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Utah is headed to the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Seattle, Wash. and will face-off against the Huskies for the third time this season at 8:30 p.m. PT Thursday night.
RELATED: UTES LOOK TO FINISH SEASON STRONG
In the previous two games against Washington, both teams were able to snag a victory on their own home court, with the Utes winning 69-61 most recently in the Hunstman Center.
The game will be played in Key Arena located in Seattle, making it an essential home contest for the Huskies. Utah head coach Anthony Leverets said it may be difficult for thet team to walk away with a victory in that environment.
“It’s a really good team in their hometown, playing them on their floor,” Levrets said.
Paige Crozon is going up against Washington for her first time this season after being sidelined the first two games because of injury. Crozon is focusing on her shooting after not being productive from this aspect in Arizona last weekend.
Despite that, Crozon believes she can bring some energy to the team and also said the team needs to look at finishing out the season strong.
“We’re focusing on having a really good finish and having our best basketball yet,” Crozon said. “Hopefully make the championship game. Hopefully I can bring some energy and with me being back, I can be an extra body to give some rest to the other players. But we’re fired up to play.”
Utah may suffer a bit from jet lag, as it took it two plane trips to get back home from Arizona this previous weekend. Levrets said the team will need to focus on resting up for the tournament.
“It’s tough,” Levrets said. “Two flights to get ourselves home and then a quick turnaround to leave for Seattle for the conference tournament. We got to get ourselves home, get rested and get ready to play.”
After a lackluster performance in Arizona, Crozon said the entire team needs to bring their energy to Seattle and that they have no excuses, even with all the traveling.
“We need to come out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and shut down their guards,” Crozon said. “Hit some shots and be able to defend. Every team has played the same amount of games and we just need to be balanced.”
One guard they have to focus on is the Huskies’ Kelsey Plum, who averages over 20 points per game.
“We did a really great job on her last time, for the most part. Cheyenne [Wilson] and Taneya [Boclair] did a really good job on her so we just need to do the same thing,” Crozon said.
With the season on the line, Levrets said the team is going to give it their all to try and survive another day.
“It’ll be a tough one for us, but we’ll come out and compete with everything we have,” he said.
But for Crozon, the number one goal isn’t to survive, but rather come out as the champions.
“We always play well in the tournament so we’re expecting to do well,” Crozon said. “We want to win, We want to go all the way in the tournament and win.”
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