As basketball season begins, the Utah women’s team looks to start off strong with a win against Montana State on Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Huntsman Center. Head coach Lynne Roberts has some high expectations for her team in the season opener.
“Aside from winning, what I really want to see is improvement,” Roberts said at a recent press conference, “In our exhibition game, we saw some things that were good, and we saw some things that we need to get better at.”
Specifically, Roberts wants to see improvement on the boards.
“We need to get better at rebounding,” Roberts said. “Rebounding is a huge thing for our program. That’s something I want to see improved.”
The two teams last met in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) earlier this march. While the Utes won that match-up handily, Roberts knows her team can’t take any game for granted.
“They’re picked to win the Big Sky conference this year,” Roberts said. “We played them last year in the WNIT, and on paper it looks like they are better than they were last year. They just keep getting better. It’s going to be tough, and it will be a competitive game.”’
This season will be a good test for the ladies in red, as they lost one of their starters, and they are coming off their best season in a couple of years. Last season was Roberts first at the helm, and the Utes posted an 18-15 record, marking their first winning season since 2013.
In their recent exhibition game against the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the Utes had a smothering defense, and they held the opposing team to just 42 points. In the metric that Roberts hoped to improve — rebounding — the Utes won the battle of the boards, 46-28.
The Utes were also effective from all distances, scoring easily and efficiently. Overall, the Lady Utes shot 50 percent from the field, 43 percent from beyond the arc, and they were perfect from the charity stripe, knocking down all 15 of the team’s free throws. Junior Tanaeya Boclair led all payers in scoring, and she dropped 26 points in 19 minutes. Boclair was also the team’s most efficient player, going 9-of-10 from the field, including an outstanding 6-of-7 from downtown.
The Utes also won the battles of assists, blocks and steals.
After the exhibition game and all the practices up to this point, Roberts thinks her team is ready to get started.
“I think every player is just ready to start playing,” Roberts said, “They’re sick of the coaches. They’re sick of the practices. They’re ready for games. You put in so much work and so much time in the off-season thinking about games. I think everyone is a little anxious and excited to get going.”