The Utah Runnin' Utes (5-6, 12-13) are coming off a huge upset victory over UNLV to finish off the season sweep and travel to San Diego to face the Aztecs (8-4, 19-7) looking for another upset victory. The Aztecs won the first game of the season 70-68 at the Huntsman Center in a game that was much closer than it should have been because of the Aztecs poor free throw shooting. Utah has been on a roll lately, forcing New Mexico into overtime in a game they could have won and beating UNLV pretty convincingly at home. However, the Utes are only 3-5 on the road this season and the Aztecs are 12-1; and Utah has not won in San Diego in 4 years, making this a real challenge for the Utes. The Aztecs are looking for the first season sweep of the Utes since 1982.
The Aztecs have won three straight and at 19-7 are looking to reach their 20th win for the fifth straight season, which would be a school record. After suffering a high ankle sprain against New Mexico, Billy White if finally getting back to 100% and leading the trio of huge forwards for the Aztecs of White, Kawhi Leonard, and Malcolm Thomas. Freshman Leonard was picked as preseason MWC freshman of the year and has twice been picked as MWC player of the week; he leads the Aztecs in scoring and rebounding, averaging near a double double.
Carlon Brown is the man for the Utes and head leads Utah in scoring at 13.8 points per game. He has been dominant in Utah's last two games against New Mexico and UNLV, two of the top four teams in the conference this year. In fact, the Utes swept the season series with UNLV, which isn't an easy feat to accomplish. They also took New Mexico to overtime at the Pit the game before, losing after a controversial call. Of course, all of the MWC referees are terrible so it's usually something you have to factor in, along with all road games being very tough in the Mountain West. Either way, the Utes come into this game playing their best basketball of the season and with a lot of momentum, so they will be ready to play.