Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Eastern Kentucky on March 19, 2026 , Loss , 58, to, 72
Final Score
Women's Basketball
58
at Eastern Kentucky
72
The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Lynne Roberts' Weekly Press Conference
1/26/2016 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2016
Utah Women's Basketball Press Conference
Head Coach Lynne Roberts
Jan. 26, 2016
Opening statement:
"Obviously, we had a tough weekend at home. We played Oregon State and got beat. We had a good comeback there. I was proud of my team and how they competed down the stretch. Oregon State is really, really good. I was very impressed with how they play, their style and their discipline. They execute and they're really big. They have great size and they play really hard. That's a really, really good team. We bounced back Sunday against Oregon, but came out flat, which we hadn't really done all season so that was a little bit disappointing and then played them even for three quarters. We dug ourselves too big of a hole to get out of in the first quarter. It's disappoint to play that way at home, but it's part of the process. When you play 30 games, you're going to have a game where you feel like you didn't play your best so it's part of a season. Every team I've been a part of has that game where you scratch your head and just say you didn't play your best. You're not really sure why, but you have to move on. We're fortunate, grateful, happy and relieved to be playing at home again this week. We play USC on Friday and UCLA on Sunday so it's nice to be home again and regroup while we're here."
On the team's attitude after a disappointing weekend:
"Bouncing back is underrated. You have to have the mentality of focusing on the next play. We talk a lot in our program about being able to learn what you need to do from losing, you can also learn from winning, but you just have to move on. How do you do that? We'll talk today, after not practicing on Monday because they're given Mondays off. Today we'll talk for the first time and talk about what we learned and then we just have to move on. It takes some mental toughness to not focus on it, but the same is true for winning. If you win, you have to move on. You have to think about what you can do better and how can we improve. Being complacent is the worst thing you can do when you have a long season. Winning can sometimes get you a little bit complacent, but it's the same thing, win or lose you have to move on. We have to teach them what that looks like, what does practice look like by moving on, how do we do that. For us coaches, it's just not dwelling on it, learning from it and focusing on what we need to focus on, in terms of improvement and then just moving forward."
On her teams recent play in the first quarter:
"That's the biggest thing we have to improve. In the last three games, we've been outscored 63 to 28 in the first quarter. We're shooting 25 percent in the first quarter and our assist-to-turnover ratio is something like 1.3. It's not good. How do you do that? The players need to ask themselves about how they are preparing for games, what are they thinking about in warm-ups, how intense are they and are they ready to go. This is a new thing. Conversely, we've done the opposite most of the year. As players, we have to get back to how they were preparing before that and making sure that we start it off with our best foot forward. That's nothing more than the awareness of it and really, as players, dialing it up in that first quarter. The onus is on the starting five to make sure that we start the game off right."
On the persistence of this team:
"These guys have bought into the never-say-die attitude and that's something I always want our teams to be known for. I've said this before, you may beat us but it's going to be really hard to do so. We're never going to quit and we're going to make it really hard. We're not going to win every game, but if you do beat us, you're going to walk off the floor just tired saying to yourself, ‘They were hard to beat.' This team has done a nice job with that and I'm proud of them for that for sure."
Has this team improved over the last several games?
"In some areas, yes. We have improved some of the things we're trying to work on offensively and defensively, just in terms of schemes, but we need to get better. We were better on Sunday against Oregon with our turnovers. We were better taking care of the ball. We did a nice job with that. We hadn't done that in the previous two games. In our defense, we were playing two of the best defensive teams in the country, probably in the top five statistically. You have to give credit to the other team sometimes when you're not playing well offensively. But as a program, we're continuing to improve. Unfortunately, we're in an outcome-driven industry so if we lose, you may start thinking that you're not getting better, and we have to be cautious of that just because we lost a game. We just have to keep improving, keep the foot on the gas, and I'm confident that our players are doing that."
On grading her team's performance near the halfway point of Pac-12 play:
"I'd give us a B. We've had some A games, and also a couple Cs. As a classic B student, I know what that looks like. I would give us a B. We've done some really good things, but we have some work to do. We certainly haven't played our best basketball yet, I don't think, so I'd give us a solid B."
On this weekend's opponents, USC and UCLA:
"These are two good teams. It's almost a broken record at this point, but this conference is so good. We play USC first so that's who I'm spending most of my time on. I've watched UCLA, but USC is very athletic, so is UCLA, and they're tough, too. They're very competitive. UCLA is in the top 25 and USC just fell out, but they've beaten some really good teams this year. We have to toughen up and take care of the ball. We can do some things offensively this weekend, but we're going to have to be really dialed in, intense and not take bad shots. Shot selection is something we have to continue to improve upon because if you take a bad shot, it's almost like a live turnover. Athletic teams who can get out and run will turn that into points quickly. As I've told my team, rather than take a bad shot, I'd almost rather you kick the ball out of bounds so we can get back and get our defense set. Against USC and UCLA, it will be the same thing. We have to take great shots because they'll convert on bad ones. We have to take care of the ball. USC can really get out and pressure and UCLA does too. Both of these teams are going to bring some defensive pressure, similar to Arizona State. We're going to have to handle that or it's going to be tough."
On improvement in attendance at atmosphere of home games:
"The attendance and the atmosphere have incrementally been getting better and better. It's really fun to see. I know I speak for my players when I say that it makes a difference, it really does. The Blackout game against Oregon State, in particular, was a fantastic environment. There were a lot of people there and they brought some energy to the Huntsman Center, they weren't just quiet fans sitting there. They were into it, which was fun. As a former player, and I know our current players feel the same way, it really does make a difference. When you're trying to make a comeback, having fans there makes a huge difference. For us to get where we want to go as a program in the big picture, we need to have a home atmosphere. Every program that has sustained success has a home atmosphere. I'm pleased with where we're heading. I appreciate all of the hard work of all of the people in the department who are getting behind us. It's a team effort, it's not just our women's basketball staff. It's everyone. And everyone is getting behind it. It's huge and we really appreciate it, but we just want to keep building."
On the success of the first Coach's Show live event:
"[Over 150 people at the Coach's Show live event last night] speaks to everyone getting behind what we're trying to do. We've been having the Coach's Show every Monday night in studio and those have been really fun. We've had different players on the show and it's been good for brand awareness. The show is right after the Larry Krystkowiak Coach's Show on Monday night and I've had a lot of feedback from people in the community, which is fantastic. That's the kind of brand awareness that we want and need. Last night at the 50 West Comedy Club and Café underneath the ESPN 700 studios, we had a live show with 150 fans, the University of Utah band and it really was a fun atmosphere. Our players are starting to sense that this is pretty cool. People are tracking us and all that does is motivate you as a player to work a little bit harder, do a little bit more and make people proud. That's what I've always said, I want people to be proud of our program and we're getting there. The next live show is Feb. 15 so hopefully we can get even more people out there and continue to generate some excitement."
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