It is not often in college basketball that a team’s first game of the season is against a conference opponent, but that will be the case in the Pac-12 for Utah as it plays host to a Washington team that enters this game 0-2.

The Huskies offense has been in neutral as they are averaging 47 points per game and have been operating without Naz Carter, a 6-foot-6 wing who is suspended indefinitely. Last season, Carter averaged 12.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and shot 36.6 percent on 3-pointers.

Utah ended the 2019-20 season in a 7-13 funk in its final 20 games. Nevertheless, that team did not have a single senior in its normal rotation. Alfonso Plummer scored 26.3 points ppg in the team’s final three contests, going 21-for-35 from 3-point range in that stretch.

Quade Green has not looked like himself for Washington after his 2019-20 season was limited to 15 games because of being academically ineligible the second half of the season. He shot 44.7 percent from 3-point range last season while contributing 11.6 points and 5.3 assists with 2.3 turnovers per game. Thus far this season, he’s posting 10 points and three assists with 2.5 turnovers per game while making 33.3 percent of his 3-pointers.

With Washington entering this game with the worst rebound rate in college basketball (opponents are averaging 24 more rebounds per game than the Huskies are), it should allow Utah to get its delayed season off to a strong start and a give veteran bunch confidence.

The play: Utah, -7.5.