The end of the regular season is here, and no one knows it better than the Utes, who are on a mission as they enter their final two games this weekend. They plan to grab the attention of the NCAA before invitations to this year’s WNIT 32 are sent and to improve their standings in the conference before the Pac-12 Tournament begins — they’re on a mission to win.
Utah closes the final weekend of Pac-12 play against Washington and Washington State, respectively — the same two teams against which the Utes opened conference play. In early January, Washington State and Washington visited the Huntsman Center, both teams looking to open conference play with a strong road win in Salt Lake City. However, the much-improved yet still unproven Utes, who had turned heads in the preseason, squashed both Washington teams’ hopes and went 2-0 against them.
Much has changed for each of these teams since Utah defeated them. Washington has established itself as an upper-tier Pac-12 team with a 9-7 conference record. Junior guard Kelsey Plum, who dropped 35 on the Utes in their last matchup, has established herself as the Pac-12 leading scorer, third in the nation, putting up nearly 27 per game. Washington State, on the other hand, has struggled since the beginning of conference play, posting a 4-12 record, but is coming off a narrow defeat of Arizona.
Head coach Lynne Roberts thinks her team has improved tremendously since the start of the year and could talk endlessly about the changes she sees in her players.
“I think we’ve improved defensively. We’ve improved our rebounding. Our shot selection and turnovers have continued to improve,” Roberts said.
Currently the Utes sit comfortably in the seventh spot in the Pac-12, one game ahead of USC and two games behind Washington. Should the Utes lose both games they could easily slip to the eighth spot. Should they pull out a sweep of both Washington teams they could potentially jump to the sixth spot.
The top four teams of the conference receive a bye in the first round of the tournament, held in the former stomping grounds of the Seattle Supersonics, Seattle’s Key Arena. Teams slotted five through 12 are then matched up according to their respective standings, fifth place facing 12th place, sixth place facing 11th place and so on.
As it sits, Utah would face Cal in the first round of the tournament, a matchup Utah would gladly take, as they swept the Golden Bears this regular season for the first time since joining the Pac 12.
While seedings and bracket berths are tantalizing, Roberts has the Utes focused on the task at hand and their upcoming game against Washington.
“We always look a game at a time,” Roberts said. “Your focus has to pick up. If you want to win in March you have to be really dialed in and focused.”
With a disappointing loss to Stanford on Senior Day last Sunday, Utah is looking to get rid of the taste of the loss with another win against Plum and her Huskies this Thursday, quickly followed by a matchup with Washington State on Saturday before tournament play begins on March 3.
@WestinJay