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
Women's Basketball Meets The Media
10/15/2018 3:01 PM | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah women's basketball program hosted its annual local media day today with the coaching staff and select players previewing the 2018-19 season.
Highlights from head coach Lynne Roberts press conference:
Opening statement…
"This is the start of my fourth year with the program. I feel like our culture is in a great place and our team is on the climb. This is the fun part of growing a program because you feel like things are starting to stick. We are excited about the year. We know that it is going to be challenging, the Pac-12 always is. We have some great teams and great players in this league, so we just have to keep climbing."
On who she expects to make an impact this year and if there have been any injuries…
"We lost Maurane Corbin, our 6-5 center, who had a tremendous off season. Sometimes that is just how life works. She worked so hard and sometimes the rug is torn out from under you. She tore her ACL mid-September and so she just had surgery about a week ago. We will miss her. Our 6-4 kid from Spain, Lola Pendande, she didn't get all of the boxes checked to get into school, we so we are trying to get her in December. But that is a 6-4 and a 6-5 we expected to have, and we don't, and that is part of sports. You just have to roll with it.
"The positive answer to that question is our seniors. We have four seniors that includes a graduate transfer from UC Santa Barbara in Sarah Porter. She is a great shooter and will fill a need there. She has played a lot of basketball because she played her first year at Ole Miss and played the last few at Santa Barbara. Erika Bean is back and I have kind of seen a shift in her in terms of leadership and command. We are going to need every bit of that and a little bit more with how much youth we have on the team. Then we have Megan Huff and Daneesha Provo. They were our two leading scorers last year and we are going to need the same thing from them this year. The difference from last year is that there is no secret. They aren't going to be able to slide into any games and not be the highlight on anyone's scouting report. Last year, maybe Emily Potter was the one keyed in on in scouting reports and that allowed Huff to do what she is really good at. This year, teams are going to be trying to stop them and that is more challenging as a player. They have both had good off-season's and mentally it is going to be a bigger test than physically."
"Then we also have some really good young ones. We have some freshmen that are very talented and were highly recruited. They have good size and a lot of athleticism, but at the end of the day they are still freshmen. Ideally, maybe you give them time to develop and learn, but they are going to learn from being thrown in the deep end. We are going to need them to play and figure out how to swim. They are talented though, they are hungry and they are doing well. They are just going to have to accelerate their learning curve quickly."
On being picked eighth in the preseason Pac-12 poll and what her expectations are this year…
"I talked to the team about this too, but people always ask where are you going to get picked and my first answer is always, I don't care. I know coaches always say that but it is pretty true with me. What happened last year has no effect on what happens this year, for any team. I thought going in, if I had to guess, I figured we would get picked in the middle third and we did. I think that is probably fair coming off last year. Now we are just in the business of leapfrogging some teams. We finish in the top-half of this league and we are going to the NCAA Tournament, so that is the goal. It is a process. You keep getting better and better every year."
"So, where do I think our potential could be this year, I think we have the potential to leapfrog some people, but we have to stay healthy and hungry enough to do that. This league is unrelenting and unforgiving, so if you aren't 100-percent committed to that, it probably won't happen. So if we stay healthy and committed, I think it is possible."
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Highlights from head coach Lynne Roberts press conference:
Opening statement…
"This is the start of my fourth year with the program. I feel like our culture is in a great place and our team is on the climb. This is the fun part of growing a program because you feel like things are starting to stick. We are excited about the year. We know that it is going to be challenging, the Pac-12 always is. We have some great teams and great players in this league, so we just have to keep climbing."
On who she expects to make an impact this year and if there have been any injuries…
"We lost Maurane Corbin, our 6-5 center, who had a tremendous off season. Sometimes that is just how life works. She worked so hard and sometimes the rug is torn out from under you. She tore her ACL mid-September and so she just had surgery about a week ago. We will miss her. Our 6-4 kid from Spain, Lola Pendande, she didn't get all of the boxes checked to get into school, we so we are trying to get her in December. But that is a 6-4 and a 6-5 we expected to have, and we don't, and that is part of sports. You just have to roll with it.
"The positive answer to that question is our seniors. We have four seniors that includes a graduate transfer from UC Santa Barbara in Sarah Porter. She is a great shooter and will fill a need there. She has played a lot of basketball because she played her first year at Ole Miss and played the last few at Santa Barbara. Erika Bean is back and I have kind of seen a shift in her in terms of leadership and command. We are going to need every bit of that and a little bit more with how much youth we have on the team. Then we have Megan Huff and Daneesha Provo. They were our two leading scorers last year and we are going to need the same thing from them this year. The difference from last year is that there is no secret. They aren't going to be able to slide into any games and not be the highlight on anyone's scouting report. Last year, maybe Emily Potter was the one keyed in on in scouting reports and that allowed Huff to do what she is really good at. This year, teams are going to be trying to stop them and that is more challenging as a player. They have both had good off-season's and mentally it is going to be a bigger test than physically."
"Then we also have some really good young ones. We have some freshmen that are very talented and were highly recruited. They have good size and a lot of athleticism, but at the end of the day they are still freshmen. Ideally, maybe you give them time to develop and learn, but they are going to learn from being thrown in the deep end. We are going to need them to play and figure out how to swim. They are talented though, they are hungry and they are doing well. They are just going to have to accelerate their learning curve quickly."
On being picked eighth in the preseason Pac-12 poll and what her expectations are this year…
"I talked to the team about this too, but people always ask where are you going to get picked and my first answer is always, I don't care. I know coaches always say that but it is pretty true with me. What happened last year has no effect on what happens this year, for any team. I thought going in, if I had to guess, I figured we would get picked in the middle third and we did. I think that is probably fair coming off last year. Now we are just in the business of leapfrogging some teams. We finish in the top-half of this league and we are going to the NCAA Tournament, so that is the goal. It is a process. You keep getting better and better every year."
"So, where do I think our potential could be this year, I think we have the potential to leapfrog some people, but we have to stay healthy and hungry enough to do that. This league is unrelenting and unforgiving, so if you aren't 100-percent committed to that, it probably won't happen. So if we stay healthy and committed, I think it is possible."
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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