The 2025 Utah Utes lost three of their last four, while senior guard Kennady McQueen is out with an ankle sprain.
The 2024 Utes ended their season with an NCAA second-round loss to host Gonzaga. They played their last 30 games without junior guard Gianna Kneepkens, lost to a broken foot.
Last year, the Kneepkens injury spoiled on-court chemistry. Transfer Matyson Wilke and freshman Reese Ross flourished under pressure of extra minutes, but the Utes were like a car with a bad timing belt: The car runs, but its performance suffers because it’s firing on all cylinders.
McQueen’s ankle injury also ruined team chemistry. Using the same analogy, the car runs, but the driver feels underpowered, and also insecure about arriving safely.
That compounds the car’s problem, and in four games without Kennady McQueen, it manifests as turnovers.
That’s how I felt, without science, and it pleased me how I extended that analogy, but I might’ve been stuck had anyone said: Dude, do you have any data to support that.
12/14 at Washington
Should have been an in-Pac12-conference game, and Utah was resilient. The Huskies got the first quarter 20-11, but the Utes hit back 20-9 in the second. The Huskies led again after a 21-9 third quarter, but Utah countered more strongly for a second time, outscoring Washington 27-7 in the fourth, and winning 67-57.
Utah had 72 possessions, 10 of which ended in turnovers, then 2 points for Washington. The points-after-turnover margin was +13 in a 10-point victory. Using the turnover rate formula turnovers x 100 / FGA+FTAx0.44+TO:
McQueen
1×100 / 9FGA + 0FTA + 1TO = 10.0
Rest of team
62×100 / 43FGA + 8.4FTA + 9TO = 14.9
Everyone took care of the ball that day (Johnson and Wilke had 0 turnovers in 49 minutes). McQueen was slightly better than the rest of the team, with 1 turnover in a team-high 33 minutes.
12/21 vs. Arizona St
The Sun Devils haven’t been very good for a while. Utah shot 55%, +15 rebounds, +7 points after turnovers, 102-82 final.
All I remember about that game? Lead official Barlow smiled once while the ball was out. Never met her, sure she’s a lovely person, always looks like she’s working the NCAA final.
Kennady had 3 of the team’s 12 turnovers.
McQueen
3×100 / 8FGA + 0FTA + 3TO = 27.3
Rest of team
9×100 / 58FGA + 12.8FTA + 9TO = 11.3
12/31 at Arizona
On New Year’s Eve, the McKale Center was about empty, which reminded me how blue that place is.
The Wildcats have pressed since Coach Barnes took over, but they no longer have an Aari McDonald to lead them on both ends (the Los Angeles Sparks tendered restricted free agent McDonald an offer, of which I approve, because the Sparks should make a Pac-12 all-star team, with the next gets Pili from the Lynx and Iriafen from UCLA). Nonetheless, Utah made a season-high 21 turnovers — the home scorer credited Arizona with 8 steals, but I thought it was fewer than that, and this game was the first in an alarming stretch of fumbling games.
Points after turnover was 11 each, though Utah made 9 more turnovers than Arizona. Even if the Wildcats had turned those into 10 points, the final would’ve been 69-58.
McQueen
2×100 / 5FGA + 0.44FTA + 2 = 26.9
Rest of team
19×100 / 41FGA + 6.6FTA + 19 = 28.5
1/5 at Iowa St.
Coach Petersen gave ESPN an excellent answer to its question about how Utah would deal with big, strong ISU post Audi Crooks. Coach said we had a player like that — Alissa Pili — who would get hers, and the trick was to contain everyone else.
These days, when Gianna Kneepkens takes over a game, it makes me wistful for what could’ve been last year. If the opposing team’s plan was to concede Pili hers while containing everyone else, good luck containing Kneepkens.
Crooks did get her 29, while Emily Ryan added 18, but the other Cyclones shot 7-for-25, suggesting Utah executed that part of the game plan.
In their first game against a leading opponent in conference, the first six players in Utah’s rotation played 179 of 200 minutes.
The memorable McQueen highlight was when she was alone in the forecourt following an ISU turnover, and while most other players will attempt to attack the basket to earn a couple of free throws, Kennady crossed the 3-point line, surveyed the defense, stepped back across, and dropped a 3.
We had two scary moments. When Gianna hit the floor, wasn’t your first thought also: ‘Oh, no, her foot’? Kennady was decked late in the game, and she’s not back yet.
McQueen
0x100 / 7FGA+0FTA+0 = 0
Rest of team
14×100 / 48FGA+5.2FTA+14TO = 20.8
1/8 vs. Kansas St.
Kansas State is like a convoy of huge trucks running behind schedule, a big team that plays cohesively and fast. It’s a treacherous road for small vehicles — Utah couldn’t get good shots; Ines Vieida had 0 assists, the team shot 3-for-19 3FG.
Had the day gone well, I wanted to ask Coach Petersen about a projected return date for McQueen, but I gave Coach an out, saying: After that loss, if he doesn’t feel like talking, I get it.
11×100 / 60FGA+3.96FTA+11TO = 14.67, which is a quite acceptable turnover rate, whereas the FG% 30.0 was the real story.
1/11 at Houston
Houston forward Peyton MacFarland had a very bad game, though I rooted for her to show us we’re missing a lot. (Had she or Kelsey Rees stayed at Utah, sure, their minutes were down because of Pili, but what about this year.)
Utah’s 28-23 halftime lead was eye-raising, but the 41-29 second half was more like it.
15×100 / 65FGA+3.1FTA+15 = 18.1
1/14 vs. Baylor
14 turnovers in the first half (5 in the first 3:20, trailed by 9 at halftime, and by 9 at the end. How about that, the points after turnovers differential was -9.
The Baylor loss left a sour taste that lingers.
21×100 / 59FGA+3.96FTA+21TO = 25.0
1/17 vs. TCU
I think Texas Christian has the talent (and the feel-good narrative) win the national championship. We helped them retain their unbeaten record in conference by committing 11 turnovers in the first half, and falling behind 45-21.
The 49-36 second half made the final score look respectable, and it’s most easy to speculate about where our team would be if not for 36 turnovers against Baylor and TCU.
The players in the photo header on this blog are Kennady McQueen and Jenna Johnson. They’re two of my favorite players, and while Kennady is gone with a sprained ankle, I also miss Jenna, who scored 12 points in those four games. Sure, we can say Jenna’s being asked to focus on interior defense and rebounding, but those 12 points came on 6-for-21 shooting. 0-for-7 3FG, 0-for=1 FT.
15×100/55FGA+68FTA+15TO = 19.5
What do the season numbers look like?
McQueen
14×100 / 115FGA+3.6FTA+14TO = 10.6
Rest of team
272×100 / 961FGA+118.3FTA+272TO = 20.1
Kennady turns the ball over about half as often as the rest of the Utes, but that says more about the kind of player she is. Not in traffic so much (8FTA in 14 games), and the ball isn’t in her hands for too long before she shoots a three or makes a layup. Perhaps see her team-best 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio as a more significant indicator of how much the team misses Kennady McQueen while she’s not playing.