WBB: No. 8 Utah to face No. 9 Washington to begin Pac-12 Tournament

It's a battle of the 8 and 9 seeds on Thursday with the winner facing No. 1 seed Oregon in the quarterfinals

It wasn't the flourish to end the Pac-12 regular season that the Utah women's basketball team was hoping for. 

After pulling off the home upset against then-ranked No. 21 Arizona State two weekends ago, the Utes headed down to So Cal for games against USC and No. 8 UCLA — and it didn't go as planned. A heartbreaking loss to the Trojans was followed up by a dismantling at the hands of the Bruins, putting the Utes in eighth place in conference standings at 6-12 on the year.

Utah now has another chance at redemption when it begins play in the Pac-12 Tournament this week at the Mandalay Bay Center in Las Vegas. 

The bracket for the #Pac12WBB Tournament is out, and @UTAHWBB plays UW in Vegas this Thursday at 2 pm PT.

Tickets: https://t.co/ayJ3QPo0jm#goutes pic.twitter.com/KI3Sx8GXH1

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) March 2, 2020

The No. 8 Utes will face No. 9 Washington on Thursday afternoon with tipoff set for 3 p.m. MST. The winner's prize will be getting to face No. 1 Oregon on Friday at 3 p.m. MST.

“That’s quite a prize, right? You win, you play Oregon,” said Utah coach Lynne Roberts. “We’ve played them tough in years past. This year, we’ve haven’t been as competitive in the two games we played them, so if we do play them again, I look forward to the chance to do so.”

The Utes and Huskies met once earlier this season on Feb. 7 up in Washington — a 74-65 victory for Utah. 

As a team, Utah went 11-for-27 from beyond the arc while limiting the Huskies to 4-of-17 from three-point territory. Kiana Moore had 11 points off the bench, helping pace Utah's reserves with 28 points.

Brynna Maxwell, in her homecoming back to her home state, led a very balanced Utes offense with 16 points. Point guard Dru Gylten's three-pointer early in the first quarter gave the Utes a 5-2 lead, an advantage they wouldn't relinquish the remainder of the game.

New school record for 3-pointers made. ✅

With 240 3’s this season, we’ve now beat the 18-19 season record of 239.

And... We’re still goin. 😎 #GoUtes // #Elevate pic.twitter.com/9yWsew8W7f

— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) March 2, 2020

Getting that win over the Huskies, especially on the road, gives Utah a lot of confidence heading into the postseason tourney.

One thing Roberts believes that the Utes have going for themselves is that they were able to stay down in So Cal following the loss to UCLA on Sunday before heading to Vegas on Tuesday. This allowed the team a much-needed rest day, and a day to just be together and get their minds right. 

“I’m grateful to our administration for letting us do it, it actually saves money. ... We planned it, and academically, we’ve got everything covered," Roberts said. “It allowed the kids to just relax, have a day together; they had some fun. We’ll see how we play, but as of now, everyone seems a lot more rested, energized and the batteries are a little more full with all that travel."

Regardless of how Utah fares in the Pac-12 Tournament — unless the Utes win it all and make the NCAA Tournament — it's widely expected that the season will be over following the conclusion of this tournament.