(Photo credit: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
Following a disappointing weekend in northern California, ASU women’s basketball will take the next step into its full immersion into the Big 12 Conference: the start of conference play.
The Sun Devils (5-6) will begin their inaugural Big 12 slate on the road against a familiar foe, the Utah Utes (9-2). ASU head coach Natasha Adair is 0-4 against Utah in her time with the program, and despite her squad’s substandard non-conference record, she’s looking to break that pattern Saturday.
Utah’s program was thrown for a loop just weeks into the season when former head coach Lynne Roberts was announced as the new head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks on Nov. 19 and associate head coach Gavin Petersen was elevated to head coach.
Petersen didn’t miss a step despite the shuffle. After just 11 days on the job, he and the Utes picked up an impressive 78-67 win over then-No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands.
Petersen served on Roberts’s staff for the entirety of her tenure, and with Petersen leading the charge, Utah’s philosophy has remained largely the same. The 3-ball is crucial to their offensive success. Utah is third in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage at 37.8% and tied first in 3-point makes per game at 10.5.
Conversely, the Sun Devils are 11th in the conference, allowing opponents to hit 31.9% of shots from deep. Throughout the early part of the season, the Sun Devils struggled with defensive rotations resulting in open shots from beyond the arc. This is something the Utes could take advantage of if the Sun Devils’ defense continues to lag behind in that aspect.
Leading the charge on the court for Utah is junior guard Gianna Kneepkens. The former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Pac-12 selection is back on the floor after missing all but eight games in the 2023-24 season.
Kneepkens leads the Utes with 17.5 points per game, a mark that ranks ninth in the conference. She does so on an efficient 48.3% clip from the floor and an impressive 43.8% hit rate from beyond the arc.
Returning alongside Kneepkens is senior point guard Inês Vieira. Although measuring just 5 feet 6 inches, Vieira is a playmaker on both ends of the floor. She leads Utah with 5.7 assists, ranked fifth in the Big 12, and 2.1 steals per game. The 2024 All-Pac-12 Defensive Team member is a defensive pest that could create issues for a Sun Devil team turning the ball over 17.2 times a game.
In the frontcourt, Rhode Island transfer Mayè Tourè has been a welcome addition in Salt Lake City. The graduate forward is still producing at a high level despite the jump to the Power Four level. She’s averaging 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Sophomore forward Reese Ross is also finding her stride in her second year at Utah. Despite coming off the bench in every game, she leads the teams in rebounding with an average of 6.3.
Rebounding is one of the few stats in which the Sun Devils hold the advantage on paper over Utah. ASU averages 40.4 rebounds a game compared to Utah’s 35.5. Cleaning up the boards could be one way for ASU to make up the gap between its and Utah’s efficiency from the field.
Although they don’t have the prestige they’ve held in the last couple of seasons, the Utes are still a formidable squad that presents a number of challenges to ASU. With the Sun Devils coming off back-to-back road losses, they’ll look to use Saturday’s contest to pick up their first true road win of the season and open their first Big 12 slate with a bang.
