Utah women's basketball: Utes motivated, focused for matchup with Colorado


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah women's basketball team has struggled as of late to maintain its impressive start to the 2015-16 season, dropping five straight games at home to fall to 12-9 and the bottom half of the conference. It wasn't supposed to be this way, especially after starting the season 10-0 inside the Huntsman Center.

While head coach Lynne Roberts is not one for excuses, the stretch that the Utes just went through may have been their hardest of the season. Playing 30 basketball games in a season can be taxing physically, but the middle of the long season also becomes a difficult time for the players mentally.

"The hardest time to get a team to focus is the middle of January because the tournament and postseason is not really in sight yet," Roberts said. "It's not really on your radar and the newness of the season has worn off so the middle and end of January is the tough time … Basketball season is a long season. It's hard mentally and physically for players and coaches."

That said, January has come and gone, and the team will play its first game in the month of February on Thursday when the Utes host Colorado in the Huntsman Center. Utah has the opportunity to wipe the slate clean of its recent struggles and find its way back in the win column before heading on the road for the next three games.

Not only that but with each passing contest, the Pac-12 picture is becoming increasingly clearer. The vision of being a contender in the conference tournament is slipping away, but the Utes can get back into the swing of things with a strong performance against the Buffaloes on Thursday.

"Once February hits, there's a little bit of adrenaline that kicks in because the postseason is in sight," Roberts said. "I'd be shocked if we had to motivate this team to get them to focus. These guys want to win."

With the postseason near, the motivation is increased, but that doesn't mean problems don't arise. Because it is so close, players, and sometimes coaches, can find themselves looking ahead to the postseason, rather than focusing on the opponent that night.

Roberts and Utah will be looking to avoid that issue and instead focus on the incremental steps they can take from game to game.

"There isn't an exact formula for that," Roberts said of preparing for the end of the season. "Rather than focusing on March, we have to focus on this week and Colorado. We have to get a little bit better than we were last week to succeed in these games. It's about building blocks."

That first block is a meeting with the underrated Buffaloes, who play much better than their record indicates, according to Roberts. Colorado is sitting in dead last in the Pac-12 with a 1-9 mark in conference play but has played well as of late, beating a USC squad last weekend that Utah failed to beat just days before.

The Utes know this won't be easy, and if that they need to play up to their potential if they want to walk away with a win.

"They've been in every game, they're really good," Roberts said. "What we can't do is think that they're not as competitive as they are because they can punch us in the face and beat us."

Utah will be looking to end its five-game losing streak on Thursday in the Huntsman Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST.


Twitter: @GriffDoug

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