After losing to Alaska-Anchorage last week in an exhibition game, Utah head coach Anthony Levrets said his team didn’t handle “crisis” very well.
The Utes were up 17-1 on the Seawolves midway through the first half when Utah’s star forward Taryn Wicijowski went down with an injury, something the Utes didn’t react to very well.
“I think the gas got let out of us. That’s not an excuse, but then they got going, and we didn’t respond to their intensity and their pressure,” Levrets said.
By the time Wicijowski came back onto the court, the Utes’ 16-point lead had disappeared. From a tactical standpoint, Alaska-Anchorage’s zone defense threw off Utah’s offense. Levrets was quick to take the blame for the loss.
“They are a man-to-man team and always have been — we had spent one day on zone offense,” Levrets said. “They came out and played a crazy zone. By the time you play your regular season, you should have four or five different ways to attack a zone. We had one thing, and it wasn’t good for what we were seeing.”
The players are looking to turn their disappointing performance into a motivational tool for the rest of the season.
“We are a lot more motivated, and we definitely have a chip on our shoulder,” said redshirt sophomore Paige Crozon. “Losing is never fun, and it was tough. We have high hopes for the season — we have recovered and we have had a few good practices.”
Something that has caused worry for Levrets is that Utah could not get the ball down low, as Wicijowski only registered two field goal attempts in the game against the Seawolves.
“We have to do a better job of moving her [Wicijowski] and getting her into spaces to where she can catch the ball,” Levrets said. “She needs to be more selfish, and when the ball comes inside, she’s gotta go make a play.”
On a positive note, Utah shot an impressive 11-22 from the three-point line in the exhibition match.
Wicijowski is aware of her team’s three-point shooting strength and said the team needs to get more inside-outside action to set up better looks for the Utes shooters. Levrets echoed his forward’s feelings.
“I think one of the strengths of this team is our wings’ ability to shoot the basketball, our point guards, one of their biggest strengths is that both of them can shoot the basketball,” Levrets said. “I don’t think that’s an issue. It’s the organization full court when teams are trying to be frantic that we gotta make sure that we’re better in.”
Next up, the Utes get to play San Jose State in their first official game of the season. Utah will be at home in the Huntsman on Friday evening when it tries to stop 2014-15 preseason Mountain West All-Conference team member Ta’Rea Cunnigan, who averaged 18.4 points per game last year for the Spartans.
SJSU is coming off of its exhibition game as well, beating UC Santa Cruz 99-53. The Spartans had six different players in double figures.
“I want to see a massive improvement in our press attack and playing at the speed that we want to play at and getting the ball where we want it when someone’s trying to not make us do that,” Levrets said.
Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. MT on Friday evening.
 
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