Utah looks to climb out of Big 12 cellar in Alex Jensen's second season at the helm

Alex Jensen will be tasked with lifting Utah out of the Big 12 cellar in his second season following a slew of defections to the transfer portal. The Utes return only two players who played last season, leaving Jensen starting from scratch after last year’s last-place finish. Contending in a tough and deep Big 12 for a largely unproven roster will be a challenge for the Utes.

Babacar Faye suffered a season-ending foot injury before playing a game last season, leaving Utah without an expected playmaker in the post. Getting Faye back at full strength will be a critical factor in how much the Utes can improve this season. Utah Valley transfer Jackson Holcombe was the top scorer (16.0 ppg) and rebounder (7.0 rpg) for the Wolverines last season and gives the Utes a valuable veteran leader. Northern Iowa transfer Trey Campbell was granted a temporary restraining order to play a fifth season. Campbell made 132 career starts for Northern Iowa and averaged 13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists with the Panthers last season.

Wright State transfer TJ Burch earned a sixth man role in Utah’s three exhibition games. Burch averaged 12.4 points and 3.6 assists while making 23 starts in his lone season with the Raiders. … Ohio State transfer Taison Chatman will likely team with Campbell as a starter in the backcourt. Chatman spent two seasons with the Buckeyes and averaged 4.3 points in 12.9 minutes per game last season. … Austrian center Fynn Schott will miss the start of the season following right leg surgery but gives Utah a solid contributor around the rim on both ends once he’s healthy.

The Utes open Nov. 2 against Long Beach State. Utah will face Dayton and Minnesota in the Charleston Classic from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22 and have home games against Washington on Nov. 14 and California on Dec. 2. Utah opens Big 12 play at UCF on Jan. 2. The Utes host Kansas and Texas Tech and have road games at Arizona and Houston. Home-and-home games with archrival BYU on Jan. 16 and Feb. 6 also highlight the league slate.

Jensen added six freshman and seven transfers from other D-I schools to this year’s roster … Lucas Langarita and Obomate Abbey are the only players who played for Utah last season. Both averaged 2.5 points per game. … Utah has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 2016, the longest drought for any Big 12 team.

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