What Utah's Alex Jensen said ahead of senior night matchup vs. Colorado

Coming off a loss to Arizona State, the Utah men's basketball program is set to honor a couple of fifth-year seniors ahead of Tuesday night's tipoff against Colorado at the Huntsman Center.

For Runnin' Utes head coach Alex Jensen, the pregame festivities honoring Don McHenry and James Okonkwo — two players the team acquired in the transfer portal less than 12 months ago — also serve as a reminder that senior days in the era of limitless player movement and NIL aren't the same as they were when he was completing his four-year career at Utah roughly 26 years ago.

"It's interesting," Jensen said of senior day in the NIL/transfer portal era on Monday. "I'm still learning it all, for guys to go to a new place for their last year. You'd always hope it'd be continuous, but that's not the environment we're in."

Here's what Jensen had to say about Utah's two senior day honorees, what he's learned in his first season as a college basketball head coach and much more, ahead of Tuesday night's game.

On the impact Don McHenry and James Okonkwo had on Utah's budding culture

"I think James has kind of been the one guy that's been steady every game. You kind of know what to expect [from him], and I think Don at times has been been really good. He kind of carried the load for us and helped the younger guys."

What Lucas Langarita's return to the lineup means for Utah

"It gives us a little more depth and another ballhandler, and his passing. But I think there's always a transition when Americans go to Europe, or vice versa, because it's a different game. So, I think it's encouraging to see the capabilities. He's grown up playing the game, and he's a true student of the game and likes to play."

On Babacar Faye's future following his season-ending injury in September

"He'll get a medical redshirt and have another year. He's progressing well, and we'd love to see how it plays out. Even though he hasn't played, he's been a joy to be around, and great for us coaches and his teammates, so, obviously those discussions will happen after the season."

On what he's learned about college basketball and the Big 12 since coming from the NBA

"There's a learning curve, going from from the pros to college, because college is unique. And you add on top of that the ever-evolving rules and how things work."

"Obviously we weren't here last year, so I think we have a better sense of how we want to get [to our destination]. And we learned a lot. That's the same thing with our guys and us just getting better at everything we do."

On balancing high school recruits, transfer portal additions and returning players

"There's a lot of different avenues. We try to explore all of them, and in a perfect world, I think there's a balance of all those. I think everybody wants to have guys come back. There's a lot of factors out of our control to make that happen, but I think that's the fun thing about college, or used to be, was having a core of guys that you have every year."