How to enjoy, what to be expecting when Arizona women’s basketball travels to Utah

The sixth-ranked Arizona Wildcats got a scare from the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday evening, but they survived to continue being unbeaten on the 12 months. That keeps them atop the Pac-12 conference for now simply because they have played extra meeting game titles than Stanford or Oregon, the other two unbeaten teams in the league.

© Photograph by Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Visuals

The Wildcats head into Salt Lake Metropolis to participate in a Utah Utes group that sits at 2-3 overall and 1-3 in meeting perform. COVID-19 concerns within just the method kept the Utes from getting any tune-up game titles in advance of meeting engage in commenced, though they have given that performed a non-convention recreation from Montana State.

The Utes are taking part in really uneven basketball so significantly this yr. The ebb and stream shows at the period-large degree. On the activity level, their encounter against Arizona State on Friday was one more representation of that.

Utah begun their year versus Oregon. No one can blame them for having blown out by a Major 10 staff in their initial match of the period.

There was comprehensible pleasure when the Utes rebounded from that decline to defeat then-No. 15 Oregon State in their next match. That earn however carries some excess weight, but it has shed some of its shine as the Beavers have gone on to lose two additional, which include Saturday’s decline to a Washington Point out crew that was projected to finish previous in the league by both the coaches and the media.

Because that earn, Utah has a 10-issue get in excess of Montana Condition, a blowout decline to Colorado and a collapse that led to a decline to ASU.

As a staff, the Utes are scoring 59.8 factors for each match. The even larger trouble is that they are offering up 72.6 details. It is correct that the loss to Oregon leads to that normal to skew a little bit, but a double-digit for each-game deficit is still a worry.

Very last year, the excursion to Utah was designed with Aari McDonald unavailable because of to injuries, Cate Reese in and out of the crisis area, and the whole staff on Tamiflu. The respond to to that was a 31-issue offensive explosion from Sam Thomas, who also ran the issue for a lot of the sport. Thomas was one particular of 4 Wildcats (such as Reese) in double figures that night as Arizona put collectively a 16-position victory.

This year, Utah is led by reigning Pac-12 Participant of the 7 days Brynna Maxwell. At 13. points for every match, Maxwell is the only Ute averaging double figures. The sophomore guard also averages 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 helps and 2. steals per match.

Dru Glyten, Maxwell’s mate in the back again courtroom, is averaging 7.8 PPG though capturing a team-large 40 percent from outdoors. The Utes’ point guard leads the league with 5. helps per contest.

“Utah, good shooters, run a lot of diverse on-ball things, so we absolutely have to do excellent decide on-and-roll defense and protect the shooters nicely, which we did at periods tonight,” Arizona head coach Adia Barnes mentioned right after the workforce defeated Colorado. “It’s going to be a hard game and the second video game in this article is often a challenge, but I assume that we’re prepared.”

Due to the fact Utah joined the Pac-12, Arizona has in no way received far more than two games in a row against the Utes. A acquire on Sunday would give the Wildcats 3 straight victories.

How to check out or stick to the sport

• When: Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020 at 12 p.m. MST
• In which: Jon M. Huntsman Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah
• Television: Pac-12 Networks
• Radio: Derrick Palmer on KTUC 1400 AM or on the internet at TuneIn
• Stats: In-match stats are available at Arizona Reside Stats
• Twitter: Comply with us at @AZDesertSwarm. You can also adhere to our editor at @RKelapire and our reporter at @KimDoss71 for protection during the activity and in the course of the time.

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