Friday, November 13th, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000) -- Salt Lake City, Utah. Television: None. Home Record: Idaho 0-0, Utah 0-0. Away Record: Idaho 0-0, Utah 0-0. Neutral Record: Idaho 0-0, Utah 0-0. Conference Record: Idaho 0-0, Utah 0-0. Series Record: Utah leads, 12-2.

GAME NOTES: Harkening back to the 1975-76 season opener when these two teams last met in Salt Lake City, Utah is set to entertain the Idaho Vandals in a non-conference contest at the Huntsman Center tonight.

Entering his third season with the Utes, head coach Jim Boylen split his previous two season openers, as the team was stunned by Southwest Baptist in an 80-79 decision in last year's opener before the team ripped off five straight victories. Utah ended the 2008-09 campaign with a 24-10 mark and was 12-4 versus the rest of the Mountain West Conference. The Utes earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Arizona in the first round (84-71), but they captured the conference tournament title with a narrow 52-50 victory versus San Diego State.

As for the Vandals, a team that operates in the Western Athletic Conference, they are led by Don Verlin who, in his first season, guided the club to a 17-16 overall mark. Idaho was a tough competitor at home where it was 13-3, putting up a 6-2 mark in WAC action as it finished 9-7 overall in the league. Despite losing to Louisiana Tech in the WAC Tournament, the Vandals were invited to take part in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and picked up a narrow win against Drake (69-67) before bowing to Pacific (69-59).

Utah has a huge advantage playing this game at home, having beaten Idaho in all 11 previous meetings in the Huntsman Center. The Utes have taken nine straight decisions, but the most recent of those was more than three decades ago in 1976 as the team posted a 102-66 victory at the Wolfpack Classic in Reno, Nevada. Overall, the Utes have taken 12 of the previous 14 encounters in the all-time series and the only two wins for the Vandals came back in 1938-39.

On a team that is dominated by guard play, senior guard Mac Hopson stands as the top returning performer for the Vandals after earning All-WAC First Team honors and All-Newcomer honors last season. A transfer from Washington State, Hopson started all 33 games for the team a year ago and averaged a club-best 16.4 ppg as one of only two players to score in double figures on a consistent basis. Not only did Hopson lead the program in assists and steals with 194 and 55, respectively, he accounted for almost five rebounds per game and shot a staggering 43 percent from three-point range. Senior guard Kashif Watson, a transfer himself from Irvine Valley C.C., was the other double-digit scorer for the squad with his 10.3 ppg, which means he and Hopson accounted for better than 40 percent of the team's 65.9 ppg a year ago. As someone who needs to play closer to the rim and improve upon his 3.5 rpg, Watson would be smart to refrain from letting loose with too many long-distance shots, considering he was just 20.6 percent accurate behind the three-point line last season. Marvin Jefferson (9.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg) stands to be the inside force for the Vandals after pacing the group with 58 blocked shots, although he would be smart to tone down some of the physical play and pay more attention to his ball handling since he tallied just 10 assists in 32 games.

Picked to finish in the top half of the MWC standings this season, Boylen and his bunch will have to get the job done without the services of big man Luke Nevill who was first on the team and third in the league in scoring with his 17.0 ppg, not to mention tops in the MWC with 8.6 rpg as well. Also counting against the Utes are the losses of both Lawrence Borha (11.7 ppg) and Shaun Green (10.4 ppg), which means the group has to replace its top three scorers from a year ago and two of the more potent three-point shooters in the country. Toss in top-flight reserve Tyler Kepkay (10.3 ppg) and this team doesn't have a single double-digit scorer returning from last season. Standing in for those scorers will be Carlon Brown (9.3 ppg), Luka Drca (7.7 ppg) and Kim Tillie (3.3 ppg). The amount of loss this team has suffered is incredible, yet coaches and media still believe the Utes should finish in the top half of the league standings anyway, which is a huge credit to how well the team has prepared for the rebuilding process. Perhaps the most curious performer expected to take the next step for the Utes is 7-3 center David Foster, who will have to take on more of a burden in the paint for the team this season.

Even though Idaho hasn't performed well against the Utes in the last six decades and has been thus far unlucky in Salt Lake City, this might be the perfect opportunity for the Vandals to break free, especially after Utah came out flat in its opener a year ago.

Predicted Outcome

Idaho 68, Utah 65