The biggest frontline that the University of Utah basketball team can offer, one featuring All-Pac-12 center Branden Carlson and promising freshman forward Keba Keita, has been used sparingly through 26 games by Craig Smith.
As the Utes prepare to face No. 8 Arizona and its overwhelming frontline tandem of Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, the second-year head coach was willing to admit that now feels like the right time to unleash Carlson and Keita together.
“Yeah, I would anticipate that happening,” Smith said Tuesday morning during his weekly press conference. “I would definitely anticipate that happening. Their frontline is elite in every way, shape, and form. Tubelis is tremendous, he has been over the last year and a half. Ballo is incredible and much improved. They play very, very well off of each other.
“It would be shocking if we don’t play any combination of our three big guys together.”
How to watch
Utah at No. 8 Arizona
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Tipoff: 8 p.m. MT
Smith’s third big guy is 6-foot-9 Ben Carlson, who is a safe bet to start for the 27th time Thursday night at the McKale Center. Ben Carlson, though, is more of a stretch-4 with the ability to step outside and knock down a jumper, whereas Keta is a rim-to-rim guy with the ability to protect the rim.
Keta shined in the first meeting with the Wildcats, an 81-66 Utah upset win on Dec. 1 at the Huntsman Center, finishing with 11 rebounds in 19 minutes. Tubelis and Ballo combined for 42 points that night, but it took them 31 shot attempts to get there. Neither hit their rebounding average, while Branden Carlson finished with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting in just 26 minutes.
Working with a short rotation with Gabe Madsen out at least another two weeks with a high-ankle sprain, Smith has veered towards calling Keta off the bench early to replace Branden Carlson, pairing him with Ben Carlson. That typically does not last very long, though, and the general course of action when the two Carlsons are not on the floor together is to go small with 6-foot-6 Marco Anthony paired with Branden Carlson.
NBA takes over the Huntsman Center
With the NBA All-Star Game happening Sunday night at Vivint Arena, a slew of related events are happening around Salt Lake City, including at the Huntsman Center beginning Friday with the Celebrity Game.
The league arrived at the iconic college basketball venue on Sunday morning to begin preparations, meaning Utah has had to alter some logistics, but it hasn’t been anything too taxing for Smith and his team.
“It’s busy up here, there’s no doubt about it,” Smith said. “Moving and shaking all over the place. The only modification really, and it hasn’t affected our practice times, our locker room or anything like that, is we don’t have access to the Huntsman Center and we’ll practice in the women’s practice facility.”
The women’s gym is housed at the Huntsman Basketball Facility, just like the men’s gym, which is being used for All-Star purposes this week. Utah is slated to practice Wednesday morning, then fly to Arizona later in the day.
The Huntsman Center’s three winter tenants, the two basketball teams and the gymnastics team, are all on the road this weekend, and all of them are coincidentally competing in Arizona.
Can Utah get back on the NCAA Tournament bubble?
With a NET ranking of 52 and a record of 4-8 against Quadrants 1 and 2 combined, the Utes are currently not projected to make the NCAA Tournament, but opportunities are coming.
Arizona and Arizona State are both Quad 1 chances. If Utah can somehow get both of those games, the resume gets a major shot in the arm, and talk of the bubble becomes very legitimate with No. 9 UCLA (Q1) and USC (Q2) coming to the Huntsman Center late next week.
ESPN bracketology pioneer Joe Lunardi had Utah in his “Next Four Out” category on Tuesday morning. That level of optimism is not the norm among other NCAA Tournament forecasters, but the fact remains, opportunities have arrived for these Utes.
For what it’s worth, Smith has been down this road before with Utah State from 2019-21. All three of those Aggies teams were on the bubble down the stretch. Two of them won the Mountain West Tournament to gain the league’s automatic bid, and the third rightfully received an at-large bid.
“To fans, supporters and people around the country, of course these things get magnified,” Smith said. “It’s not everyday that you get to play Quad 1 games. At the same time, maybe I’m too old school, but what am I going to do, prepare harder? No, I treat every game like this. Every game truly matters.
“We have a great opportunity. Great moments are born out of great opportunity and we have four Quad 1 games and a Quad 2 game left, not to mention the Pac-12 Tournament. It’ll be exciting, it’ll be a great challenge, but one I know our guys are ready for.”