Utah looks to extend its perfect start when the Utes face nonconference foe Boston College in the Sunshine Slam tournament on Saturday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Utes (3-0) rolled Bethune-Cookman 86-55 at home last Monday behind a season-high 25 points from David Jenkins Jr.
Branden Carlson, who is averaging a team-high 16.3 points, added 14 points and nine rebounds in a game Utah led from the 17:41 mark of the opening half.
After defeating its first three opponents by an average of 26 points, the Utes feel that they are ready to face some stiffer competition.
“When we get to Florida we’ll play a couple of better teams, but I think we’re doing well,” Jenkins told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I just think we need to fine-tune a few things and just keep building that chemistry.”
BC aims to bounce back after taking its first loss of first-year coach Earl Grant’s tenure as the Eagles (3-1) fell 57-49 at Rhode Island on Wednesday.
The loss came despite a career night for Eagles forward T.J. Bickerstaff, who totaled career highs with 22 points and 15 rebounds. BC’s previous leading scorer DeMarr Langford Jr. had a season-low two points on 1-of-8 shooting.
The Eagles shot just 25 percent (14-of-56) from the floor in the loss to the Rams.
“A bad shot is like a turnover, … so I think that’s always going to be a challenge to get your team to try to understand that,” Grant said earlier in the season.
This will be the first meeting between BC and Utah since March 19, 2004, in the NCAA Tournament, when the sixth-seeded Eagles pulled out a 58-51 first-round win over the 11th-seeded Utes in Milwaukee, Wis.
–Field Level Media
