This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There is no lid, and if there were a lid over the basket, it wouldn't change anything: Utah's women's basketball team has drawn front, back and side iron, or missed the rim altogether.
Eight times this season — including Sunday, in a 73-54 loss to Colorado at the Huntsman Center that dropped the Utes to 6-11 and 0-6 in Pac-12 play — they've shot 37 percent or less.
But the expression, that Utah just needs to "take the lid off the basket," reflects the team's feeling that it has the ability to shoot better. It just hasn't.
Whether it's mental, physical, or a little bit of both, shooting is something the Utes can correct — unlike the injuries and illness that have decimated Anthony Levrets' lineup.
After first losing to the Buffaloes in overtime on Wednesday, the Utes' characteristically stingy defense held Colorado's high-powered offense to just 35 points with 13 minutes remaining in the second half Sunday.
But then the lid came off at the Buffs' end.
Colorado (9-8, 2-4 Pac-12) — led by 18 points, five rebounds and four assists from senior guard Lexy Kresl and 8-for-14 3-point shooting— did not relent, and for the first time that Levrets can remember this season, his team began to look defeated.
"We've walked out of here with losses, but we've walked out of here feeling like we competed our butts off every single possession," Levrets said. But, "it wears on you to go through the stuff that we've gone through."
It's a growing list: The loss, due to injury, of Emily Potter, Katie Kuklok, Malia Nawahine and Devri Owens — all expected to receive significant minutes before the season started. Team-wide bronchitis. And, earlier in the week, a re-aggravation of a neck injury that caused constant and often severe headaches for sophomore Paige Crozon for the better part of the last two years.
And yet at least four of Utah's conference contests were winnable if they could have hit a few more shots — not ill-advised shots, but the type of shots they see fall regularly in the gym.
Junior point guard Dani Rodriguez, who scored 14 points and added four assists in a spirited effort Sunday, admitted it hasn't helped that illness has limited their practice time of late.
Utah didn't score for more than five minutes of Sunday's game, and when Colorado clogged the lane to deny senior forward Taryn Wicijowski — who had 29 points and 14 rebounds on Wednesday and just six points and three boards in the rematch — Utah's perimeter shooters were unable to make the Buffs pay.
Still, a Tanaeya Boclair runner tied the game at 32 in the second half before the Buffs ended on a 41-22 run.
Simply put, said Rodriguez, "they wanted it more."
Asked if that reflects Utah hitting a breaking point of if it's an aberration, Levrets said, "It had better be."
The Utes visit Washington State on Friday and Washington next Sunday. Two-thirds of their conference slate remains, and so does a measure of hope, Rodriguez said.
"It can easily be turned around. It's all mental. We just have to be tough."
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Storylines
• Colorado routs Utah 73-54 at the Huntsman Center • Colorado shoots 8-14 from beyond the arc • Utah shoots for less than 37 percent from the field for the eighth time this season