Utah is heading into its two final regular season games on the road in Arizona, where it will face off against No. 10 Arizona State on Friday night and Arizona on Sunday.
The team is coming off of a split weekend after beating Oregon and losing to No. 7 Oregon State the following contest.
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After competing all night against Arizona State in their last matchup, the Utes eventually lost 58-48 in Salt Lake City earlier in the season. But even though they lost by double digits, Utah head coach Anthony Levrets knew his team gave it their all the last time out against the Sun Devils.
“We played really well here against Arizona State,” Levrets said. “We really felt like we had a chance to win. Then the last two minutes of the game we missed a couple of baskets down the stretch and it ended up being 10 because we fouled. But it was a one possession game the whole game.”
Taryn Wicijowski, who is winding down towards the end of her career at the U, said the entire squad is looking forward to traveling this weekend.
Wicijowski also mentioned that since the team put up a good fight against ASU the first time around, they are eager to get back out on the floor and take it to the Sun Devils.
“We’re pretty confident,” Wicijowski said. “And with ASU, it was a close game, they’re obviously very good. I think just not being scared [will help]. I don’t think that we’ve done that really all season, but just having our confidence, knowing that we gave them a good game last time and that we can do it again.”
Lately, and for a majority of the season, the Utes have struggled with maintaining their leads. However, the first time Utah played the Wildcats in the Huntsman Center, Utah was on the winning side after dominating the Wildcats for the majority of the night, with the final score being 62-48 in favor of the Utes.
Wicijowski said the team feels confident with their preparation against the Wildcats since it worked so well the first time the two teams met. She also mentioned that as long as the team is giving it their best effort, they can put on a good show.
“With Arizona, we won last time, so we feel like our game plan and everything was good,” Wicijowski said. “Just kind of do the same thing and compete really hard, work really hard. Then we can do well this weekend.”
Wicijowski went on to mention how the team also needs to stay focused throughout the duration of the game and not slide into any slumps where they do not score for extended periods of time.
Although the season is coming to a close with little chance of qualifying for a postseason tournament, Levrets said the team continues to put in hard work each day in the hopes of achieving more.
“I know it sounds crazy, but we try every single day just to get better that day,” Levrets said. “Hope by the time it’s Friday night, you’re good enough to beat whoever you’re playing and do the same thing for Sunday. We’ll just try to keep getting better at the things, mostly offensively, that we need to do to win the game.”
@kbrenneisen