Utah (8-4, 1-1 Pac-12) comes off a 55-50 home victory over Fresno State on December 21.

Marco Anthony had 11 points and six rebounds and Lahat Thioune 10 points and six rebounds for the Utes. Utah shot 20 of 51 (39.2%) overall but held the Bulldogs at 19 of 57 (33.3).

Three days earlier, Utah had lost 83-75 to Missouri. Utes leading scorer Branden Carlson, a 7-foot junior center, has not played in the last two games because he was on health and safety protocol, but is scheduled to play on Thursday.

Utah opened the season 6-0 before clashing with ranked teams BYU (home loss 75-64) and USC (road loss 93-73). The Utes also have home wins over Tulsa (72-58) and California (66-58), teams that have beaten Oregon State in away games against Gill this season.

Carlson is averaging 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds and owns 22 blocks, his team’s best. Senior guard Both Gach adds 12.2 points and senior guard David Jenkins Jr. 11.9 points. Jenkins is in his first year at Utah after spending two seasons in the state of South Dakota and two at UNLV.

As a team, the Utes shoot 42.9% in total, 33.2 on 3 points and 78.4 on the free throw line. The opponents shoot 40.0, 24.6 and 67.3 respectively. Utah’s 3-point defensive percentage is third in the country.

The Utes have a rebound margin of plus-3.0 and a turnover margin of minus-1.9.

Head Coach Craig Smith is in his first year with the program. He had spent the previous three seasons as a head coach at Utah State, where he helped the Aggies qualify for the NCAA tournament every three years. He was previously four seasons as the head coach of South Dakota.

Larry Krystkowiak, who played and coached with Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle at the University of Montana, was fired last March as head coach of the Utes after 10 seasons.

Utah leads the all-time series with Oregon State 19-17. But the Beavers have won the last four games and are 13-3 against the Utes at Corvallis. Last year, OSU won 74-56 at home and 75-70 in Salt Lake City.

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