Utah Women’s Basketball Heads to LA for Final Road Trip of the Regular Season
University of Utah’s Women basketball victory against the Arizona State University’s Sun Devils at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2020. (Photo by Kenny Taboada | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 27, 2020
The University of Utah women’s basketball team (13-14, 6-10 Pac-12) hits the road for the final two games of their regular season before heading to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Utes recently snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over No. 24 Arizona State (19-9, 9-7 Pac-12) on Sunday. The Utes need to grab some wins for seeding in the Pac-12 Tournament and a potential NCAA Tournament bid. A strong performance this weekend will go a long way towards determining their place in the postseason.
They head to USC (14-13, 6-10 Pac-12) on Friday for their first game of the weekend. This is a big one. USC holds the same conference record as the Utes. If they finish with the same record, it goes to a tiebreaker based on the head-to-head record. If the Utes win on Friday, they will have beaten USC twice this season.
Even if they finish with the same record after both teams play their final game, the Utes would own the higher seed. If they lose, the head-to-head is 1-1, and the Utes would need a win over No. 9 UCLA (23-4, 12-4 Pac-12) and a USC loss to Colorado (16-11, 5-11 Pac-12), in which case there is another round of tie breakers involving opponent win percentage. All of this to say, the game is very important for the Utes, and a win would guarantee them the advantage in seeding over USC for the Pac-12 Tournament. The win over the Trojans earlier in the year was very close at home, 67-65, and both teams have a lot to play for this time. Expect it to be a close battle. The Utes are 6-10 against the Trojans all-time and have lost four of the last five.
After that, the Utes will face UCLA on Sunday. UCLA is currently third in the Pac-12 and is fighting for playoff positioning with No. 4 Stanford (24-4, 13-3 Pac-12). UCLA is a great team and will be motivated to show out on their last home game of the season. The Utes are 2-15 against the Bruins all-time, and those two wins were the first two matchups ever. Utah hasn’t won since 2001.
The Utes have a tough weekend ahead of them, but it will serve well as a final tune-up before the Pac-12 Tournament. With teams across the league worried about seeding, it will be a great weekend of hoops ahead. Buckle up, because tournament season is upon us.
