Back to the Utah State Aggies Newsfeed

His parents fled civil war in South Sudan. Now Utah’s Both Gach wants to be a role model for a growing wave of South Sudanese hoopers.

On the bottom floor of Utah’s basketball facility, where players spill into a massive lounge room at the conclusion of the first practice of 2019, the true freshman sits behind one of the many tables. His teammates mingle about, zipping playful zings at one another. On the far side of the room, a bowl game is showing on a flat-screen TV. A couple tables away, some members of the Utah women’s basketball team are relaxing.

There, amid all the noise, amid the aroma of lunchtime delivery, Both tells bits and pieces of his story. The 6-foot-7 wing grew up in a small town about two hours south of the Minneapolis/St.