Utah Falls to #7 Oregon, 84-68

Sunday, January 28

Salt Lake City, Utah

12:00 PM

University of Utah

14-7, 5-5

Oregon

20-3, 9-1

Oregon

UTAH

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

1/28/2018 3:10 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SALT LAKE CITY – It was a game of highs and lows for the Utah women's basketball team today against the No. 7 Oregon Ducks, but despite a strong fight, the Utes fell 84-68. Utah is 14-7 overall and 5-5 in Pac-12 play.

Utah had four players finish the game in double-figures, led by Daneesha Provo with 19 points that included going 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Tanaeya BoClair came off the bench to put in integral minutes while scoring 13 points and adding eight rebounds.

Tilar Clark also came in the game and played a career-high 33 minutes off the bench, scoring 12 points and was key on defense with two steals. Tori Williams chipped in 10 points while playing some minutes at the point guard, tying her career-high in assists with four.

"I thought we came out as flat as we could have, and it was embarrassing and that is on me," head coach Lynne Roberts. "I have to do a better job of getting them ready to play. That is unacceptable when you are playing the No. 7-ranked team in the country and you come out flat. I think that Tanaeya and Tilar were fearless and aggressive and if we would have had 10 players like that today, it probably would have been a different game in terms of mentality."

"We just have to stay the course. We are 5-5 and if we go .500 in this league, we have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament, and that is still in front of us. If we go 10-8, 11-7, whatever, then it is a lock. We didn't have a great weekend in terms of playing our best and getting a win, but our players and coaches just need to stay the course. Stay confident and stay positive, because good things will happen if we do that."

The flatness that Roberts refers to was evident when Oregon took a 23-4 lead with 3:08 on the clock, but the Utah fight was always there, answering with a 15-2 run that cut the Duck lead to 25-17 heading into the second. The run was sparked by a three-pointer from Clark and capped off by back-to-back threes from Williams to make it an eight-point game.

Utah's run continued into the second quarter when Erika Bean scored four unanswered points to cut the Oregon lead to four points with 8:30 left in the quarter. The Utes kept it close at the 7:16 mark when BoClair scored in the paint to make it a three-point game again, but the game of runs continued with Oregon going on a 13-3 run to give them a 41-28 lead with less than three minutes to play.

Utah shot 61-percent from the field in the third quarter with Provo punching in nine of her 19 points, but Oregon was right there with them with both teams scoring 21 points in the quarter. The Utes continued to stay strong in the paint, scoring 12 points to make it a seven-point game with 3:28 left on a Clark free throw, but Oregon's perimeter game continued to provide problems for the Utes, heading into the fourth with a 64-53 lead.

The Utes struggled offensively in the fourth, shooting just 23-percent while Oregon went 8-for-11 for 72-percent, pulling away from Utah for good. Utah was able to cut the Oregon lead to 12 several times in the fourth quarter, even making it an 11-point game on Provo's three free throws with 5:33 on the clock, but the deficit stayed in double figures for the remainder of the game with Oregon coming up with its 84-68 victory.

Utah will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 1 when they host the Colorado Buffaloes for a REDOUT game. The action will tip off at 7 p.m. MT in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.