Utah News

The Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz get back at it after the All-Star break, beginning a final stretch where they’ll be doing much more losing than winning if all goes as planned.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was supposed to be in the mix for this return to FedEx Forum but has been ruled out the rest of the season after undergoing a procedure to remove a benign tumor in his knee after being diagnosed with Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis of the knee (PVNS). He played a couple of games with the Jazz, made his home debut in Utah and won’t play again until ’26-’27.

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Ja Morant is again ruled out, getting shelved for a few more weeks due to elbow soreness related to the UCL sprain that has kept him out since Jan. 21. Ty Jerome, Santi Aldama, Scotty Pippen Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope won’t play, while Walter Clayton Jr., acquired from the Jazz, is listed as doubtful.

Utah has listed Lauri Markkanen as questionable most of the day, but downgraded him to doubtful before ruling him out over an hour prior to tip. In addition to Jackson, guard Keyonte George and center Jusuf Nurkic will be absent from the starting lineup. Vince Williams Jr., returning to face the Grizzlies, should be part of Will Hardy’s rotation.

Memphis has dropped four consecutive games and is 2-10 over its last dozen, while the Jazz are 4-13. The Jazz are 7-20 on the road and 10-25 against West foes. The Grizzlies are a respectable 16-21 in conference games and are 10-15 at home.

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Vitals – How to Watch Grizzlies vs. Jazz

Game date, time and location: Friday, Feb. 20, 7:10 p.m. EST, FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee

TV: Peacock, FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (Grizzlies), Root Sports Northwest (Jazz)

Radio: WMFS-FM (Grizzlies), 97.5 The Zone (Jazz)

Grizzlies look for sixth win in seven tries vs. Jazz

The Memphis Grizzlies (20-33) host the Utah Jazz (18-38) in a contest between teams who hooked up for one of the most memorable trades during deadline week, resulting in Jackson being moved to Salt Lake City.

His return would’ve made this a special night if he were suiting up, but that will have to wait until some time next season.

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Memphis and Utah have split this season’s meetings, played a couple of weeks apart in 2025’s final month. The Jazz snapped a five-game skid at the hands of the Grizzlies with a 130-126 victory at FedEx Forum on Dec. 12, while Memphis returned the favor in Utah on Dec. 23, rolling 137-128 behind a 37-point outburst from Aldama, who also led the way with 22 in the first meeting.

Keyonte George scored 39 points last time he was in Memphis, so he’s got to be bummed not to be able to suit up, while Kyle Filipowski finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds in the most recent matchup.

The Grizzlies swept 2024-25’s encounters by averaging over 128 points per game, so scoring hasn’t been an issue when these teams have gotten together. The Jazz own a 68-43 lifetime lead dating back to 1996. Utah won 22 of the first 23 matchups when the Griz were based in Vancouver.

Betting Lines (via DraftKings)

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Spread: Grizzlies -2.5 (-105), Jazz +2.5 (-115)

Moneyline: Timberwolves -130, Jazz +110

Total: 237.5 (Over -108, Under -112)

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

PROJECTED STARTERS

JAZZ

F Ace Bailey

F Cody Williams

C Kyle Filipowski

G Isaiah Collier

G Brice Sensabaugh

GRIZZLIES

F Jaylen Wells

F GG Jackson

C Kyle Anderson

G Cam Spencer

G Jahmai Mashack

INJURY REPORT

JAZZ

Lauri Markkanen: Out – Illness

Jaren Jackson Jr.: Out – Left Knee Injury Recovery

Keyonte George: Out – Right Ankle Sprain

Jusuf Nurkic: Out – Nose Injury Management

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Walker Kessler: Out – Left Shoulder Injury Recovery

Oscar Tshiebwe: Available – Concussion Protocol

GRIZZLIES

Ja Morant: Out – Left Elbow UCL Strain

Santi Aldama: Out – Right Knee Injury Management

Cedric Coward: Out – Right Knee Hyperextension

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Out – Right 5th Finger Surgery Recovery

Brandon Clarke: Out – Right Calf Strain

Zach Edey: Out – Left Ankle Stress Reaction

Walter Clayton Jr.: Doubtful – Right Calf Contusion

Scotty Pippen Jr.: Out – Left Great Toe Injury Management

Ty Jerome: Out – Right Calf Injury Management

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/grizzlies/onsi as Markkanen out, How to Watch Memphis Grizzlies-Utah Jazz, Injury Report, Betting Lines, Lineups & More.

OREM, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – Isaac Davis scored 14 points and Tyler Hendricks added 12 to lead Utah Valley to a 65-46 win over Cal Baptist on Thursday night at the UCCU Center, extending the Wolverines’ home win streak to 25 games.

