Utah Coach Gavin Petersen, Players Have Praise For Indiana Women’s Basketball Success

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Indiana will meet Utah at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday in the Columbia, S.C., sub-regional. The No. 9 seeded Hoosiers and No. 8 seeded Utes share more than mid-level seeds.

While Utah has almost twice as many NCAA Tournament appearances as Indiana – 21 to 11 – they’ve run in similar circles in recent years.

Indiana has been to six straight NCAA Tournaments while Utah has been to four straight. Indiana’s deepest run in the tournament was an Elite Eight appearance in 2021. Utah made it to the Sweet 16 in 2023. Both programs have spent time in the Associated Press Top 5 in the 2020s.

Both programs are also trying to break through to bigger things. That won’t be easy with No. 1 seed South Carolina looming on Sunday for Friday’s winner.

Indiana and Utah have never played each other, but that doesn’t mean there’s unfamiliarity. Utah coach Gavin Petersen has a lot of respect for Teri Moren and what Indiana has accomplished in recent years.

“Teri and her coaching staff have done a phenomenal job over the last six, eight years. They've been really good,” Petersen said. “They've been hosting the first and second rounds at their place. We got to do that one year. They've multiple times. So credit to them and their program and continuing to be in that upper part of the Big Ten. So hats off to them.”

Petersen took over as Utah coach four games into the season after Lynne Roberts left Utah to take the head coaching job with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. It’s his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach, and he’s excited about the Utes’ opportunity.

“We're fired up just to be able to get that opportunity to play a team like this,” Petersen said. “Hopefully it's a good up-paced style of play, which I believe it's going to be. And then three point shooting. Both teams have remarkable three-point shooters, and I'm sure they're going to try to take away ours, as we are theirs. It's a chess match in that regard.”

Indeed, both teams rank in the top 20 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage. The Utes (37.1%) rank 14th; Indiana (36.7%) ranks 18th.

“They can shoot the ball well. They move the ball well. So we know what's ahead of us, but we're prepared,” said Utah guard Gianna Kneepkens, a 45% 3-point shooter.

Utah forward Maye Toure brought up a trait that’s not often associated with the Hoosiers.

“I think they're a very physical team overall. Obviously, we watched them and know our focus and what we're – we have to do for the game,” Toure said.

One thing Indiana does well is make its free throws. The Hoosiers rank 10th nationally with a 78.9% percentage. Utah is not a team that fouls a lot, but they are wary of letting Indiana live at the free throw line.

“We want to make sure we're very disciplined, we do our work early, and then free throws are a part of it. We just can't give them 27 free throws. If we can hold them to under 15, that's still just a small part of stopping them,” Petersen said.

One thing Petersen values is stability in his rotation. Utah has only switched its starting lineup twice in the 2024-25 season. Moren also rarely switches up the starting lineup. The only non-injury-related starting lineup change Indiana has made is starting Karoline Striplin in place of Lilly Meister.

“You want to just try to find a groove, find a rhythm with the one thing remaining that those players are continuing to work hard, to buy into game plans, and get us off to good starts,” Petersen said.

“No one ever, in our opinion, gets out of the starting lineup because of an injury. A lot of times that person gets put right back in, and we pick up with where we left off,” Petersen continued. “It's very important because the synergy and the connectivity that those starters have to have is very important, especially to get off to good starts.”

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