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The University of Utah Athletics
Daneesha Provo: Keep Moving Forward
2/12/2020 4:04 PM | Women's Basketball
Basketball Hall of Famer John Wooden once said, “things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” The world of athletics can be a rollercoaster with the highs of winning, and the lows of hardships on and off the court, something senior Daneesha Provo is familiar with.
But at a young age, Provo was taught a motto that she would keep with her throughout her entire career – something that she still repeats to this day. Keep moving forward.
Provo has been active her entire life, even getting her start in gymnastics. Even though she was talented, her father, Danny, thought the sport might be too dangerous and saw a future for his daughter in basketball instead.
“My dad was my biggest influence in basketball because he coached my team when I was younger, he worked with me every day, and he pushed me to be better than what I was,” Provo said. “At the beginning it was hard because I didn’t think I was very good, but he had me play with a chip on my shoulder. He’d say if I wanted to go far, that I would need to put the work in and that in the end it would all be worth it. To just keep pushing and moving forward.”
Provo’s family has been an integral part of her life, which includes her two brothers. Her brothers differ in age from seven years old to 30, and serve different purposes in her life, both which she is grateful for.
“My baby brother, he is the best,” Provo said. “When I am down or upset, he is the one that I call to talk to and get my mind off everything. My older brother, he played basketball at Oklahoma State and has been a big influence in my life. He makes sure I stay committed to everything I do.”
Commitment was key to Provo’s success and she would go on to play for the Canadian Junior National Team in the FIBA Americas and the FIBA World Championships. Her international playing experience and high motor attitude on offense and defense started getting the attention of college coaches in the United States, which would officially kick off her recruiting process.
“Clemson was my first visit,” Provo said. “I went to boarding school before that, so when they took me to a Clemson football game, everything was just amazing. Down south, everything was so big and everything seemed right. The school and the facilities were amazing.”
Provo would play for the Tigers as a true freshman, averaging 5.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 15.1 minutes per contest. In January of 2015 though, Provo made the decision to transfer, something that would end up affecting her off the court.
“Going into the transfer process, I was in a really dark place. I just didn’t even want to play anymore. I had lost my love for the game. It was really stressful.”
With the help of her family, Provo decided to start looking at other schools. Her main goal was to go through the process fully, look at it positively, and to find the right fit.
“I took all four visits instead of one and Utah was my last one,” she said. “Honestly, it was my last visit and I had nothing going on at home, so I was like ‘let’s go to Utah, see what it is like.’ When I got here, I loved everything about it. Having that Canadian connection out here, it made it seem like home.”
Provo would come to Salt Lake City for the 2015-16 season, but would sit out that year due to NCAA transfer rules. Still dealing with emotions from her transfer, it took some time for Provo to feel like herself again, but she credits the resources she had through Utah Athletics psychology and wellness department for helping her through.
“The resources here are part of the reason I got my love for the game back,” Provo said. “I had a lot of meetings with Jonathan, our director of psychology and wellness, and he was a big part of that. Taking a year off from basketball is hard because you practice, but you don’t play games even though you do all of the hard work,” she said. “I can honestly tell you I did not love it here or love the sport when I first got here, but I just kept working hard and pushing forward.”
Not getting to play in games can be hard for athletes who are wired to compete, but Provo turned to her teammates for support and they more than showed up.
“I think my teammates were the biggest impact of what made me fall back into love with the game. My teammates were always around me and encouraging me, telling me they believed in me. I didn’t always have confidence in myself, so hearing that from them influenced me to keep going at it.”
Thanks to her teammates and her constant motto of moving forward, Provo’s confidence would grow. Provo went from averaging just 3.5 points per game as a sophomore in 2016-17 to 12.3 as a junior in 2017-18. As a junior, Provo finished the year ranked in the top-20 in the Pac-12 in scoring (19th), field goal percentage (6th), free throw percentage (5th), three-point percentage (8th) and three-pointers made per game (12th).
Enter her senior year in 2018-19, Provo was on a high. The Utes went undefeated in non-conference play, heading into the first Pac-12 game against a ranked Arizona State squad that Utah was ready to prove themselves against.
And then it happened. Provo went down in the 23rd minute of the game, and silence would fall on the Huntsman Center. Provo had torn her ACL and would miss the remainder of her senior season.
“It is hard to talk about,” she said. “I never thought I would be the one in that position. You hear about it all the time – don’t skip reps, always try to get extra work in at the weight room. So, when I first heard that it was my ACL, I was numb. I didn’t believe it. I denied it for weeks. I just had so many emotions.”
ACL’s can be one of the more difficult injuries to deal with from a physical and mental standpoint, but fortunately for Provo, her support system was there to help. Provo credits her teammates once again for holding her up when she only wanted to fall.
“Thankfully, I had Dru Gylten and Maurane Corbin who had already gone through that injury,” Provo said. “They gave me the confidence that I would be OK and to just attack it and attack the physical therapy.”
Even with her support system, grueling sessions of physical therapy can be tough on the body and the mind. But with each step, each exercise, Provo’s body and will got stronger.
“Sometimes in rehab, I just didn’t want to do it and I would just go through the motions,” she said. “It was hard. But I knew I had to push forward. Whoever can get through an ACL injury, I think you can get through anything in life. I don’t regret it, I learned a lot about myself.”
Through the dark times of physical therapy and having to sit out her senior season, Provo was able to take comfort in a new addition to her family.
“My dad gave in and got me a dog,” Provo said. “His name is Bentley, because I couldn’t bend my knee at the time. He got my mind off basketball. I am so far away from home, so he is my everything. People think I take it too seriously, but during a time like that when you are in a really dark place, if that is the thing that gets you through it, then you rely on that.”
Provo’s injury took place on Jan. 4, 2019. She would do physical therapy all season and into the summer, progressing with every movement and session, but waiting to hear if she would get her senior year back was agonizing.
Then one day in August, Provo got a phone call from Utah’s director of compliance, Kate Charipar.
“That phone call. I remember I had been calling Kate at least once a week, just to see if she had heard anything. When I first saw her name pop up on my phone, I was already having a bad day, and I was so close to just not answering. When she gave me the news, I just cried. We had fought so hard and for so long, it was just an indescribable feeling. I got another chance to put the jersey back on.”
Provo was granted an extension of her five-year clock, giving her eligibility for the 2019-20 season as a redshirt senior. After sitting out the first eight games of the season to finish her recovery from the injury, Provo has gotten right back to business.
She has started the last seven games and has played in 15. She has scored double-digits in three games this season, including her sixth-career 20-point outing in Utah’s win over Washington State this past weekend.
Provo’s relationship with basketball has been troubled. It has given her some of her lowest of lows, but also has given her experiences she will cherish for the rest of her life. And even though she isn’t ready for it to end, her love for basketball has never been stronger.
“It has always been an outlet for me. Even with the injury, I was just lost without it. But being out there, being with my team, working hard, and just having that dog in you that is just fearless has given me so much. Basketball brings so much out of you that you don’t experience outside of the sport. The love for the game is what drove me to keep playing, to get back out there.”
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