Throughout the course of a season, teams experience different hills and valleys in various areas of the game. Early in the season, it was defensive rebounding for the Utes, as they allowed opponents to come away with 14 offensive rebounds per game in the month of November.
The Utes righted the ship in December, allowing opponents just 10 offensive rebounds per game. Since then, Utah has suffered a few recent games in which turnovers have plagued the offense. Last Sunday’s matchup against Oregon was a step in the right direction, with just 14 opposed to the 19 turnovers they had been averaging over the previous three games.
The most recent struggle for the Utes has been poor play in the first quarters of games. It’s an area of concern for head coach Lynne Roberts who, when asked about the team’s recent slow starts, was ready with the stats of those first quarter performances.
“That’s the biggest thing we have to improve,” Roberts said. “In the last three games, we’ve been outscored 63 to 28 in the first quarter. We’re shooting 25 percent in the first quarter, and our assist-to-turnover ratio is something like 1.3. It’s not good.”
Down, but not out
Despite slow starts, the Utes have continuously fought back in the end of games to give themselves a chance. After trailing by 16 to Oregon, Utah came back in the second half to lose the game by just a dozen, but winning the second half. The story was the same against Oregon State.
Roberts shared her insight on how important it is to her that her team plays hard.
“That’s something that I always want our teams to be known for,” Roberts said of her team’s willingness to play hard, game in and game out. “You may beat us, but it’s going to be really hard to do so. We’re not going to win every game, but when you do beat us, you’re going to walk off the floor like, ‘Whew, they were hard to beat.'”
Halfway point
The Utah Chronicle asked Roberts how she would grade her team at the midway mark of conference play. The Utes are off to a 12-7 start, including a few impressive victories that have turned heads in the Pac-12.
But they have also had poor outings, most recently this last weekend. After evaluating the good and the bad from the 2015-16 season, Roberts sees room for much improvement during the rest of the campaign.
“I’d give us a B. I think we’ve had some A games, and I think we’ve had a couple Cs. As a classic B student, I know what that looks like. I would give us a B. I think we’ve done some really good things, I think we have some work to do. We certainly haven’t played our best basketball yet. So I’d give us a solid B,” Roberts said.
Attendance
Last Friday’s black-out game against the Beavers was a rare raucous atmosphere for the Utes playing in the Huntsman Center this season. An attendance of roughly 1,700 nearly doubled the average attendance of 824 this season. In the Pac-12, only USC is averaging a lower attendance this season.
“The attendance and the atmosphere have incrementally been getting better and better,” Roberts said in her weekly press conference. “It’s really fun to see. I know I speak for my players when I say that it makes a difference — it really does. The Blackout game against Oregon State, in particular, was a fantastic environment.”
Pac-12 Standings
The separation in the conference has begun to form with Arizona State clearly leading the way at 8-0 in Pac 12 play. Oregon State trails the Sun Devils with just one loss, and UCLA and Washington are not far behind at 6-2.
Since Utah’s recent losing streak of three games, the Utes sit in the very center of the pack at 4-4. This Friday’s matchup with USC will be an important game for both teams as the Utes and the Trojans, who currently sit in the seventh spot, just behind Utah, look to gain a foothold in the conference of champions.
After losing three straight games, the Trojans are coming off a strong performance against Cal, in which they beat the Golden Bears 61-47. Utah has yet to win a game since returning home from a four-game road stand and will look to reclaim the Huntsman Center as one of the toughest arenas to play in.
The Utes continue their homestand against USC this Friday at 7 p.m. MST.
@westinjay