, Utah ball with five seconds left. Two missed Utah foul shots gave BYU … what’s this? … one more chance to win. A Demin drive and sky-ball at long last sealed the outcome.

A conclusion at game’s end is that the home team was the superior squad on this night. Whether the Utes are actually the better of the two teams is yet to be determined. What is certain two-thirds of the way through January is that neither one of these outfits is particularly good. Much improvement is needed, all around. Anybody unwilling to admit that is selling rubber crutches.

In truth, not a soul saw overall greatness in the Huntsman on this occasion. If BYU has NBA talent — either playing on the floor or head coaching from the bench — it is too embryonic at present to notice. What every soul had to see was a Utah team that hung in and ultimately, despite its shortcomings, found a way to finish in the middle of the aforementioned storm.

Toughness is what won this game, that and the effort of Mr. Ausar, not talent, projected and promised or otherwise. Utah stepped out of that cloud, bumps, lumps and all, to win the night. And in a rivalry game, that was satisfying enough.