Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball at Colorado State on December 4, 2025 at 6:30 PM
6:30 PM
Women's Basketball
at Colorado State
.png&width=31&height=31&type=webp)
The University of Utah Athletics
Lynne Roberts Press Conference
12/14/2016 1:38 PM | Women's Basketball
Opening statement
"I'm happy to be back here. It's finals week right now so we're giving the players a little bit of a reprieve so they can focus on the reason they're here, school. Practices have been really light and Thursday they'll pick back up to get us ready for our game Saturday against Weber State. We're coming off a good week as we went on the road to Nevada and won then hosted our big rival, BYU, and won that game too. We got things clicking offensively at Nevada, which is fun to see, we were really on point offensively and we've been on point defensively and that was no different. The BYU game had a really great atmosphere and great crowd so that was really fun. I think it gave us a boost that we had been looking for, in terms of clicking on both ends of the floor. BYU is a really good team and an NCAA Tournament team so it was a good win for us. I'm happy with our team and we're sitting at 9-0. I'm looking forward to playing Weber State Saturday at home."
On keeping team basketball-ready during finals week
"I've done this before, but finals week is hard. I think the key with finals week is to make sure to keep the players engaged, but give them the time and space to focus on what they need to focus on for their academics. We took Monday off, Tuesday we did some running and shooting, and today we'll go for about an hour to an hour and 20 minutes. I think they just need to get in and get out so they can stay engaged. If you try to do too much during finals week, it ends up hurting their school and practices aren't' really good. Today will be good, we'll compete and get up and down the floor. By Thursday, most of them are done with their school work so we'll start game planning. It's a balance of making sure they're connected and engaged, but also giving them space to focus on school."
On keys for Weber State
"Weber State is having a good year at 6-3, playing BYU really tough on the road. They're athletic and they're able to press, run and shoot the three. Those are the dangerous games. We know they're going to be up to playing us so we've got to match that energy and emotion. The game plan doesn't change too much. We're going to be really good defensively, not give them open looks in transition and not give them open threes. If Weber gets comfortable from the three, they're good. We have to be really good defensively and offensively, take care of the ball. We can't give them live ball turnovers because that's when they get out and run. Nothing changed too much for who we're playing in terms of what we want to do as a team."
On team offensive
"It's taken a little bit of time for us, but it's good. We have new players, two new points guards and four returning starters. Joeseta (Fatuesi) is back and playing a really big role. Everyone else who's playing is pretty new and that takes time to click offensively. It's been fun this past week because I feel like it's really starting to come together. I think the key is, and I've said this in these press conferences before, is making sure we're taking great shots. That's really all you can do. From an offensive coaching stand point, creating opportunities for the right players to take the right shots at the right times and for the players to understand that is going to help. It's starting to click, which is exciting because we're going to need that for every game and practically as we head into Pac-12 play."
On top 10 rankings in defensive categories
"We put a lot of effort into our defense. Gavin Petersen on our staff is our defensive coach and he does a hack of a job. He does a really good job of getting out players to understand concepts other teams are doing, not necessarily learning every set a team has. It's more of what the opponent likes to do, where they're effective and here's what we're going to do to limit that. From a strategic stand point, that's really played a part in our success. We have length, athleticism and depth which adds up to being a pretty good defensive team. If you have subs you're able to do more such as press for 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes, which comes with depth. We also have Emily Potter in the center. She leads the conference in blocks and the shots she's not blocking, she's altering and that adds up to field goal percentage defense too. You add those together, the coaching strategies from Coach Petersen, our depth and athleticism, and Potter whose kind of an anchor, that adds up to a pretty good defensive team."
