KANSAS CITY — After 13 seasons in the Pac-12, a new era of Utah basketball begins this year with the Utes joining the Big 12.
While the days of West Coast road trips during conference play are in the past, there are intriguing destinations ahead for both the Utah men’s and women’s basketball teams in the ultra-competitive Big 12.
The Deseret News spoke with each of the five players who were representing the Utes at Big 12 basketball media days this week at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, and among the topics was which destinations the players are most looking forward to visiting.
A popular vote was BYU — for the first time since the 2010-11 season when the in-state rivals were in the Mountain West Conference, BYU and Utah are in a conference together again and both the men’s and women’s teams will play each other twice this season.
“I’m just excited to play BYU twice. I’ll take advantage of that matchup anytime I can get it, so I’m super excited to play them,” Utah senior guard Kennady McQueen said, while adding she is looking forward to new challenges in the Big 12. “But yeah, everywhere, at Baylor (on Jan. 14), that will be a fun game, for sure.”
The Utah women beat BYU last year at the Huntsman Center, their second straight win in the rivalry. The Utes play Jan. 25 at BYU before hosting the Cougars on March 1.
The Utah men also beat a ranked BYU team last season at the Huntsman Center, snapping BYU’s two-game winning streak in the series.
“BYU is obviously gonna be fun. It’s just like, when you get those rivalry games, it’s like that’s what you want. You want the electric atmosphere, you want the little bit of fan hatred. It just makes it all a little more enjoyable,” said senior guard Gabe Madsen, who hit a key 3-pointer with a minute left and scored 17 points in Utah’s 73-69 win over BYU.
Senior center Lawson Lovering, who’s in his second season at Utah after transferring from Colorado, is looking forward to the visit to Provo, which comes March 8 in the regular-season finale for both schools. Utah hosts the Cougars on Jan. 18 in the Huntsman Center.
“I’m looking forward to playing at BYU, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that, be able to play there yet,” Lovering said. “I’ve heard their fans are pretty crazy, and I want to see what that’s all about and experience what’s going on here. So excited to play that, for sure.”
There were also a couple other games the Utah players brought up that had personal significance.
Madsen also talked about his excitement to play at Cincinnati — the Utes visit the Bearcats on Feb. 11. He started his career there in the 2020-21 season — where he played with twin brother Mason, who’s now at Utah — before transferring to Utah.
“I’m looking forward to going to Cincinnati, obviously, that’s where I started out my career, and it’ll be fun to go to Fifth Third (Arena) and play in front of some fans,” he said. “When I was there, it was COVID, so there’s no fans, and yeah, it’ll just be fun to go back.”
Utah also hosts Cincinnati on Jan. 28.
Two Utah women’s basketball players — forward Jenna Johnson and guard Gianna Kneepkens — grew up in Minnesota, and the Utes’ trip to Iowa State on Jan. 5 will be closer to home for the Midwesterners.
“I know at least for myself, I’m excited to play Iowa State because it’s close to home, and like, the fan base that I’ve heard is really, really into it, so that’ll be fun,” Johnson said.
Added Kneepkens, “Yeah, I do agree with all their answers. I mean, excited to play every team but Iowa State’s close to home, hopefully get a lot of fans from home there, so it’s gonna be a fun conference.”
