KANSAS CITY - Alex Jensen isn’t pretending Utah’s preseason outlook is anything other than a challenge.
The Utes were picked to finish last in the Big 12 basketball preseason poll, and Jensen said Tuesday at Big 12 basketball media days that he has already turned that into a talking point with his team.
“It’s easy motivation, because it’s not fake, it’s real,” Jensen said. “Like, this is where we’re picked, and it should be motivation for (the players). It is for me.”
That blunt message fits a program still trying to climb back after a rough opening chapter to Jensen’s tenure. In his first season at his alma mater, Utah went 10-22 overall and 2-16 in league play, a year Jensen described as both a “struggle” and a “learning experience.”
Jensen said one of the biggest takeaways from that debut season was just how unforgiving the conference is.
“Living through where Utah basketball has been and where it is now, the one thing (that stands out from Year 1) is how good the Big 12 is,” Jensen said. “There’s never an easy night off, the coaching is phenomenal. The Big 12 is a gauntlet, and now we know more of what to expect there.
“... (College is) a very different brand of basketball (compared to the NBA or Europe), a different cadence. Having gone through it for a year, I think we’re much more prepared to be successful.”
That next step will come with a new look. Utah’s second year under Jensen will feature a rebuilt roster built around transfers and international players, with former Utah Valley standout Jackson Holcombe at the center of it. Holcombe averaged 16.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in Orem last season.
Holcombe said Jensen’s honesty about where the program stands played a big part in his decision.
“I just felt like when I was choosing what school to go to, Coach Jensen did a great job of taking ownership for the season that they had, and also saying that it wasn’t going to be the case (again), that we were going to continue to grow and build,” Holcombe said. “I just liked the belief and the goal that he had for me as a player, and as a program for Utah.”
For Holcombe, the job is bigger than just improving the record. Utah’s history is part of the pitch, and part of the pressure.
“We know that we have a lot of fans who are used to winning, who have seen a lot of Ute wins,” Holcombe said. “Our goal is to just earn their trust back and get back to the same standard eventually.”
Jensen, meanwhile, said he still leans on the lessons he learned from Rick Majerus, the coach under whom he starred at Utah.
“In my whole coaching career, there’s been very few days that go by where a phrase or something I learned from him doesn’t cross my mind,” Jensen said. “There wasn’t a better teacher in the game, but he kept it simple.
“I tell these guys, where I excelled with Coach Majerus was that it was easy for me, because I knew what to do in every situation. That’s one thing I’m trying to replicate with these guys to know, in every situation, what’s expected of them.”
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The defensive effort should offer some encouragement after a rough run, especially against a Utah offense that had to work for much of the night. Still, the bigger issue remains the same: Colorado has narrowed its margin for error to almost nothing, and the path to bowl eligibility now runs through a very difficult finish. The Buffaloes have to get things turned quickly, because the clock on their season is no longer their friend. [Read more 🡒]
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The one piece everyone will watch closely is the guest picker, the weekend celebrity tasked with making winner selections during the shows signature segments. Utah has had some memorable names in that chair before, from Ty Burrell and John Stockton to Frank Caliendo, Steve Smith and Alex Smith, and this time the conversation is centered on a pair of possible Utes-connected choices who would each bring a different kind of buzz to campus. [Read more 🡒]
Utah Escaped Colorado With One Brutal Warning Sign
Colorado pushed No. 11 Utah to the edge in a 27-24 finish, and the closer look afterward showed a team that had enough good pieces to make the Utes sweat. Colorado got strong work up front, with the offensive line holding up well in protection, while the defense had stretches where the line and linebackers created real disruption. JaQuail Smith was one of the most noticeable sparks on the afternoon, giving Colorado a versatile threat and helping keep the game within reach.
Still, the narrow loss also underscored how thin the margin is against a ranked opponent on the road. Turnovers and secondary lapses kept showing up at the worst times, and those issues are the kind that can overshadow otherwise promising stretches from both sides of the ball. For Utah, the takeaway is less about style points than survival, because the Utes left with a win and a warning sign that the gap between controlling a game and almost losing it can be razor thin. [Read more 🡒]