Utah will try to advance past the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament for the first time in its past four trips to the postseason tournament when it hosts San Diego tonight at the Huntsman Center.
After a long season of traveling throughout the West, the Utes are playing their best of late, and the team is thankful for the home game not only to play in front of their fans, but also to not have the burden of another exhausting travel schedule.
“The first thought was not even getting to play in the Huntsman Center, but, ‘Thank goodness we don’t have to go fly somewhere else right now,’ ” said head coach Anthony Levrets.
The Utes (19-13, 8-10 Pac-12) have lost in the second round the last three appearances in the WNIT. The home game will allow them to rest during the weekend and be able to get three full days of scouting because they don’t have a travel day.
“Traveling is just tiring and it takes time,” Danielle Rodriguez said.
She said by this time of year, everyone is jet-lagged and the home game is a break for their bodies.
Rachel Messer, who scored nine points in their opening-round win, gets to have at least one more home game as her career comes to a close this season.
“Any postseason game is important and fun to play,” Messer said. “It just makes it that much more special that we get to come home and play again.”
The home-court advantage will be welcome against a tough Toreros squad. San Diego (23-9, 12-4 WCC) defeated Hawaii in the first round and comes to Salt Lake City on a mission. The team lost in the Final Four of the WNIT last season, and it has every intention of making it back this year.
“San Diego is a really good basketball team,” Levrets said. “It’s nice when you’re going to play anybody to be at home, but when you’re playing a good team, it’s even better to be at home.”
The Toreros are led by All Big-West guard Amy Kame. She averages more than 15 points per game and has led San Diego to wins in 14 of its last 17 games.
Even though the Toreros are in what is considered a weaker conference, the Utes aren’t changing their playing style, although they’re done competing with Pac-12 opponents.
“Anybody can upset anybody,” Messer said. “We don’t really look at it like they’re in the Big West. The postseason feels equal at this point.”
San Diego made it to its conference tournament championship game and only lost back-to-back games once this season.
“We can’t take them for granted no matter what conference they’re in,” Rodriguez said.
The Toreros aren’t the only streaking team that will play tonight. The Utes have won eight of their past 11 games, and things are starting to finally click between the players deep into the season.
“We’re re-committed to playing together and relying on each other,” Messer said. “Every game is important to us, and everyone needs to do their job and contribute.”
Rodriguez said the team chemistry has been the best it’s been all season, and when they collaborate on the court, the W’s come as a result.
Another catalyst for the recent success is Michelle Plouffe. She has nine double-doubles this year and moved into ninth place on Utah’s all-time scoring list last game with 1,466 career points. She has led the team in scoring in nine of their past 13 games.
Game tip-off is at 7 p.m.