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It's too late now. Even Chris Hill can't help.

Don't try asking Utah's athletic director for tickets to Saturday's game between No. 7 Arizona and No. 13 Utah. Some have already tried.

"The lucky ones started out early in the year," Hill said. "It's a hard ticket."

There's Jazz and ski lift tickets on sale by the dozens on Craigslist, but only one man posted an ad for the biggest Utes game of the year. If you're hunting on Flash Seats or StubHub, be ready to dish out at least $50 per for upper bowl seats, but likely a lot more the closer gametime approaches.

This one is going to be as big as it gets at the Huntsman Center.

"I don't think there's any question what it's going to be like Saturday," Larry Krystkowiak said. "I think it's going to be a little bit … crazy."

Sellout crazy. It was a familiar energy in the glory years of the '90s, assistant Tommy Connor said, and it's been good to get it back in recent seasons.

"It feels like the old days," he said. "It's fun to have that much excitement again."

Ever since the Pac-12 schedule revealed Utah had a date with Arizona on Senior Day, the Utah athletics staff has been working on planning the logistics. But even they couldn't have predicted the caliber of the matchup: It's widely seen as perhaps the Pac-12 game of the year, with the Utes (22-5, 12-3) looking for a share of first place against the Wildcats (25-3, 13-2). With top-15 rankings and a prime-time spot on ESPN, you'd have to go way back to find a regular season game with this much hype.

Steve Pyne, the events and facilities manager for Utah athletics, has seen a few doozies in his 34-year career. In the Mountain West days, BYU, New Mexico and Wyoming always generated some hype. Utah's upset over No. 1 Alabama in 2002 ranks up there.

But Utah is hoping to match the fervor — if not the result — of the 1996 New Year's Eve matchup between No. 7 Utah and No. 2 Wake Forest, when future No. 1 NBA Draft pick Tim Duncan scored 23 points to future No. 2 pick Keith Van Horn's 24. The Demon Deacons prevailed at Huntsman Center, 70-59, but oh, how the crowd roared.

"Back in those days, you only played six people the whole game, so I don't think those two came out at all," Pyne said. "It was packed, and it was loud. That game really lived up to everything it was supposed to be."

Saturday's game may not have a player who matches Duncan's stature as a pro, but there will be plenty of future pros on hand. Pac-12 analyst and former UCLA star Don MacLean estimated five or six players on the floor are NBA prospects at the moment, which may be the most of any matchup in the Pac-12 this year.

Fran Fraschilla, who visited Huntsman Center as a coach at New Mexico and will provide color commentary for ESPN during Saturday's broadcast, said the intrigue for basketball observers is seeing two elite defensive teams with the potential to be dancing deep into the NCAA tournament.

"They mirror each other in many ways: they're high-level defensive teams, they mirror the toughness of their coaches," Fraschilla said. "I've always said the Huntsman Center is one of the special places in basketball. Those fans are going to be rabid."

Utah marketing is giving the fans some tools to work with: The department is handing out 5,000 red lightsticks in the lower bowl to light up the stands in pregame introductions. Delon Wright and Dallin Bachynski will be honored playing in their last home game, and marketing director Jennifer White said Utah will give away 2,000 "Swipe Wright" T-shirts with a caricature of Wright's face on them.

Pyne said Utah is ready for a court-storming should it be necessary. Utah athletics staff has met with student groups, advising them of sportsmanship rules and trying to avoid a situation like Kansas faced with Kansas State stormed the floor earlier in the week. The game will feature double the security staff and police officers.

Utah students are also rehashing a '90s tradition of camping outside the Huntsman Center, forming a small tent village — already with monikers like "Camp Huntsman" and "Krystkowiak-ville" — to wait in line for the best seats. Krystkowiak and the basketball team will make several visits leading up to tipoff.

While the energy around the game may compare with the 1996 Wake Forest matchup, Connor said there's no comparison: The conference stakes of this one make it the biggest game he can remember in his time as a player or assistant, dating back to 1986.

"That was a big game, but this is a conference game," he said. "It means a lot more when you're playing for first place."

Throughout his tenure, Krystkowiak has attempted to bridge the historical gap back to Utah's greatest basketball moments: the national championship team in 1944, the Jack Gardner era, the Rick Majerus years. He's tried to create excitement through a sense of history, bonding the modern Utes with the past.

This weekend, if all goes according to plan, if the fans show up, and the Utes do their part, it will go a long way to establishing its own precedent.

"It's a different time, with all the TV networks and times that give people the opportunity to stay at home," Pyne said. "But I think the atmosphere the team and our staff have created inside the Huntsman Center is as good or better than we had in the '90s."

Only those with a ticket will be able to find out for sure.

Twitter: @kylegoon —

No. 7 Arizona at No. 13 Utah

Jon M. Huntsman Center

Tipoff • 7 p.m.

TV • ESPN

Radio • ESPN 700 AM

Records • Arizona (25-3, 13-2); Utah (22-5, 12-3)

Series history • Arizona leads, 30-28

Last meeting • Jan. 17, 2015 at Arizona; Arizona 69, Utah 51

About the Wildcats • Arizona leads the Pac-12 in defensive points per possession, No. 4 overall at 0.859, and has held 17 opponents under 60 points this year. … Bob Cousy award candidate T.J. McConnell leads Arizona in assists (6.0 apg) and steals (2.1 spg) and is one of only three seniors on the roster.

About the Utes • Utah has won 18 straight home games, the last loss coming to Arizona on Feb. 19, 2014. … The last time the Utes beat the Wildcats was in the 1998 NCAA tournament, in a 76-51 win. … National award candidate Delon Wright leads Utah in scoring (14.2 ppg), assists (5.3 apg) and steals (2.3 spg).