After beginning Pac-12 play 1-1, ASU basketball will hit the road for two games against the mountain schools. Today, a scouting report on the Utah Utes.
Arizona State faced the toughest opening weekend schedule in the Pac-12 having to play a pair of ranked teams in Stanford and California. The Sun Devils went 1-1 falling 64-57 versus Stanford and defeating Cal in double overtime 72-62.
The victory over the Golden Bears was a big one to instill confidence and belief that they can win in tight games. It’s only the beginning of what should be a highly competitive conference season.
Next up for head coach Charli Turner Thorne’s team is a trip to face the mountain schools. First, ASU will head to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes.
The Utes are sitting at 12-1 and 1-1 in Pac-12 play. The Utes have been one of the surprise stories in the country after a remarkable turnaround under head coach Lynne Roberts.
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Utah went undefeated in non-conference and received votes in the AP Poll last week. The Utes went to southern California to face UCLA and USC and split the two games.
The Bruins defeated the Utes 67-56 last Friday as UCLA proved to be too much in Utah’s toughest game of the season up until that point. UCLA led 56-38 after three quarters with Utah outscoring UCLA 18-11 in the fourth quarter.
Forward Emily Potter led the way for Utah with 20 points and 4 rebounds and guard Erika Bean came just two rebounds short of a triple-double finishing with 10 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds.
After the UCLA defeat, Utah traveled to face USC and came away with a 58-53 win overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit.
Guard Malia Nawahine led the team in scoring with 17 points to got along with 6 rebounds, with Potter adding 16 points and 7 rebounds.
It was an important for Utah to win the final game of that road trip to build some confidence as Utah will host their first conference games of the season.
Utah centers their team around Potter, but with the production from others like Nawahine and Bean, it takes some of the pressure off Potter. Last season, Arizona State was able to focus most of the energy on stopping Potter, but now they will have to worry about the other players alongside of her.
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Arizona State versus Utah is Friday at 7 p.m. MST and the game can be seen on Pac-12 Network.