SALT LAKE CITY — At 9% shooting and just 8 points in the first quarter, the Utah women's basketball team had an uphill battle against No. 19 Texas Tech in the Huntsman Center Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Utes, there wasn't much that went right after a week off.
Utah managed just 32 points through three quarters and trailed by as much as 35 as the Lady Raiders dominated the Utes in a 77-49 victory on the road, bouncing back from a 12-point loss to BYU on Wednesday.
"I think our kids had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder from the last two games — nothing necessarily toward Utah, but just how they've been playing," Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich said. "And I thought that we came out with a really good focus and a really good intensity, and jumped on them early, which you have to do on someone's home floor."
Texas Tech (20-2, 7-2 Big 12) shot 52% from the field and was 45% from 3-point range on 20 attempts, while outrebounding Utah (14-6, 5-3 Big 12) 34-25. And it was Snudda Collins off the bench who torched the Utes with a game-high 28 points, including going 6-of-7 from 3-point range.
"I think Snudda really took it to heart, and I thought she played really within herself; she played at a really good pace," Gerlich said. "She didn't try to force shots early, she took what the defense gave her. ... When she's knocking down threes, it's really hard to defend her, because you've got to guard all three levels with her."
Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said his team had some missed assignments on Collins — including going under on screens instead of over — which allowed her to gash the Utes.
"We are always going to play, probably, not a perfect game," Petersen said. "In this case, she made us pay for not being perfect."
Utah simply had no answer offensively Saturday night, making only three 3-pointers — the first with 3:31 left in the game and the second about a minute later. both from Maty Wilke — after averaging 9.4 makes this season, which is good for 10th in the country.
In all, Utah finished the night shooting just 33% from the field in the losing effort.
"It felt disconnected. It's difficult knowing what you're capable of doing as a team," Utah's Reese Ross said. "And so when you go out there and it's not going exactly how you want it to go, it can cause emotions and frustrations, but a lot of it comes from passion."
Ross led the way for the Utes with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Lani White topped the double-digit scoring mark late to finish with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting in an off night for the team's leading scorer.
But for as bad as Utah's offense was Saturday night, it was the defensive effort — or the inconsistent effort — that Petersen emphasized most after the loss.
"Unfortunately, with our team this year, our 3-point field goal making dictates our intensity on defense," Petersen said. "It should not be the case, but doesn't matter what I want. As a matter of fact, that's what it is.
"When you're disconnected offensively, like you tend to rush threes, you tend to say, 'Am I open' or pass up threes," he added. "And so that's where I feel like was the biggest hurdle for us, was just kind of finding our rhythm, which never really occurred till probably too late in the game at that point."
Utah found a bit of a rhythm late in the game, but by then was already down by more than 30 points. And Texas Tech refused to give an inch in a disjointed second half that featured several jump balls and fouls to slow the game down.
"They were the more hungry team from the jump, and they got us out of our rhythm early," Petersen said. "Very uncharacteristic, unconnected basketball team on our part for that entire first half.
"But sometimes you play with that pressure, and making shots sometimes becomes a little harder to do," he added. "It's already hard enough, but we're a good 3-point shooting team, so we've got to get through that pressure, or playing tight, and that's something that we've got to talk about, discuss and put that in the past."
