Utah will head to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to play Oregon State and Oregon in the final two games of the regular season. Two wins would mean the Utes would finish with a .500 record in Pac-12 play and would carry a lot of momentum into next week’s conference tournament in Seattle.
“Our kids know that these games [this weekend] are big for us and our postseason hopes,” said Utah head coach Anthony Levrets.
After losing their first six conference games of the season, the Utes have righted the ship in winning seven of their past 10 games, and they are playing their best ball of the season.
Their first stop is in Corvallis, Ore., against an Oregon State team that is in the midst of a 10-game losing streak. In the teams’ first meeting 19 days ago, Utah won 66-40 as Iwalani Rodrigues and Michelle Plouffe combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds. The Utes held Oregon State to 29 percent shooting while shooting 48 percent themselves.
Despite the dominating fashion in which Utah (16-11, 7-9 Pac-12) beat the Beavers, the Utes aren’t changing their outlook for this weekend, especially since Oregon State only lost to No. 6 Cal by two points on the road last week.
“We have to go in there and compete and not expect it to be the same outcome as it was here,” Levrets said. “We have to find a way to win.”
Michelle Plouffe reiterated her coach’s mind-set of not expecting to be handed a victory.
“We can’t underestimate them,” Plouffe said. “We need to forget about how we already beat them.”
Utah’s last stand of the season will take place Sunday afternoon in Eugene, Wash. The Utes will take on the Ducks (4-24, 2-14 Pac-12) in Knight Arena. Oregon has eight losses in its last nine games and has only won three of its 14 home games. In the first meeting in Salt Lake City, the Utes crushed the Ducks 67-47 and had 18 points off 14 Oregon turnovers.
Plouffe knows Utah will have to have a strong defensive effort this weekend in order to end the regular season on a high note.
“They are both good rebounding teams,” Plouffe said. “We can’t give them any second-chance points, especially at [their] home.”
In addition to playing solid defense, Utah has to remain focused on this weekend alone. They can’t look ahead to the conference tournament starting next Thursday.
“We started talking about the tournament a month ago,” Levrets said. “It isn’t distracting to play in these games. It’s fun.”