Utah will learn a lot about itself from road trip that includes facing No. 1 South Carolina
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Before No. 11 Utah embarked on its toughest road trip prior to the start of Pac-12 play in three weeks, the Utes were dealt a big blow when junior guard Gianna Kneepkens suffered a season-ending foot injury.
Even while faced with the task of finding ways to replace what the star guard brought to the court, coach Lynne Roberts stayed focused on the opportunities that lay ahead.
“We’re excited. It’s preseason still, nonconference. I’m really excited to see what our team’s made of,” she told reporters Monday before the Utes left to play at Saint Joseph’s and against No. 1 South Carolina in a neutral-site matchup.
“Sometimes with adversity, it forces you to get outside your comfort zone. When you’re out of your comfort zone, that’s when change happens and people step up. Sometimes kids who are wondering if they’re going to have an impact, now they are.”
Utah (8-1) passed its first test post-Kneepkens with a 74-48 victory on Thursday over previously unbeaten Saint Joseph’s, which was ranked No. 42 in the NET rankings before the loss and fell to No. 49.
While the Hawks overcame a miserable first-quarter shooting effort to briefly cut Utah’s lead to six in the third quarter, the Utes, behind forward Alissa Pili, took control in the fourth.
Pili ended the game with 31 points — she scored 14 straight for Utah in the fourth — to go with seven rebounds, three assists, one block and a steal.
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Next up is a gargantuan challenge: facing top-ranked South Carolina.
The Gamecocks (8-0) are a model of success in the modern era of women’s college basketball. They are two years removed from winning the national championship and have made the Final Four each of the past three seasons under head coach Dawn Staley.
Utah and South Carolina will play Sunday afternoon (12:30 p.m. MST, ESPN) in the second game of a tripleheader as part of the 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut (the day’s other two games will see No. 2 UCLA facing No. 20 Florida State and No. 17 UConn taking on No. 24 North Carolina).
South Carolina comes into the matchup No. 1 in the NET rankings — used to help determine seeding for the NCAA Tournament — while Utah is No. 3.
“I feel like we’ve been waiting a little while for these really challenging games,” Utah forward Jenna Johnson told the Deseret News on Monday. “… We knew this stretch was going to be hard. Playing at St. Joe’s, playing more towards South Carolina, it’s going to be a tough environment, but it’s going to be fun to see where we’re at.
“We’re going to have to pay for when we make mistakes and we’re going to be challenged in a good way. We’re going to see how tough we are, just get a gauge at where we’re at going into the Pac-12. That will be really fun.”
“We’re going to have to pay for when we make mistakes and we’re going to be challenged in a good way. We’re going to see how tough we are, just get a gauge at where we’re at going into the Pac-12. That will be really fun.” — Utah forward Jenna Johnson
Both teams can light up a scoreboard — Utah is averaging 96.2 points per game, tops in the country, while South Carolina is averaging 93.5, fifth nationally, though the Gamecocks have done so against stiffer competition.
South Carolina has played, and beaten, three top 25 opponents, while the Utes have faced just one top 25 team so far, losing to then-No. 21 Baylor.
Utah also leads the country in assists per game (26.3), field-goal percentage (54.8%) and made 3-pointers per game (13.9). South Carolina, meanwhile, is the nation’s best in rebounding, averaging 52.7 per game, as well as blocks (9.9), and the team gives up just 50.1 points per game.
“We’ll throw everything at them, and then see where we’re at,” Roberts said about facing South Carolina.
The post game will be especially intriguing when Utah and South Carolina play.
Pili is at the center of the Utes’ attack — she is averaging 23.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 73.6% from the floor, second nationally.
“We’re going to try and hopefully eliminate some of their direct passes into her, because once she gets you playing behind, it’s over,” Staley told reporters this week about the challenges of facing Pili. “It doesn’t matter how tall you are, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, that is what she does best.”
The Gamecocks will counter with 6-foot-7 center Kamilla Cardoso, a matchup nightmare who is averaging a double-double at 14.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, along with 3.3 blocks per contest.
Last week, Utah went up against the nation’s leading rebounder, BYU’s Lauren Gustin. While Gustin ended up with 17 points and 13 rebounds, the Utes largely neutralized her impact in the game until late, when the 87-68 victory was well in hand.
While that matchup was one that left Johnson “very tired after that game,” it’s a vital learning experience that the Utes can lean on when they face Cardoso and other top post players later on in Pac-12 play.
“We haven’t played a ton of great bigs yet, so having that test was like, ‘OK, this is what it’s going to take,’” Johnson said. “Also, we did it by committee — Alissa guarded her for a while, I guarded her. Being able to bounce back and forth with that is going to help us a lot in the future.”
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There’s still the obstacle of figuring how to replace Kneepkens’ impact as a playmaker. The first-team All-Pac-12 guard was averaging career-bests in points (17.8 per game), rebounds (5.5) and assists (3.9) while shooting 63.3% — and 54% from 3 — when she was lost for the season.
One thing that will help is getting back senior guard Isabel Palmer, who’s missed six games with her own injury. Against Saint Joseph’s, guards Kennady McQueen (11 points, three rebounds, two assists), Inês Vieira (six points, eight assists, four rebounds, three steals) and Maty Wilke (nine points, three rebounds, two blocks) all made key contributions.
“It’s going to take some time. Still trying to figure out how we can be aggressive on the perimeter and score,” Roberts said on the ESPN 700 postgame show Thursday. “Inês is playing at another level, Kennady did a nice job. I’ve got to do a good job of putting them in positions to be successful.”
Roberts believes her veteran squad, which reach reached the Sweet 16 last year and has aspirations to surpass that success, will find ways to overcome the loss of Kneepkens.
“Sometimes this is what it takes for them to be given that confidence. You kind of get shoved in the deep end and you either sink or swim. These guys are built to swim,” she said.
