Shorthanded Utes go into Pac-12 women’s tournament looking for everyone to step up

Perhaps somewhere in the depths of numerology there’s an all-encapsulating explanation of the significance of the number eight to the Utes women’s basketball postseason hopes. They finished the season with eight conference wins, earned the No. 8 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and likely will go into the postseason with eight healthy players available.

The number of players available plays most significantly into the plans of Utah coach Lynne Roberts, who has prepared as though the team’s two leading scorers — all-conference forward Megan Huff (14.5 points per game) and junior wing Daneesha Provo (13 ppg) — will not be available due to injury when Utah (17-12, 8-10) begins tournament play against ninth-seeded Colorado (14-15, 5-13) at 12:30 p.m. MT Thursday in Key Arena in Seattle.

“[This past weekend] everybody kind of did a good job of saying OK, I’ve got to do this a little bit more, I’ve got to do this part, I’ve got to step up a little bit more here, did kind of whatever was needed,” Roberts said. “You haven’t played this position all year, but we’re going to need you to play this position. It’s going to be the same thing, the same kind of mentality. It’s just kind of next man up. I don’t anticipate it being a problem. We’ll be excited to play. We’ve got some good senior leadership, and they don’t want this to end.”

Neither Provo, a junior wing, nor Huff, a junior forward, played over the weekend in the team’s Southern California road trip, and neither participated in practice Monday. Both were still in walking boots, at least part-time, as of the start of the week. The Utes, who have used just 10 players this season, may have to pick their spots to run in transition to limit fatigue with a short bench.

Despite the absence of Provo and Huff, the Utes took both USC and No. 10 UCLA to overtime before losing on the road. The USC loss came on a buzzer beater. The Utes take a measure of momentum from the weekend performance.

“We’re a competitive group,” Roberts said. “We want to go far regardless of what other people’s expectations of us are. I don’t need anyone telling me this is what we think because I’m always going to have a higher standard for what we want to do, even though it’s maybe naive to think it. We’re down to eight kids. I still think I’m going to coach and they’re going to compete like we can beat anybody.”

Tay BoClair, a senior who shifted from starter to coming off the bench this season, and Tilar Clark have stepped into the starting lineup with Huff and Provo out. Clark has averaged 10 points per game in the past three games, including 12 points against USC.

The Utes figure to lean a little more on senior forward Emily Potter and freshman guard Tori Williams, who rank third and fourth respectively in scoring. They combined for 37 of the team’s 71 points against UCLA.

“Everyone has got to take a little more and put a little more on themselves to cover for Huff and Daneesha because they were our two top scorers,” Williams said. “Everyone just has to take on a little bit more, and I think we’re doing a good job of that.”

Potter, who publicly acknowledged her struggles with depression last week in an effort to open a wider dialogue, has averaged 19.5 points and 11.8 rebounds per game while shooting 58 percent in the past four games.

Williams, a highly touted recruit from Idaho, scored a career-high 29 points in the Utes’ final home game against Washington, and she tied the record for 3-pointers made (seven) in a game in the Huntsman Center.

“I was going in confident with my shot because I’ve been working on it, but also it helps when your teammates are giving you really good assists,” Williams said about her breakout performance. “It’s just fun playing with this team because we all share the ball so much and we always like making that extra pass.”