As No. 22 Utah looks to replace McQueen after injury, focus turns to No. 12 Kansas State

SALT LAKE CITY — In an instant, an expected victory suddenly became secondary to veteran guard Kennady McQueen writhing in pain on the court after being intentionally fouled late in a game in which Utah women's basketball beat Iowa State 75-67 on the road.

McQueen's painful screams could be heard on the television broadcast, and it was clear her injury was serious. Was her season over — especially as she grabbed her left leg?

Moments earlier, the same thought occupied Utah's mind as Gianna Kneepkens also suffered an injury to her knee that had many reminiscing her season-ending injury last season.

Kneepkens ended up being OK and checked into the game minutes later to the relief of all — none more than her parents who sat courtside and looked anxious as she was attended to on the court.

McQueen's injury was different.

But after fearing the worst, McQueen should be back with the team soon-ish.

"No update on timeline," Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said Tuesday. "It's not broken, which is the good thing. I think high ankle sprain is the preliminary result right now. I think there's going to be more done by our medical team. I would estimate a few games, at least, missing — maybe longer — but we'll have her back this season, and that's the plan moving from here."

That's good news for the long-term goals for a veteran Utah team looking to make a splash in the Big 12 and an eventual NCAA Tournament run, but McQueen's absence will hurt short-term as Utah is without one of its primary scorers and top talents.

Maty Wilke will replace McQueen in the starting lineup for the immediate future, and is more than capable of making up the difference left by McQueen's absence. But it will have an impact on the team's depth as Utah taps freshmen players to fill the secondary-minute void.

"Our program has been blessed with having players like Maty Wilky able and ready to roll," Petersen said. "She started games for us last season when an injury occurred, so there's no really big surprise there. She's going to easily slide into that role, and we shouldn't miss much of a beat.

"What we're going to miss a beat is just in terms of our experience coming off the bench," he added. "But, you know, good time for our freshmen to grow up, and they're going to get an opportunity to play, so excited to kind of see what they do with the opportunity."

Though Utah would rather not be in the position it is without McQueen — especially as No. 12 Kansas State comes to town Wednesday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) — the team learned to be adaptable to the moment after Kneepkens suffered her season-ending injury.

Nobody knows that better than Wilke.

"I think it just shows how well our team can adjust to adversity," Wilke said. "I mean, this is just another thing that happens. We love Ken, and Ken's gonna be there supporting us and helping us however she can, on the bench, too, but I think it's just gonna test how well we can bounce back from any adversity, which I think we've done a lot this season so far."

Wilke said it will take "everyone stepping up just a little bit and doing a little more," but it's a team that is connected and playing together, and as long as they continue that connectedness, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to replace McQueen temporarily.

"Losing Ken is a really big impact to our team, and not one person is going to fill her shoes. ... So for me, it's just being confident doing what I'm doing the whole season, and then just a little more of that," she added. "So we'll definitely miss Ken for however long she's out, but it's gonna take the whole team to make up for what we'll miss from her."

And Kansas State won't give Utah any pity. The Wildcats are hungry to steal a victory away from Utah at the Huntsman Center and remain near the top of a Big 12 that features four teams — including Utah — ranked inside the Associated Press Top 25.

"I think it's an exciting matchup. ... So great opportunity for us to, again, test ourselves, to see where we are here in January," Petersen said. "But it's one game. The result? We're going to let that take care of itself. We're going to show up, we're going to be prepared, we're going to compete, and we're going to play hard.

"I think this team deserves our fans to really get behind them, because it's a fun group to watch. ... We have had some people in Utah uniforms — Jenna Johnson, Ines Vieira, Kennady McQueen. Those guys have given their all to this program and have turned it into what it is today, and we're not going to have them next year, so take advantage of coming out and seeing some great basketball by these young women, and don't lose an opportunity to come see them."

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