On Emily Potter
"She's really good and this is something that's kind of annoyed me this season, the lack of recognition that she gets. I looked this morning at the Pac-12 stats, She's seventh in scoring (16.8 ppg), second in rebounding (10.1 rpg), third in offensive rebounding (3.4 orpg), fourth in field goal percentage (64.2 percent) (with second post attempts on that list), 11th in free-throw percentage (78.6 percent), first in blocks (3.1 bpg) and she really gets no recognition. We say, and I think it's proven, we have the best conference in the country. You have a player who gets all those stats and she really gets no recognition, it isn't right. I think our conference is keyed in on a few players and those are great players so I'm not saying they shouldn't be, but Potter shouldn't be an afterthought. She's better than that. It kind of ticks me off that she's not getting the national recognition that she deserves and earned. We just have to keep winning games and she has to keep doing what she's doing. The best thing about Potter and the reason why I love her is that she doesn't care (about recognition). I care, she doesn't care, she just wants to win games. Maybe it's because people are saying we're not a good team, but we're 9-0. Our RPI is 10th in the country. The fact that she isn't getting any ink or publicity isn't right. She's having a heck of a year. She had a great offseason, she's been working her tail off. She's a big reason why we're having this success."
On Erika Bean's leadership as a sophomore
"She's done a great job, she really has and she's very coachable. That's what I love about Erika, she wants to be good. I can get on her pretty hard and she response. She's very smart so she gets things and she's still learning. The BYU game is a great example because she had a great game. The last two minutes, they pressed and Erika relaxed a little and we turned the ball over a few times at the end. She apologized after the game and she's learning. Next time that happens (press), she's smart enough to not let that happen again. She's done a great job. She's averaging seven assists a game and that's a lot. She is doing a great job getting everyone involved. She needs to continue looking for her shot because she can score, but she's a pass first point guard. I'm really proud of her and she's done a really good job."
On continuing to win
"You know as well as I do, I'm not going to take too far ahead of the one in front of us and we have a really good Weber Stat coming in here Saturday. We host Northern Arizona next Wednesday. We're going to take those one at a time then our nonconference season is over. Certainly we'd like to win both of those as we head into Pac-12. We just got to keep getting better and keep improving. We open at UCLA on Dec. 30 who's rank No. 9 in the country so it gets real, real quick. I'm looking forward to that. We've had a good nonconference season and we need to keep it rolling. The Pac-12 conference is as good as ever and I think six teams in the top 25 and two receiving votes this week."
"I'm happy to be back here. It's finals week right now so we're giving the players a little bit of a reprieve so they can focus on the reason they're here, school. Practices have been really light and Thursday they'll pick back up to get us ready for our game Saturday against Weber State. We're coming off a good week as we went on the road to Nevada and won then hosted our big rival, BYU, and won that game too. We got things clicking offensively at Nevada, which is fun to see, we were really on point offensively and we've been on point defensively and that was no different. The BYU game had a really great atmosphere and great crowd so that was really fun. I think it gave us a boost that we had been looking for, in terms of clicking on both ends of the floor. BYU is a really good team and an NCAA Tournament team so it was a good win for us. I'm happy with our team and we're sitting at 9-0. I'm looking forward to playing Weber State Saturday at home."
On keeping team basketball-ready during finals week
"I've done this before, but finals week is hard. I think the key with finals week is to make sure to keep the players engaged, but give them the time and space to focus on what they need to focus on for their academics. We took Monday off, Tuesday we did some running and shooting, and today we'll go for about an hour to an hour and 20 minutes. I think they just need to get in and get out so they can stay engaged. If you try to do too much during finals week, it ends up hurting their school and practices aren't' really good. Today will be good, we'll compete and get up and down the floor. By Thursday, most of them are done with their school work so we'll start game planning. It's a balance of making sure they're connected and engaged, but also giving them space to focus on school."
On keys for Weber State
"Weber State is having a good year at 6-3, playing BYU really tough on the road. They're athletic and they're able to press, run and shoot the three. Those are the dangerous games. We know they're going to be up to playing us so we've got to match that energy and emotion. The game plan doesn't change too much. We're going to be really good defensively, not give them open looks in transition and not give them open threes. If Weber gets comfortable from the three, they're good. We have to be really good defensively and offensively, take care of the ball. We can't give them live ball turnovers because that's when they get out and run. Nothing changed too much for who we're playing in terms of what we want to do as a team."
