With the 2013-14 campaign being an up-and-down season for Utah, the team is hoping the second half of the year will bode better than the first.
The team is healthy and riding momentum gained from a couple good games played against solid Pac-12 teams. Head coach Anthony Levrets says it all started with traveling to Pullman and beating a Washington State team that had yet to lose a conference game until the Utes came to town.
“I think going to Washington State and winning that game for us was huge,” Levrets says. “It was a big win for us. We lost to Washington by one, and you could spiral. But we hung in there and went up against a team that was undefeated [in conference] at the time and then come back here and compete like that against a team like Arizona State. You feel like you can play with anybody, it is just a matter of finishing off the game.”
Utah took the wind out of Colorado in a recent 58-55 win Wednesday night, making it the third win in the last four games for the Utes. Utah will face off against the Buffaloes again on Sunday in Boulder at 12 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Levrets mentioned before their win Wednesday that the second game gets interesting because of how the teams know each other from the previous game.
In the first game against Colorado, Utah was able to depend on its shooting for most of the night. Big performances from senior forward Michelle Plouffe and junior guard Cheyenne Wilson, combining for 25 points and nine assists, helped Utah down the stretch in the closing minutes. Wilson felt like it was time for her to come forward and play her best both offensively and defensively.
“Towards the end of last year I knew my role but was still trying to decide what I liked,” Wilson says. “I took more pride, in my defense, because I knew I could be that defensive stopper. I was like, ‘Somebody has to step up.’ ”
The Utes held the Buffaloes to their third-lowest scoring game of the season with 55 points. Colorado, who was averaging 71.6 points per game going into Wednesday’s matchup, was also held to 36 percent shooting from the field, including zero percent beyond the three-point line.
Utah’s early shooting and its defensive effort at the end of the game helped them to overcome early turnovers and Colorado’s domination under the basket, as over half of Colorado’s points were from in the key. Colorado’s senior guard Brittany Wilson was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points and was eight-for-eight at the free throw line.
“In no way, shape, or form are we a perfect, seamless group right now,” Levrets says. “But we are getting better, and we do have enough parts to win basketball games.”
Last season, the Utes were able to win seven of their last 10 games. With nine contests remaining, Utah finds itself in a comfortable rhythm, hoping to finish this season in similar fashion to last year’s, starting Sunday afternoon against Colorado.
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