Davies dismissed for remainder of the season

#3 BYU (27-2, 13-1 MWC) announced yesterday that starting center Brandon Davies has been dismissed from the team for the remainder due to an unspecified honor code violation. Davies was pretty much the only low post threat that the Cougars had and was also a big asset on the defensive end of the floor. His size and athleticism were very valuable for BYU in defending similar types of big men, such as San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard.

Davies will undoubtedly be missed and his loss does put a damper on the Cougars' chances to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. However, BYU is still a threat and still has a number of good players, starting with the dynamic Jimmer Fredette. They are still capable of making a strong run, but it will just be more difficult now. BYU has two home games left in the regular season, starting tonight at 8 p.m. MT on The Mtn. against New Mexico (18-11, 6-8 MWC) and then on Saturday against Wyoming (10-19, 3-12 MWC). I don't see any way that the Cougars will lose either of those games, but the real toll could come in the NCAA Tournament.

Utes visit New Mexico tonight

Utah (11-15, 4-8 MWC) defeated Wyoming (9-17, 2-10 MWC) by a score of 80-70 on Wednesday night at the Huntsman Center. The Runnin' Utes badly needed that win and were able to stop a 5 game losing streak. Chris Kupets led all scorers with 20 points off the bench and Will Clyburn and Josh Watkins each had 19 for the Runnin' Utes. Desmar Jackson led the Pokes with 17 points, but was pretty limited in the 2nd half before fouling out late in the game. Kupets has really come on in conference play and is really turning into a scorer; his emergence has come at about the same time as Chris Hines' minutes have sharply decreased. Freshman J.J. O'Brien continues to play well and had 10 points against the Cowboys. O'Brien gives me reason to believe the Utes could improve in the years to come. It wasn't a spectacular win, but it was much needed.

Utah visits New Mexico (17-9, 5-6 MWC) tonight at The Pit at 7:30 p.m. MT on The Mtn. The Pit is one of the toughest arenas to play in in the entire country and the Runnin' Utes certainly have their hands full in that regard. Utah beat the Lobos last month in Salt Lake City, but New Mexico has always been a much tougher team at home. Clyburn is questionable with a bruised heel he sustained in the Wyoming game. Hopefully he'll be able to go because it would be a rather difficult task trying to win without him.

The Utes really need this game as well if they want to get on the track to avoiding a 7 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, which would almost certainly mean a match-up with either #6 San Diego State (27-1, 12-1 MWC) or #7 BYU (24-2, 10-1 MWC). A win tonight would push the Utes a half-game ahead of Air Force (13-12, 4-8 MWC) for sixth place in the MWC and draw them within a half-game of the Lobos for fifth. A guy has to try and think positively, right? It'll be a tough environment and I think the Lobos will win, but I think the Utes are going to give them a game and you never know what could happen. I'll be tweeting during the game and back on here afterward for recap and analysis.

Utes-Pokes tonight

Utah (10-15, 3-8 MWC) hosts Wyoming (9-16, 2-9 MWC) tonight at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. Tip-off is set for about 7:15 p.m. MT and the game will be televised on CBS College Sports. I'll be at the game and will be tweeting updates, so follow along. I'll also be on here after for recap and analysis. The Runnin' Utes already took down the Cowboys earlier this season in Laramie with a 17 point win. I think that Utah will win again in the second go-round tonight. I was encouraged by how hard they played on Saturday in the loss at rival #7 BYU (24-2, 10-1 MWC) and I'm optimistic that this level of play will carry over into tonight's game. It's pretty much a must-win for the Utes, or they could be staring at another 7-game losing streak as they are at New Mexico (17-8, 5-5 MWC) on Saturday night in The Pit, which is always a tough place to win. I'm off for now, but check me out on Twitter and I'll keep you posted on the game. Go Utes!

Runnin' Utes drop ugly contest

Utah (10-12, 3-5 MWC) lost at UNLV (17-5, 5-3 MWC) last night 67-54. Utah shot just 29.8 percent from the field and an embarrassing 56 percent from the free-throw line. UNLV didn't shoot the cover off the ball either, shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 63 percent on free throws. Quintrell Thomas led the Runnin' Rebels with 15 points and Carlos Lopez had 14. Will Clyburn of the Runnin' Utes led all scorers with 17 points and Josh Watkins had 15.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that this was one of the more painful games I've ever watched. I don't say that just as a Utah fan, but as a big fan of college basketball in general. Both teams executed poorly on offense, but Utah was definitely the worse of the two teams, turning the ball over 17 times. Both teams played solid defense, but the Runnin' Utes especially just looked sloppy throughout the game.