On team offensive
"It's taken a little bit of time for us, but it's good. We have new players, two new points guards and four returning starters. Joeseta (Fatuesi) is back and playing a really big role. Everyone else who's playing is pretty new and that takes time to click offensively. It's been fun this past week because I feel like it's really starting to come together. I think the key is, and I've said this in these press conferences before, is making sure we're taking great shots. That's really all you can do. From an offensive coaching stand point, creating opportunities for the right players to take the right shots at the right times and for the players to understand that is going to help. It's starting to click, which is exciting because we're going to need that for every game and practically as we head into Pac-12 play."
On top 10 rankings in defensive categories
"We put a lot of effort into our defense. Gavin Petersen on our staff is our defensive coach and he does a hack of a job. He does a really good job of getting out players to understand concepts other teams are doing, not necessarily learning every set a team has. It's more of what the opponent likes to do, where they're effective and here's what we're going to do to limit that. From a strategic stand point, that's really played a part in our success. We have length, athleticism and depth which adds up to being a pretty good defensive team. If you have subs you're able to do more such as press for 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes, which comes with depth. We also have Emily Potter in the center. She leads the conference in blocks and the shots she's not blocking, she's altering and that adds up to field goal percentage defense too. You add those together, the coaching strategies from Coach Petersen, our depth and athleticism, and Potter whose kind of an anchor, that adds up to a pretty good defensive team."
On Emily Potter
"She's really good and this is something that's kind of annoyed me this season, the lack of recognition that she gets. I looked this morning at the Pac-12 stats, She's seventh in scoring (16.8 ppg), second in rebounding (10.1 rpg), third in offensive rebounding (3.4 orpg), fourth in field goal percentage (64.2 percent) (with second post attempts on that list), 11th in free-throw percentage (78.6 percent), first in blocks (3.1 bpg) and she really gets no recognition. We say, and I think it's proven, we have the best conference in the country. You have a player who gets all those stats and she really gets no recognition, it isn't right. I think our conference is keyed in on a few players and those are great players so I'm not saying they shouldn't be, but Potter shouldn't be an afterthought. She's better than that. It kind of ticks me off that she's not getting the national recognition that she deserves and earned. We just have to keep winning games and she has to keep doing what she's doing. The best thing about Potter and the reason why I love her is that she doesn't care (about recognition). I care, she doesn't care, she just wants to win games. Maybe it's because people are saying we're not a good team, but we're 9-0. Our RPI is 10th in the country. The fact that she isn't getting any ink or publicity isn't right. She's having a heck of a year. She had a great offseason, she's been working her tail off. She's a big reason why we're having this success."
On Erika Bean's leadership as a sophomore
"She's done a great job, she really has and she's very coachable. That's what I love about Erika, she wants to be good. I can get on her pretty hard and she response. She's very smart so she gets things and she's still learning. The BYU game is a great example because she had a great game. The last two minutes, they pressed and Erika relaxed a little and we turned the ball over a few times at the end. She apologized after the game and she's learning. Next time that happens (press), she's smart enough to not let that happen again. She's done a great job. She's averaging seven assists a game and that's a lot. She is doing a great job getting everyone involved. She needs to continue looking for her shot because she can score, but she's a pass first point guard. I'm really proud of her and she's done a really good job."
On continuing to win
"You know as well as I do, I'm not going to take too far ahead of the one in front of us and we have a really good Weber Stat coming in here Saturday. We host Northern Arizona next Wednesday. We're going to take those one at a time then our nonconference season is over. Certainly we'd like to win both of those as we head into Pac-12. We just got to keep getting better and keep improving. We open at UCLA on Dec. 30 who's rank No. 9 in the country so it gets real, real quick. I'm looking forward to that. We've had a good nonconference season and we need to keep it rolling. The Pac-12 conference is as good as ever and I think six teams in the top 25 and two receiving votes this week."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballUtah: 65, Weber State: 52 | Utah Women's Basketball Post Game Press Conference
Thursday, November 27
ESPN+ Feature | Utah Women's Basketball's Lani White
Wednesday, November 26
Utah: 49, Syracuse: 61 | Utah Women's Basketball Post Game Press Conference
Saturday, November 22
ESPN+ Feature | Utah Women's Basketball's Evelina Otto
Saturday, November 15