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
Utah Head Coach Lynne Roberts Press Conference
2/8/2017 12:23 PM | Women's Basketball
YouTube Link
Opening statement
"Thank you all for being here. It's good to see everybody again. We leave tomorrow to go on the Bay Area trip. We play at Cal on Friday and at Stanford on Sunday. Cal won twice last weekend-they upset UCLA at home and we all know how good Stanford is. It's going to be a challenging weekend for us like they all have been. We've had a couple days where the players have had time to get in the gym and shoot. Every time I walk by our practice gym, the music is going and players are in there working on what they need to work on. I know we want to keep getting better and keep fighting."
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On Wendy's game
"Wendy has been great. I thought she was really good against Washington State. She's been really consistent and that's something we've needed, especially Joeseta (Fatuesi) out and with (Emily) Potter being inconsistent. I'm really proud of Wendy and she's done a really nice job. A few months ago I talked about Wendy's biggest hurdle is getting out of her own way and needed that confidence. You can see how she's played, how she's carrying herself, how she's practicing, she's getting that confidence and it's showing on the floor. She's been a huge help and she's doing a really nice job."
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On challenging road trip
 "We'll go one at a time. With Cal, they're really long and extremely athletic. At home games they start really strong and they've done a nice job. It seems like they play with a lot more emotion at home. That's going to be tough and we'll have to match that emotion. They have a potential all-American in their center Kristine Anigwe-she's very good. We're going to have to be tough on the boards. That's one thing, whenever you play Cal, if you're not committed to rebounding you're going to lose. I think we need to be mentally tough. This last stretch has been hard, tough, challenging, but we need to toughen up and keep rolling. Going into Cal, it's not different. Stanford is good. We played them pretty well at our place – the score looks like we lost worse than we did, I thought we played pretty good against them. They're tough to beat at their place. We're just going to go one at a time and right now I'm 100 percent focused on Cal."
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On rebounding
 "Everywhere I've coached, rebounding has been a focal point and critical if you want to play. Rebounding is desire, toughness, physicality. It doesn't matter if you're 5-2 or 7-2, you can do those things. For me, rebounding is non-negotiable. It's completely controllable for a player."
Â
On adjusting to improve scoring
 "It's been a struggle in Pac-12 play. As a coach, I don't think there's a magic play. I think we can get creative and we've done a lot to get different people shots and get people moving. It's hard when we're not hitting outside shots consistently. Paige Crozon is our biggest threat out there and people fly out at her. Other than that, it's teams daring us to shoot and we need to be able to knock down those shots. I think it's two-part. As coaches, we need to put our plays in opportunities to be successful to take good shots and as players they need to step up and knock them down. Scoring is contagious. If I go down and hit a 3-pointer, the next possession you go down and take it, you're going to be more comfortable and confident because I just made one. Missing is also contagious. If I miss then you feel more pressure when you shoot. It's that simple and that's where the mental toughness and preparation comes in. The players want to be good and they want to get themselves out of it. There needs to be a game where it all falls together and we can stop talking about it."
Â
On looking at other teams for inspiration
 "I wouldn't identify one team, but I'm in constant contact with coaches who I trust. And know our team. I look for 'what do you see', 'what do you like', 'what would you' do from these coaches. I'm always wanting feedback and I've got some good feedback in terms of what we can do and tweak. My ego has no skin in the game. I want to win and I want to play well. It doesn't matter where the ideas come from."
Â
On team youth, not playing close games
 "I think losing Dani Rodriguez was bigger than we all really thought in terms of having a four-year starter as a point guard who played a lot of minutes in the Pac-12. I only got to coach her one year. Looking back, you realize how fortunate you really were. We have two very young point guards. Erika Bean is a sophomore and she played behind Dani last year and she's been thrown in the deep end, but she's done a good job. Kiana Moore is a freshmen – and Megan Jacobs played some of the one last game, and she's a freshman. Experience is real and that's not to fault them or anything. We do have four returning starters from last year who have played a lot of minutes so we need to lean on them a little more."
Â
On surprises from last year
 "We are in year two of changing a culture and it's hard, there's no excuse and we're in the best conference in the country. Trying to build and climb when everybody above you is really good is hard. We're still in the stages of wanting our team to operate the way we want to operate and build on who we are as a culture. We're going to continue to recruit like crazy and build these guys up. I don't know what would be the biggest surprise. Going into this season, I wouldn't have thought we'd be where we are in the conference, but it is what it is. We've got to lace them up and get after it. There's no looking back right now. We need to keep looking forward."
