Brigham Young recently had a rough experience on a neutral court in the Aloha State. The Hawaii basketball team will try to avoid a similar fate against the Cougars in Salt Lake City on Saturday afternoon.

It will officially be a "neutral" setting at the Utah Jazz’s 20,000-seat EnergySolutions Arena, but it’s expected to be a raucous atmosphere favoring the Cougars, whose Provo, Utah, campus is about an hour’s drive away. BYU, the highest-scoring team in the country at 95.1 points per game, has given its fans plenty to cheer about.

"We’ll respond well to that. We’re looking forward to that," UH coach Benjy Taylor said in a phone interview from Salt Lake City. "Playing at the Stan Sheriff Center, even with the mid-size crowd, it’s a great atmosphere. It’ll be that tomorrow. It’ll be loud, and we’ll have to band together."

In UH’s previous road trip, the Rainbow Warriors (7-2) went 2-1 in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida. Taylor’s team has won five of its past six, including a 15-point win over Delaware State on Tuesday.

UH arrived in the chilly Beehive State on Thursday night and practiced Friday afternoon at the University of Utah’s facilities.

"We’re a good team. We like going on the road. We like being together … the ohana-type deal," Taylor said. "And we’re excited about this opportunity to play a team that went to the NCAA Tournament (last spring), that’s very well-coached, and very talented."

The only losses of the season for BYU (6-2) came in overtime at the EA Sports Maui Invitational during Thanksgiving week.

BYU coach Dave Rose said his team is still smarting from that trip, particularly a double-overtime loss to No. 13 San Diego State in the first round. The trip ended with another OT loss, to Purdue.

The Cougars are coming off a 91-81 win at Utah State on Tuesday.

"I think the really important thing about this profession and about these players is you’ve got to move on," Rose said. "And our guys were disappointed. I mean, we played 15 extra minutes over there (on Maui) and lost both games."

BYU is dangerous all over the court — it averages 10 3-point makes a game and has 6-foot-10 and 6-11 post players — but 6-5 senior shooting guard Tyler Haws is the biggest threat by far. Haws, the fourth-leading scorer in the country at 23.8 points per game, is a deadly shooter on both pull-ups and step-backs. He’s also an aggressive driver going to his right.

If that weren’t bad enough, guard Chase Fischer also demands attention on the perimeter at all times. He set a team record with 10 3s by himself against Chaminade on Maui.

Rose credits an unselfish attitude to his team’s gaudy numbers, not so much an uptick in pace of play.

"We just have to talk on defense," UH point guard Roderick Bobbitt said. "Just being disciplined, not gambling. If you gamble, that’ll be a 3-point shot. We gotta keep ourselves from gambling on crazy plays and stay disciplined, we’ll be fine."

Haws is fifth on BYU’s all-time scoring list (2,134 points) and could have a chance to surpass Jimmer Fredette at the top (2,599) later this season.

Rose said his team had its share of issues game-planning for Hawaii, which besides forward Aaron Valdes (team bests of 15.3 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per game) hasn’t had a game-in, game-out scoring threat. Roderick Bobbitt, Garrett Nevels, Negus Webster-Chan, Mike Thomas and reserve Isaac Fleming have taken turns leading the way.

"This team, you have to respect all five guys on the floor at every time and then the first three subs are really strong offensive players too," Rose said. "They should feel pretty good about themselves. They’re playing really well, and their point guard is really impressive. This Bobbitt kid has got 50 assists on the year in nine games. He’s running the show for those guys."

Since 1993, BYU has played 17 games at EnergySolutions Arena, which was known as the Delta Center until 2006. UH has faced the Cougars there three of those times, including a 73-66 ‘Bows victory for the WAC championship on March 12, 1994.

More recently, UH played BYU there in Gib Arnold’s first season as coach in 2010. The Cougars won that one by 21.

BYU has won the last four games in the series, going back to the teams’ final meetings in the WAC in 1999.