Ute Sports

Utah's basketball team tries to get its first win of the season tonight against rival Utah State, which defeated the Utes 66-64 in Logan last season. The home team has won the last seven meetings.

 I had a feature you can read here on freshman Marshall Henderson as well as some football notes.

 The Aggies opened their season 66-60 in Ogden led by Tyler Newbold's 15 points. Utah State has a veteran team and was picked to win the WAC this season.

 Utah fell to Idaho, picked to finish fourth in the WAC, 94-87, in its opener.

 Last year the Utes lost their opener then won five in a row.

 I know the Utes don't like to think of this season as a rebuilding year, but it's hard not to look ahead to the future since they have such a young team.

 The future grew by one more player too this week with Josh Fuller, Idaho's Gatorade Player of Year last year, committing to the Utes.

 He plans to come to Utah, redshirt, then go on a mission.

 "Being a 21-year-old freshman sounds like a plan to me," he said.

 Fuller is coming on an academic scholarship, which he tentatively plans to use for a business management degree.

 He said his decision to come to Utah came down to the Utes' athletic tradition and academic excellence.

 "It fit the dream I had of college," he said.

 His interactions with coach Jim Boylen sealed the deal.

 "What impressed me from the beginning was he could be your friend off the court, but he is really intense on the court and that is what I want," he said.

 Josh Fuller, a 6-foot-7 Gatorade Player of the Year from Idaho, has committed to joining the Utah men's basketball program next season. Fuller averaged 17 points and eight rebounds last year for Madison H.S. in Rexburg, Idaho.

 Fuller is coming to Utah on an academic scholarship, according to his mother, Amber.

 "He's excited, with an exclamation point, exclamation point," she said. "He got the offer in July and we said this was all new to us and he wanted to look at other offers, but Utah is where he felt best."

 Fuller will be the fifth player in the class, joining others who signed letters of intent last week.

 Christian Cox, a walk-on who has split time with Nai Fotu as Derrick Shelby's backup at left end, will start in place of Shelby on Saturday against San Diego State, defensive line coach John Pease said Tuesday.

 Fotu was penciled in as the starter, so things must have changed in the last couple days. Fotu has 16 tackles this season and Cox has 20 this season.

Memo from Utah marketing:

With the holidays approaching, the Utah Alumni Association and Utah Athletics are asking for our fans’ help with a canned food drive, benefitting the Utah Food Bank, as part of Rivalry Week. We are asking all fans who attend the Utah vs. Utah State men’s basketball game on Wednesday to please bring a canned or non-perishable food item to the Huntsman Center. Collection bins will be placed outside the gates to accept donations. 

 A lot of questions were asked during today's MWC teleconference how good TCU is this year.

 Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said he felt it could match up with any team in the country, including teams such as Texas and Florida.

 "I saw firsthand what kind of team they are," he said. "I've been here a lot of years at Utah and this might be the best team we've played in all those years."

  For his part, TCU coach Gary Patterson said he was unhappy with his defense because it gave up a season-high 28 points in the win. 

 He was complimentary of the Utes, believing the rivalry will go back to being much closer in the coming seasons.

 "I was impressed by the integrity and character of the Utah guys, they were in the Sugar Bowl a year ago and things didn't go their way [Saturday] but I was impressed how they handled it...You can tell why they've won a lot of ball games."

 So I guess he's saying the Utes took the thumping nicely.

I know the only way the Utah coaches used the word 'discipline' Saturday was in reference to a lack of it after the Utes were penalized 14 times for 110 yards.

UNLV's Mike Sanford was on the call and was asked why there is a gap between the top teams (Utah, TCU, BYU and Air Force as a 'plus one') and the rest of the league. He said other teams had made a commitment to improve in areas such as facilities, academic centers and so forth except for UNLV.

 "I don't feel like I failed, I just feel like I ran out of time," he said.