Â
Opening statement
"Thank you all for being here. It's good to see everybody again. We leave tomorrow to go on the Bay Area trip. We play at Cal on Friday and at Stanford on Sunday. Cal won twice last weekend-they upset UCLA at home and we all know how good Stanford is. It's going to be a challenging weekend for us like they all have been. We've had a couple days where the players have had time to get in the gym and shoot. Every time I walk by our practice gym, the music is going and players are in there working on what they need to work on. I know we want to keep getting better and keep fighting."
Â
On Wendy's game
"Wendy has been great. I thought she was really good against Washington State. She's been really consistent and that's something we've needed, especially Joeseta (Fatuesi) out and with (Emily) Potter being inconsistent. I'm really proud of Wendy and she's done a really nice job. A few months ago I talked about Wendy's biggest hurdle is getting out of her own way and needed that confidence. You can see how she's played, how she's carrying herself, how she's practicing, she's getting that confidence and it's showing on the floor. She's been a huge help and she's doing a really nice job."
Â
On challenging road trip
 "We'll go one at a time. With Cal, they're really long and extremely athletic. At home games they start really strong and they've done a nice job. It seems like they play with a lot more emotion at home. That's going to be tough and we'll have to match that emotion. They have a potential all-American in their center Kristine Anigwe-she's very good. We're going to have to be tough on the boards. That's one thing, whenever you play Cal, if you're not committed to rebounding you're going to lose. I think we need to be mentally tough. This last stretch has been hard, tough, challenging, but we need to toughen up and keep rolling. Going into Cal, it's not different. Stanford is good. We played them pretty well at our place – the score looks like we lost worse than we did, I thought we played pretty good against them. They're tough to beat at their place. We're just going to go one at a time and right now I'm 100 percent focused on Cal."
Â
On rebounding
 "Everywhere I've coached, rebounding has been a focal point and critical if you want to play. Rebounding is desire, toughness, physicality. It doesn't matter if you're 5-2 or 7-2, you can do those things. For me, rebounding is non-negotiable. It's completely controllable for a player."
Â
On adjusting to improve scoring
 "It's been a struggle in Pac-12 play. As a coach, I don't think there's a magic play. I think we can get creative and we've done a lot to get different people shots and get people moving. It's hard when we're not hitting outside shots consistently. Paige Crozon is our biggest threat out there and people fly out at her. Other than that, it's teams daring us to shoot and we need to be able to knock down those shots. I think it's two-part. As coaches, we need to put our plays in opportunities to be successful to take good shots and as players they need to step up and knock them down. Scoring is contagious. If I go down and hit a 3-pointer, the next possession you go down and take it, you're going to be more comfortable and confident because I just made one. Missing is also contagious. If I miss then you feel more pressure when you shoot. It's that simple and that's where the mental toughness and preparation comes in. The players want to be good and they want to get themselves out of it. There needs to be a game where it all falls together and we can stop talking about it."
Â
On looking at other teams for inspiration
 "I wouldn't identify one team, but I'm in constant contact with coaches who I trust. And know our team. I look for 'what do you see', 'what do you like', 'what would you' do from these coaches. I'm always wanting feedback and I've got some good feedback in terms of what we can do and tweak. My ego has no skin in the game. I want to win and I want to play well. It doesn't matter where the ideas come from."
Â
On team youth, not playing close games
 "I think losing Dani Rodriguez was bigger than we all really thought in terms of having a four-year starter as a point guard who played a lot of minutes in the Pac-12. I only got to coach her one year. Looking back, you realize how fortunate you really were. We have two very young point guards. Erika Bean is a sophomore and she played behind Dani last year and she's been thrown in the deep end, but she's done a good job. Kiana Moore is a freshmen – and Megan Jacobs played some of the one last game, and she's a freshman. Experience is real and that's not to fault them or anything. We do have four returning starters from last year who have played a lot of minutes so we need to lean on them a little more."
Â
On surprises from last year
 "We are in year two of changing a culture and it's hard, there's no excuse and we're in the best conference in the country. Trying to build and climb when everybody above you is really good is hard. We're still in the stages of wanting our team to operate the way we want to operate and build on who we are as a culture. We're going to continue to recruit like crazy and build these guys up. I don't know what would be the biggest surprise. Going into this season, I wouldn't have thought we'd be where we are in the conference, but it is what it is. We've got to lace them up and get after it. There's no looking back right now. We need to keep looking forward."
Â
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
W
/ Women's Basketball
W
/ Women's Basketball
G
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