Utah Valley improves to 19-7 overall and moves into sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 9-4 league record. Utah Tech and California Baptist sit a half game back at 9-5. The Wolverines’ 25 straight home wins mark the fourth-longest active home win streak in the nation.

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“Big-time win tonight for us,” said Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips. “Really proud of the guys. Defensively, I thought it was one of our best defensive performances of the year. We sat down and guarded and were really disciplined.”

USU blasts Boise State to extend win streak to 8

Utah Valley jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and held a 16-7 advantage midway through the first half. The Lancers responded with a 9-2 run to trim the deficit to two at 18-16 with 7:18 remaining, but the Wolverines closed the half on a 9-4 run to take a 29-22 lead into the break.

Trevan Leonhardt opened the second half with a three-pointer to push the lead to 32-22 and ignite a decisive 20-5 run over the next 9:50, giving UVU a commanding 49-27 advantage with 10:49 remaining. Utah Valley extended the lead to as many as 23 points before closing out the 19-point victory.

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“We talked a lot about defense,” said Leonhardt. “When we win, we’re good defensively. When we don’t win, we’re not very good defensively. Toughness and rebounding, that’s our identity.”

Davis finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, adding four rebounds, three steals and a block. Hendricks went 4-of-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line while pulling down seven rebounds with three assists, three steals and two blocks.

Isaac Hawkins added 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while Leonhardt filled the stat sheet with nine points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Phillips praised Leonhardt’s consistency and impact on both ends of the floor.

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“Trevin does everything right,” Phillips said. “He’ll have eight assists, five or six rebounds, big rebounds for us. He has great length and a great feel for the game. He’s been super consistent all year long.”

Utah Tech basketball finding stride in Division I

Utah Valley shot 43.1% (25-of-58) from the field and held CBU to just 29.3% (17-of-58) shooting. The Wolverines also limited the Lancers to just nine free-throw attempts — a key emphasis entering the game.

“One of the big things with them is you can’t foul them,” Phillips said. “They shoot it really well from the line, so holding them to nine attempts was huge for us.”

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The Wolverines controlled the paint, outscoring CBU 36-22 and outrebounding the Lancers 40-36.

After scoring 47 points in CBU’s overtime win over Utah Valley in Riverside on Jan. 24, Dominick Daniels Jr. was held to 12 points in Thursday’s rematch.

“Scout and the game plan were big,” Leonhardt said. “He’s a great player, so we knew what we were doing coming in, and the guys executed.”

Utah Valley now heads to Texas for a road matchup at UT Arlington on Saturday at College Park Center at 1:00 p.m. MT.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

Utah Valley Wolverines (19-7, 9-4 WAC) at UT Arlington Mavericks (15-11, 7-7 WAC)

Arlington, Texas; Saturday, 3 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Jackson Holcombe and Utah Valley visit Raysean Seamster and UT Arlington in WAC play.

The Mavericks are 9-3 on their home court. UT Arlington is 1-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

The Wolverines are 9-4 against WAC opponents. Utah Valley is second in the WAC with 34.9 rebounds per game led by Holcombe averaging 7.2.

UT Arlington makes 45.0% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.1 percentage points higher than Utah Valley has allowed to its opponents (40.9%). Utah Valley scores 13.5 more points per game (80.9) than UT Arlington gives up to opponents (67.4).

The teams meet for the third time in conference play this season. Utah Valley won 81-60 in the last matchup on Feb. 7. Tyler Hendricks led Utah Valley with 18 points, and Tyran Mason led UT Arlington with 20 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Seamster is averaging 13.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals for the Mavericks. Marcell McCreary is averaging 11.4 points over the last 10 games.

Hendricks is shooting 46.5% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Wolverines, while averaging 12.2 points. Holcombe is shooting 48.3% and averaging 14.3 points over the last 10 games.

3 MIN READ

4 MIN READ

6 MIN READ

LAST 10 GAMES: Mavericks: 4-6, averaging 70.1 points, 34.4 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.3 points per game.

Wolverines: 7-3, averaging 78.2 points, 33.4 rebounds, 17.7 assists, 10.7 steals and 5.2 blocks per game while shooting 48.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Feb. 12 marked the 217th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Also on that day, the annual We the People competition for Utah high schoolers was held. Created by the Center for Civic Education and hosted by the Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative of UVU’s Center for Constitutional Studies, dozens of students gathered to display their constitutional learning in the format of mock congressional debates.

The event also kicked off the Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative’s (CTLI) America at 250 efforts. On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. Partnering with America250-Utah, CTLI will honor this anniversary through a variety of efforts.

First, a release of video-based master classes on the Declaration. A five-part series, each 15-minute episode will focus on specific ideas or pieces of history that animate the Declaration of Independence and show why it is still vital today.

