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Of all the players who will participate in tonight's BYU-Utah basketball game at the sold-out Marriott Center, perhaps BYU forward Josh Sharp knows the rivalry the best. After all, Sharp was once a Ute.

However, the senior from Alpine, who redshirted the 2008-09 season at Utah before a church mission to Houston, says he doesn't know a single player on Utah's current team.

"There is literally no one there now from when I was there," Sharp said. "So as far as that goes, there is no extra motivation."

Sharp and his wife, Jordan, recently had a baby girl, who they named Jaycee. Playing Utah this week has given him a chance to reflect back on his decision to transfer to BYU when he returned home from his mission.

"I definitely don't have any regrets," he said. "I love it here, and my teammates are awesome."

If coach Dave Rose and players Tyler Haws, Kyle Collinsworth and Sharp said it once on Tuesday night when they met the media to talk about the game, they said it 100 times: Rebounding will be of utmost importance.

"I think a huge key for us is to rebound. We've talked a lot about rebounding, and we know that if we can get a stop and finish the stop with a rebound, then we can get out in transition and play the game that we want to and get open shots. So I think it starts with rebounding," said Haws.

"Rebounding is probably the No. 1 key, just keeping them off the glass and getting into the break," said Sharp.

"Keeping their guys in front of us, especially Delon [Wright], keeping him in front, don't let him get in the paint and create, and then just finding their shooters and rebounding. Like Ty said, rebounding is a key, for sure," said Collinsworth.

The Utes and Cougars played on Saturday, Dec. 14, last year, and Utah rolled to an easy 81-64 victory to snap a seven-game losing skid to BYU. The Utes entered the game with an 8-1 record, while the Cougars were 8-3.

I asked Haws and Collinsworth whether they are using that big loss as motivation for this game.

Haws just smiled and said, "yeah."

Collinsworth said every loss motivates him the next time around.

"No one likes to lose," he said. "If it was a one-point game, a 50-point game, a loss is a loss, so I never like to lose. Every game we play, we want to win, and this is another game, and we want to win. That's how we approach it."

Add it all up, and it should be a fun, entertaining game at the Marriott tonight.

"There is nothing like it when the Marriott Center is full," Haws said. "I think it is one of the best, if not the best place to play in the country when it gets rocking. I have loved every second of it when the fans are right there. It almost feels like a sixth man on our team, at times."