After the Utes swept Colorado two weeks ago, beating the Buffs handily in both games, Utah looked to parlay its confidence and momentum into more success on the road as the team traveled to the Pacific Northwest to face Oregon and Oregon State, respectively. While Utah knew Sunday’s matchup against No. 8 OSU would be a tough one to get, the Utes zeroed in on Friday night’s game against Oregon, calling it a “redemption” game after losing to the Ducks in the Huntsman Center last month.
Unfortunately for the Utes, they were unable to steal a win against either opponent.
Head coach Lynne Roberts met with media on Tuesday morning, where she discussed the state of the team heading into its final homestand of the regular season. With just four games left in the regular season — two of those coming in Salt Lake — the year is almost over for the Utes.
However, for a team still hopeful of making a postseason run, there’s no time like the present.
“This is the teeth of our schedule in terms of conference play,” Roberts said. “We have two really good teams coming in [Cal and Stanford], as is the case for every conference game … Our last two games at home [in the regular season] so there is some emotion that goes with that for our seniors.”
Nakia Arquette, Katie Kuklok and Dani Rodriguez will all suit up for their final regular season games in the Huntsman Center this weekend. As if the added emotion of senior night were not enough for the final homestand of the weekend, Utah faces two talented teams in Cal, who had previously ranked as high as 21st in the nation, and No. 15-ranked Stanford.
The Golden Bears, who were hot to start the year before conference play, currently rank behind Utah in Pac-12 standings at 3-11 in Pac-12 play. Stanford is ranked fourth in the conference at 10-4 and boasts one of the Pac-12’s best defenses.
Boclair continues to improve
Roberts also discussed the burgeoning play of San Antonio native Tanaeya Boclair. In Sunday’s loss to the Beavers, Boclair put up 10 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and tallied three rebounds as well.
Roberts has liked what she’s seen from the athletic wing this season, citing continued improvement and focus.
“Over the last two or three weeks, I’ve noticed a shift in her intensity and focus. She’s playing with a little more drive right now, which is fun to see,” Roberts said. “As of late, the one thing that I’m really relying on her for is that she has really become a great rebounding guard. She’s really bought into that. It’s difficult to keep her off the floor because she rebounds so dang hard.”
Potter on the rise, again
In addition to Boclair’s improved play, Roberts also touched on the continued rise of Utah’s leading scorer, Emily Potter, who is averaging a double-double for the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds per game. Defenses have zeroed in on Potter, bringing a physical game against her. Recently, Potter has struggled to stay out of foul trouble, but her performance on the floor hasn’t waned.
Opposing teams are really keying in on her, and that’s the No. 1 thing on their defensive game plan — to try and slow Potter down — but she’s done a good job of handling that.
“[Potter] could be really, really good,” Roberts said. “She could get drafted [in the WNBA].”
Roberts also related her excitement in having a full off-season to train with Potter, who spent most of last season rehabilitating a knee injury.
“We really didn’t get an offseason with her because [Potter] was coming back off an injury of her ACL, so this upcoming offseason will be huge,” she said. “What she has accomplished this year in light of that is pretty dang impressive.”
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