Stakes are high as BYU women’s basketball team visits Utah

On Saturday afternoon, the BYU and Utah women’s basketball teams will face off for the second this season. This time, Big 12 seeding and a potential NCAA Tournament appearance are at stake for both teams.

Both the Cougars and the Utes are sitting at 17-10 on the season and, according to most outlets, are on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.

Just three weeks ago, when BYU staged an incredible second half comeback to beat Utah 77-65 in Provo, it looked like both teams might get at-large bids come March. But both the Utes and Cougars have had stretches since that Jan. 31 game that they would like to forget.

“There’s lots of things that we can do better and lots of things we need to improve on,” BYU guard Delaney Gibb said about the Cougars’ current form. BYU has lost four of its last five, with the only win in that stretch coming from an impressive 14-point victory over Iowa State. The Cougars’ Big 12 record sits at 6-9.

In the win against Utah in January, Gibb scored eight points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. It was the first time that BYU had beaten Utah since 2021.

“When you win in the rivalry, it just tastes sweeter than most wins,” BYU coach Lee Cummard said following BYU’s victory over Utah.

For the Utes (8-7 in the Big 12), a loss would almost certainly knock them out of contention from landing an at-large bid, something that they don’t want to make a habit of.

“[Making the tournament] is the expectation of this program,” said Utah coach Gavin Peterson, who’s been on the Ute coaching staff for four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. “We’re not trying to break into the tournament. We’ve been there, done that … that’s the standard.”

Utah, once safely in the field of 68 earlier in the season, has dropped three of its last four games. The Utes are now the “first team out” according to ESPN’s latest bracketology.

The last time these two schools played at the Huntsman Center, Utah had one of the all-time plays of any sport in the rivalry’s history, when Maty Wilke’s half-court heave swished through the net at the buzzer for a Utah victory in 2025.

The importance of that moment — and the rivalry — is not lost on Wilke, who averages 10.6 points per game as a senior leader for the Utes.

“Obviously the shot was great, but I think the one thing that stood out to me was how many people it affected,” Wilke said about her memorable half-court short in 2025. “It’s bigger than my one shot, it’s bigger than me scoring three points, it was bigger than that one possession of the game. It was great for our team, but also for the state of Utah and all the Utah fans … it felt like all of Salt Lake City won.”

Saturday’s game will be Wilke’s last regular season game against BYU in her career.

The Utes and Cougars will tip off Saturday at 2 p.m. MST. The game will air on ESPN+.