Second, CTLI offers a resource library for families and teachers, culling primary sources on the Declaration and its heritage. Original documents are paired with historical insights, commentary and questions to consider at home and in the classroom.

Finally, Utah Together: Reading 1776 encourages Utahns to read David McCullough’s “1776,” tracing the gripping, human story of those who marched with General Washington in the tumultuous year of the Declaration.

Such inspiration was also promoted in the Feb. 12 event’s keynote address by Michelle Oldroyd, director of professional education, outreach and external relations for the Utah State Bar.

Oldroyd grew up near Washington, D.C., where, in the evenings, she recalled often seeing a candle lantern in a window. But it was only after watching Ken Burns’ recent documentary, “The American Revolution,” that she intuited a deeper meaning in the light.

At the time of the Revolution, American patriots often put lanterns in their windows to signal their solidarity with the cause of independence. In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” lanterns were also code: “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Those lights illuminated a sense of unity and common purpose and principles, Oldroyd explained.

Americans needed to see this unity, Oldroyd said. In pre-Revolutionary America, we came from different countries, spoke different languages, had different traditions and honored different religions. We hadn’t established our common name yet, and the notions of being “American” were still being shaped. Oldroyd noted that “we were just starting to see the golden threads between us,” but these fibers were new — and fragile.

Those threads were also recognized by Abraham Lincoln in his 1858 “Electric Cord” speech, where he suggested the Declaration “links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together,” whether or not their ancestors had fought in the Revolution or immigrated to the young country.

Carrying the lantern farther forward in his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln noted that our independence was founded on the idea of liberty and equality, and it would be fidelity to the rule of law and the value of compromise that would keep this country celebrating until America250 and beyond.

Lincoln again “picked up the lantern of history,” said Oldroyd, when only days before his own assassination, he “admonished this country to remember the common thread of charity and peace that defines this country, that indeed lights the possibility to improve our way of being with one another, to heal this country’s wounds and to care for each other in our communities with love rather than division and hate.”

Oldroyd encouraged: “Continue to find light in the golden threads that connect us, that force us to listen when it’s hard, that require us to treat each other with dignity, to show indeed that you are the light that will resolve the divisions that we suffer from today.

“The lanterns of solidarity will glow in windows for that next generation to see that history has nothing to do with a textbook, but everything with how we do our daily business, how we talk to one another, and indeed, how we treat each other,” she concluded. “Compromise is a lovely word and rigorous work, and there is nothing modest or small about charity. The work of peace has everything to do with strength and tolerance and values and principles that will indeed light us to America 251, and beyond.”

Three days after Utah couldn’t hold a late lead in falling at Cincinnati, the Runnin’ Utes reversed those fortunes to beat West Virginia 61-56 at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia, on Wednesday night.

After the Mountaineers cut Utah’s 15-point second-half lead to two points, the Utes came together and held off a West Virginia charge to snap a seven-game losing streak.

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That was Utah’s first road win since Jan. 15, 2025.

Here are three takeaways from the win that pushes Utah’s record to 10-16 overall and 2-11 in Big 12 play.

Hot starts to both halves

Utah had its best start all season, jumping out to an 18-3 lead over the shellshocked Mountaineers.

The Utes hit their first six shots of the game and ended up taking a 31-21 lead into halftime after enduring a couple scoring slumps.

Coming out of halftime, Utah again got off to a great start, pushing their lead at high as 15 on three different occasions. The last time made it a 45-30 game with 14:35 to play.

Utah made five of its first seven shots of the second half, before West Virginia started the rally.

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The Utes hang on this time

West Virginia’s last two wins involved the Mountaineers coming back from 14-point second-half deficits both times, and for a while, it looked like West Virginia might be able to pull it off again.

The Mountaineers whittled down that Utah lead, and after a 7-0 run over a minute and a half stretch, West Virginia trailed 53-51 with 3:59 to play.

Utah could have folded, like they did when the Utes lost 69-65 to Cincinnati on Sunday after the Bearcats scored the game’s final nine points.

Instead, it was the Utes making the key plays down the stretch and forcing West Virginia into mistakes.

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Utah’s defensive effort set the tone

All year, Alex Jensen has preached that the Utes need to be solid defensively and let that lead to offensive rhythm.

It worked against the Mountaineers, as Utah set the tone of the game with its defensive effort, led by Seydou Traore.

Traore started the game off guarding West Virginia’s top scorer, Honor Huff, and though Huff ended up with 12 points, it came on 4 of 15 shooting.

In the final minute when a 3 could have tied things, Traore recovered on defense and got his hand in Huff’s face on a 3-point attempt, forcing an air ball.

Traore ended up with 17 points, six rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists in his most well-rounded game of the season.

Terrence Brown and Don McHenry each had 16 points, while Brown added eight rebounds and three assists.

Utah ended up outrebounding West Virginia 38-28.