Utah 74
St. Joseph’s 48
Revisit the LaLooshian exchange in which media says: “In the absence of one of your best players, who needs to step up?”, and then the coach tries not to roll eyes before replying: “They all do”.
In the case of the Utah women’s basketball team, stepping up to fill a Gianna Kneepkens-sized hole is harder than it appears at a glance, because Gianna’s one of those players who makes everyone better.
With the exception of Alissa Pili — the one-in in Utah’s four-out, one-in schemes — Kneepkens created the most space on the floor with multi-directional movement, and then with the exception of Ines Vieida (whose primary job it is), Kneepkens enabled Utes teammates to use that space with the most assists.
In other words, before Utah can take one step forward in Gianna’s absence, they’re taking two steps back. At St. Joseph’s Thursday, the team got its first taste of what they’re up against.
74 points was their lowest total of the season — they were terrible in the loss to Baylor, when they put up 77 — and 18 assists on 28 made field goals is their worst rate since Baylor.
The most immediate beneficiary of Gianna’s minutes is senior forward Dasia Young (she’s the most logical option, considering that ‘guard’ and ‘forward’ labels don’t mean as much to Utah as they do to most teams), who put herself back on the bench with two early fouls.
The next guard in Utah’s rotation — following Vieida/Palmer and McQueen/Kneepkens (Jenna Johnson is somewhere between 2.5 and 4.25 in the traditional 1/2/3/4/5 scheme) — is sophomore Lani White, and I don’t think I’m too unfair in singling her out as the player whose immediate improvement Utah might need most.
In Utah’s last 8 games, White has contributed 9 points and 9 assists. To feel worse about this, see Teya Sidberry at Boston College, where she’s playing 27 minutes, averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds. Lani White’s emergence as a freshman was perhaps Sidberry’s primary motivation to enter the portal, which might go forgotten in Lani would, say, get her crap together.
I think St. Joseph’s was a worst case — no one stepped up (freshman Matyson Wilke, maybe), but the group stepped back — and #1 South Carolina in two days was going to be a tough road under the best circumstances.
I don’t even think getting blown out is the greatest danger. The worst hazard for Utah vs. South Carolina would be (as it was against Baylor) failing to play as a unit, then the ‘singular hero’ mind setting in for three months.
I still have Gonzaga at Cal to watch, for which I make the visiting Bulldogs a slight favorite, while they’re still high from beating that team they thought was Stanford.
Gonzaga 78
UC Berkeley 70 OT
Gonzaga’s biggest lead before the overtime was 4. The Bulldogs made 7 turnovers in 45 minutes, though maybe you’re inclined to expect that from a starting five of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year seniors.
Brynna Maxwell rebounding a Kemery Martin miss sounds like a 2021 Utah practice. Maxwell made a 4-point play in the 4th quarter (while neither team led by more than 3); Martin was not much of a factor for three fouls in 18 minutes.