With the defense as good as it was, I felt Utah could have done a lot more to be competitive in this game and perhaps even come away with a victory, but you'll be hard pressed to find a team win a game with as poor of an offensive showing as Utah had. The Utes return home for a must-win game Saturday night against Air Force (12-9, 3-5 MWC), with whom they are tied for sixth place in the conference. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. MT and the game will be televised on the Mtn.

UNLV will be in Provo on Saturday afternoon to face #8 BYU (21-2, 7-1 MWC) at 2 p.m. MT on Versus. The Cougars escaped Wyoming last night with a 69-62 victory despite a game effort from the Cowboys (8-14, 1-7 MWC). Jimmer Fredette had a huge conventional 3 point play with under a minute to go and BYU up just one point that pretty much sealed the game. It was just another clutch play from Fredette. #7 San Diego State (22-1, 7-1 MWC) kept pace in the conference with a 56-54 win at Colorado State (15-7, 5-3 MWC) that came when D.J. Gay knocked down a jumper with under two seconds left. With so much exciting happening in the Mountain West, it's too bad that Utah couldn't play a more exciting, competitive game.

Runnin' Utes update

Utah (9-10, 2-3 MWC) won last Saturday at Wyoming (8-10, 1-3 MWC) and at home on Wednesday against New Mexico (13-6, 1-3 MWC) in what was probably the team's best complete game performance of the season. It was a really encouraging win to watch as although the Lobos aren't as good as last year, they aren't exactly slouches either. The Runnin' Utes are at TCU (10-10, 1-4 MWC) tomorrow at 4 p.m. MT on the Mtn. My guess is the Utes will win because they've picked up some momentum and TCU isn't that great. But just about anything can happen, especially because it is a road game. I'll be watching and tweeting, you should check it out.

Utes look to stop losing skid against Pokes

After the debacle on Tuesday night, Utah (7-10, 0-3 MWC) visits Wyoming (8-9, 1-2 MWC) on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on the Mtn. The Runnin' Utes badly need a win as they are mired in a 7 game winning streak that is the school's worst in over 60 years. Utah absolutely has a more talented roster than the Cowboys, but this is a road game and the Utes haven't been able to pull out wins late in games this year. With that in mind, I'll take the Pokes by about 4, although I'll be rooting really hard for the Utes who have to look at this game as one they have to win. Just a quick post here, but I'll be back after the game with more analysis. Also, you can follow me in game on Twitter. Oh and real quickly here are my picks for the NFL playoff games this weekend: Steelers over Ravens, Falcons over Packers, Bears over Seahawks, Patriots over Jets.

Utes drop Pokes 30-6

The 11th-ranked Utah Utes (6-0, 3-0 MWC) football team defeated the Wyoming Cowboys 30-6 (2-5, 0-3 MWC) Saturday afternoon in Laramie. The Utes put this one away in the 2nd quarter and led 23-0 at halftime. Matt Asiata looked sharper than he has all year and he may be more fully recovering from his torn ACL he suffered last year. Eddie Wide didn't get a lot of touches early but had an effective game. Jordan Wynn was pretty good and had a nifty 45 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter on a flea flicker to a wide open Luke Matthews. I thought there was room for improvement for the Utes but the important thing is to get the 'W' and climb in the polls. The Pokes are not a very good team so a win like this was expected, the only real question was how large the margin would be. Utah faces Colorado State (2-5, 1-2 MWC) next Saturday at 4 p.m. MT at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

Utes look ahead to Pokes after blowing away Cyclones

The 10th-ranked Utah Utes (5-0, 2-0 MWC) demolished the Iowa State Cyclones (3-3, 1-1 Big 12) last Saturday night in Ames, Iowa, winning by a score of 68-27. The Utes looked like the superior team in all phases of the game and after trailing following the first quarter really put their foot to the gas pedal and never looked back. Jordan Wynn looked solid in his first road start of the year and well the offense as a whole looked good. Shaky Smithson had a nifty long punt return as well as a touchdown pass on a trick play. He was doing everything for the Utes and looks like a really good player. In fact he had more yards than the entire Iowa State team in the first half.

The Utes, who somehow dropped a spot in the AP Poll and are now ranked 11th, next visit the Wyoming Cowboys (2-4, 0-2 MWC) tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on the Mtn. As long as the Utes don't look past this game it really shouldn't be much of a challenge. The Pokes have not looked very good this year and really looked bad in getting blown out 51-6 on their home field by third-ranked Boise State (5-0, 1-0 WAC) on their home field earlier this year. The Utes shouldn't be in much trouble on this one.

I'll be following the game and have some tweets during it (follow me at twitter.com/dpaysports) but my main focus tomorrow will be on Game 1 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies (see immediately below for previews of both LCS) that starts at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. My hope is that the Utes will have a big enough lead to where I won't feel too guilty about changing the channel and checking out the Giants. I'll be featuring tweets of the baseball game too. I will also be blogging about both games after the fact.