After BYU’s 81-64 victory against Texas Southern on Wednesday, Cougar coach Mark Pope was asked to make a player comparison for grad transfer point guard Te’Jon Lucas.

Pope’s response was another player who goes by the nickname of “Teej” or “T” – former BYU great T.J. Haws.

“He reminds me in some sense of T.J, Haws a little bit in terms of making plays off the bounce,” Pope said. “They’re very different players but Te’Jon certainly accomplishes things on the floor that are reminiscent of T.J. just in terms of his vision and the way he can penetrate and then just sling the ball anywhere to the corner to find guys. He had a couple of great dribbles tonight to keep the play alive on the baseline. He was physical enough to actually stay alive and make huge plays. He’s a really gifted playmaker.”

Lucas had his best game as a Cougar against Texas Southern with 18 points on 8 of 14 from the field to go along with seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers in 31 minutes.

“I think the last time we had a 7-0 here (seven assists, zero turnovers) was Jake Toolson two years ago,” Pope said. “For T to be 7-0 against a physical, feisty, athletic championship team like this, that’s just super impressive.”

Through the first five games of the season, Lucas is averaging 10 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while playing 29.4 minutes per contest, second only to All-American Alex Barcello.

Lucas was asked if he would rather hit a big shot or make an assist for a big shot.

“I would say whatever we need,” Lucas responded. “I don’t really predict what’s going to happen. I’ll take a good shot but I’m always unselfish and I just want to make the right play. If it’s me taking a shot, I’ll take it but it’s someone else making a shot I’m equally excited. I’m just happy whatever it is. I honestly do not care.”

Scouting Report

A lot has changed up on the Hill since BYU earned an 82-64 win against Utah at the Marriott Center nearly a year ago.

The Utes fired coach Larry Krystkowiak in favor of Utah State’s Craig Smith. Ten players on last year’s roster left the program, including point guard Rylen Jones, who transferred to Utah State, and leading scorer Timmy Allen, who transferred to Texas.

Smith has brought in seven first-year transfers and the results so far have been good. The Utes are 5-0 after winning the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Fla., beating Boston College 68-61 and Tulsa 72-58. The other three wins have come against Abilene Christian, Sacramento State and Bethune-Cookman, so Saturday’s 262nd meeting with BYU will be Utah’s toughest test to date.

One of the holdovers, 7-footer Branden Carlson, leads the Utes with 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. UNLV transfer guard David Jenkins (15.7 points per game) and Both Gach, who transferred from Utah to Minnesota then back to Utah during his career, give Utah plenty of athleticism on the guard line.

Lucas has yet to experience a BYU-Utah basketball game but attended the football contest between the Cougars and Utes on Sept. 11 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

“Just by going to the football game shows you the impact and how dedicated each of the fan bases are,” Lucas said. “A lot of red came here but there was a lot of blue in the stands. I’m just looking forward to it and being out there to play.”

Pope is 1-1 in his career at BYU against the Utes.

“It’s going to be everything you want from an in-state game,” Pope said. “Craig is a great coach. They have a great team, a really veteran team. They’re undefeated. They have a proud tradition and its going to be awesome. These in-state games are just special. I may have overestimated how much I wanted to learn about my team. We’re going straight from four NCAA Tournament teams to doing all of these in-state games in a row, basically. So that might not be smart but we’re going to go fight. We’ve got a team that wants to go fight.”

Men’s College Basketball

No. 18 BYU (5-0) at Utah (5-0)

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. MT

Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City

TV: Pac-12 Network

Radio: BYU Radio, Sirius XM 143/BYU radio app, KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series with Utah 132-129. … The Cougars have won three of the past four meetings but their last victory at the Huntsman Center came in 2011. … Utah has seven first-year transfers on the roster playing for first-year coach Craig Smith.

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