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When Larry Krystkowiak saw Rick Hill early last week, he was still hoping for a miracle.

The entire Utah basketball team still was hoping — Rick's son, assistant coach Andy Hill, more than any of them.

But when Krystkowiak walked into Rick Hill's hospital room, he also saw a proud man — a man in pain and nearing the end.

"That's the thing I think of, is that he doesn't have to struggle anymore," Krystkowiak said Sunday evening. "He was a prideful man. You could see him frustrated, you could see him in his hospital bed just kind of angry. That's not how he wanted to be."

Hill died Saturday morning, and a deeply reverent and somber tone carried into the Utes' game against Cal the next night.

The Huntsman Center briefly seemed to serve as a church, as thousands stood silently in respect of Hill, to whom Utah had dedicated its season.

Andy Hill grieved but still held his place on the bench, helping coach Utah's defense out of an early defensive malaise in an eventual 76-61 win over the Golden Bears. Senior Delon Wright said afterward he was hopeful that the team had done its part to help Hill.

"It was tough to lose a person in our family," he said. "We're all family. To see Coach Hill down, we just tried to lift him up and be there for him."

Rick Hill's battle with a brain tumor — an affliction Krystkowiak described as "one-in-a-million" form of cancer — made it hard to be present at games. He attended Utah's win over UCLA, its biggest victory of the season, despite being in

But Hill's presence has weighed on Utah's season in other ways: Utah wears the initials "RH" on the collar its jerseys, just a few inches away from each player's heart. When Utah hosted a teddy bear toss last month to collect stuffed animals for cancer patients, Hill wasn't at the game but also wasn't far from mind.

On Sunday after the buzzer, a number of Hill's loved ones — his wife, his children, his brother and others -filed into the locker room, and thanked the Utes for their support. Krystkowiak and his team said it was a deeply meaningful moment, and that though Hill's fight is over, Utah's season is still dedicated to him.

The Utes plan to play with the understanding that Rick Hill is still watching, from a different vantage point and no longer in pain.

"It was great because we all are a big family, and we're there to support the family in tough times," Jakob Poeltl said. "We just are trying to be there for Rick. I feel like he's still around. We dedicated the season to him, and now we gotta keep going hard and finish the season."

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