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SALT LAKE CITY — Lynne Roberts' team controlled a 9-point lead at halftime against Washington State on Sunday, but there was one stat that gave her pause.
Utah had only one offensive rebound and was outrebounded by Washington State by four in the first half. It was a trend that Roberts didn't think faired well for her team that, up until that point, lacked the connectedness she'd seen all season from her roster. And Roberts made sure it was a point of emphasis in the locker room.
"I think I said if we finished the game with two offensive rebounds we were for sure going to lose, like you're gonna lose and you'll regret it, so change how we're doing it," Robert recalled. "We're too good to just go through the motions and hope we win."
Her team got the message and got eight offensive rebounds to help the team to 9 second-chance points in the second half. It was a relatively simple thing, but it showed how Roberts' team has responded to adversity over the season, whether of their own doing or not.
Sophomore guard Gianna Kneepkens collected nine rebounds on her own in the second half to help the Utes close the gap and build upon the team's lead over the visiting Cougars. While not a solo effort, Kneepkens stepped up to fill a need for the team — Roberts also pointed to Jenna Johnson for her ability to get offensive rebounds to help the team.
It's a team, Roberts said, that will do anything it can to continue to win. There's no set roles or assignments that only one or two players need to fill, it's a team-wide effort to help it reach its goal of winning as many games as possible this season.
That collective goal has worked well enough for Utah, who recorded its 22nd win of the season on Sunday, which ties the all-time win total at Utah in the Pac-12 era, and has pushed the Utes to a No. 4 ranking in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll — the highest in school history.
Utah women's basketball is going places.
The Utes have four games left in the regular season — the season finale features a home game against No. 3 Stanford, of which Utah is tied in the conference standings with — before the postseason Pac-12 Tournament, and what's assuredly a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the ability to host the first two games at the Huntsman Center.
Even when the NCAA released its initial projections for the top 16 seeds for the postseason tournament — Utah received a No. 2 seed as the sixth-highest ranked team in the country — the day before Utah welcomed Washington to town on Friday, the team's focus remained on the game. The distraction of the high standing in the country was absent.
"This team is incredibly focused and not on the wrong stuff. It's been interesting," Roberts said on Friday. "The 16 teams were announced last night to host, and they weren't talking about it. Their focus was on beating U-Dub. I'm impressed with that, I really am. Just keep staying in the moment, stay present."
Roberts said it hasn't been difficult to keep her team focused this season. Although a young team, Utah carries over the majority of its roster from last season that exited the NCAA Tournament in the second round and felt it had more to give. Though a cliche, the team had unfinished business and knew they could do better.
The experience of last season, in which Utah made a surprise run and made it to the Pac-12 championship game, served as a backdrop to a season where Utah has only lost two games — one of which to perennial power Stanford — and has gotten MVP numbers out of USC transfer Alissa Pili.
While easy to point to Pili or Kneepkens, or any other player on the team, as a star and the reason for Utah's success, each defers to the collective unselfishness of the team that has allowed it to be so successful this season.
"I think it's just the kind of people that are on the team," Pili said. "Everybody's just really — does what they're supposed to do, box out distractions and stuff like that. The thing that makes this team just special is that, like I've never been a part of a team that's just so focused on the same goal and will do anything to just play at our best, if that involves some sacrifices or being unselfish and things like that."
Roberts agrees with her dynamic player, who infused a physicality and energy to the program that was lacking at times a year before. While everyone has played a role in Utah winning, Pili has been one of the biggest helps to the team's ability to get better. But she remains one of many.
"I think everybody has bought into just us winning, and it's not about me getting mine," Roberts said. "They're going to make the extra pass, they're going to work for each other. ... We're playing at a high level right now in terms of moving the ball and sharing it and shooting very high percentages."
It's a team that has supreme confidence going into the final stretch of the season that includes a road tilt against No. 18 Arizona and that season finale against Stanford in what could be the deciding game for the conference standings. But it's a confidence, Roberts said, that she trusts.
Her team, she said, has "earned" it by winning tough, close games against Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, and even an overtime game against Oregon State on the road in which Utah gave up a double-digit lead. It's all shaped a team peaking at the right moment as it soon shifts gears into postseason play.
"I think confidence has to be earned," Roberts said. "You can't just want it, and I think these guys have earned it. They've earned the right to be confident. And it's a slippery slope to arrogance, but that's not who these guys are. That's just not who they are as people, so I don't really worry about that. We just have to stay focused on the next game."
And given that Utah is two years removed from a five-win season and few expecting much out of Roberts' team at the time, Utah has earned the right to be confident this season and to enjoy the historical ride the team is on. There's still more for the Utes to prove, but they're confident they have the right makeup to see it through.
