Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Friday, March 21
Columbia, S. C.
11:30 AM (MT)
University of Utah
vs
Indiana
UP NEXT: No. 8 Seed Utah Takes on No. 9 Seed Indiana in NCAA Tournament First Round
3/18/2025 3:18 PM | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 8 seeded Utah Utes women's basketball team will make its 21st appearance in the NCAA Tournament by taking on the No. 9 seeded Indiana Hoosiers on Friday, March 21 at 11:30 a.m. (MT). Utah will make it's fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since the 1995-98 seasons.
This will be the first match up between the Hoosiers and the Utes in program history. The Utes are currently 22-8 on the season and finished the Big 12 regular season with a 13-5 record.
GAME INFORMATION
Utah (22-8, 13-5 Big 12) vs. Indiana (19-12, 10-8 Big 10)
DATE | TIME: Friday, March 21 | 11:30 a.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
TV: ESPN2 | Watch
LISTEN: Click Here
LIVE STATS: Click Here
TWITTER UPDATES: @UtahWBB
HOW TO TUNE IN
Fans can watch the matchup on ESPN2 with Courtney Lyle on the play-by-play and Carolyn Peck as analyst. The radio call will be on ESPN700 and can be found on the TuneIn app, with Tyson Ewing and Milee Rustand calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
The Utah women's basketball team fell 75-64 to Texas Tech in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. Utah allowed Texas Tech an 11-point advantage in the second quarter that the Utes couldn't recover from in the second half. Utah was led by Gianna Kneepkens' 23 points, six assists and six rebounds. Mayé Touré also posted double figures with 10 points.
THE UTES
Utah returns four starters from last year's squad including 2022-23 All-American Gianna Kneepkens. Kneepkens returns after suffering a season ending injury early in the 2023-24 season. Utah also brought back starters Jenna Johnson, Kennady McQueen and Inês Vieira. Other key players returning are Matyson Wilke, Samantha Crispe and Reese Ross. The Utes welcome two transfers in Chyra Evans and Mayé Touré and three true freshmen in Grace Foster, Kylie Ray and Brooke Walker.
50/40/90
Utah has two shooters flirting with an elite status level in Kennady McQueen and Gianna Kneepkens. They are currently near the 50/40/90 percentages while averaging at least 10 points per game and have played over 150 minutes. The duo have either averaged 50/40/90 or narrowly outside of the averages for the last five weeks of play.
Kennady McQueen is averaging 10.5 points per game and has logged 714 minutes of play. She's shooting 49.7% from the field (92-185), 42.7% from the three (56-131) and 91.7% from the line (22-24).
Gianna Kneepkens is averaging 19.2 points per game and has logged 896 minutes of play. She's shooting 50.4% from the field (183-363), 45.0% from three (90-200) and 89.5% from the free throw line (119-133).
KNOWING KNEEPKENS
Kneepkens is currently averaging 19.2 points per game while shooting 50.5% from the field, 45.0% from the three and 89.5% from the free throw line going 119-of-133. She is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. She leads the Utes from beyond the arc knocking down 90 total so far on the year. Kneepkens sits in the Top 15 in the nation in all three, three point statistical categories. She's No. 9 three point percentage (45.0), No. 13 total three pointers (90) and No. 9 three pointers per game (3.00).
Kneepkens was named Big 12 Player of the Week (1/27/25) after posting back-to-back 30 point games including a career-high 32 points against BYU (1/25). Over the two games, she averaged 31 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals per game. She shot 58.8% from the field, 66.7% from the three and 83.3% from the line. Kneepkens' 31.0 points per game led league players during the week and ranked fourth in the country.
Kneepkens has recorded three 30 point games. Most recently she tied her career-high 32 points and six made threes against UCF (2/8/25). Before that she hit back-to-back 30 point games and established a career-high 32 points against BYU (1/25/25) that included a career-high 10 made three pointers and tied a career-high six made three pointers.
Prior to her injury in 2023-24, Kneepkens played just eight games and was averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting 63.3 percent from the field and 54.0 percent from beyond the arc. She averaged 5.5 rebounds and four assists per game.
Utah is 14-2 when Kneepkens hits three or more three pointers in a game this season. She is a 1,000 point scorer as she broke the 1,000-point milestone last season when she put up 19 against Carroll College (Nov. 28, 2023).
She was named to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Midseason Team as well as the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Midseason Watchlist. She was named a Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 candidate. In the preseason, she was a Naismith Player of the Year and Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watchlists. Kneepkens was also placed on the Big 12 Preseason All-Conference team.
IN THE RANKS
The Utes received votes in 13-of-16 weeks of the season. Utah was ranked for two weeks in the season. Utah was ranked as high as #22 this season (Jan. 6) and received votes for five consecutive weeks prior to cracking the Top 25 the week of Jan. 6.
HEAD COACH GAVIN PETERSEN
Petersen was named the head coach of the Utah women's basketball team on Nov. 19, 2024 just four games into the 2024-25 season. He brings 23 seasons of college coaching experience to the role, he is in his 10th season overall with the Utes and spent the previous five years as associate head coach under Lynne Roberts.
Petersen has been a part of the staff that has led the Utes to six postseason appearances—including three NCAA tournaments and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen—and four 20-win seasons, as well as regular appearances in the AP Top 25.
SCOUTING INDIANA
The Indiana Hoosiers are currently 19-12 on the season and finished 10-8 in Big 10 play.
Indiana concluded the regular season winning six of its last ten games while knocking off #8 Ohio State at home on Feb. 20. As the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Hoosiers defeated No. 8 seed Oregon 78-62 before falling to No. 1 seed USC 84-79 in the quarterfinals.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams. The only team both Utah and Indiana have played this year was Northwestern. The Utes fell to the Wildcats 71-69 on Nov. 14 while the Hoosiers defeated NU 68-64 on Jan. 8, both in Evanston.
Indiana has four players averaging double figures as junior guard Yarden Garzon leads the team with 14.5 points per game while also grabbing a team-high 164 rebounds over the course of the season. Garzon finished the season atop the Big Ten standings for 3-pointers made as the junior knocked down 85 throughout the season, ten more than the next player while shooting it at 41.5%. Sydney Parrish (11.9), Shay Ciezki (11.6), and Karoline Striplin (10.1) also sit in double-figures.
Both Shay Ciezki and Yarden Garzon saw their fair share of minutes this season, ranking third and fifth in the conference for total minutes played, accumulating 1,052 and 1,032 respectively.
As a team, the Hoosiers rank third in the conference in three point field goal percentage, shooting at a 36.7% clip from behind the arc.
From the free throw line, Indiana has the third-best percentage in the Big Ten, burying free throws at a 78.9% mark.
NEW THIS WEEK
OFFICIAL MOBILE APP OF UTAH ATHLETICS – UTAH 360
The official mobile app of Utah Athletics is Utah 360. Download it today to unlock a refreshed game-day experience, from managing tickets to mobile concessions ordering, as well as video content, news and information, schedules, rosters and stats. The app is available in both the Apple Store (download) and Google Play (download). Add it today, access your game tickets and download them to your smartphone's wallet to make yourself game-day ready.
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2024-25 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
This will be the first match up between the Hoosiers and the Utes in program history. The Utes are currently 22-8 on the season and finished the Big 12 regular season with a 13-5 record.
GAME INFORMATION
Utah (22-8, 13-5 Big 12) vs. Indiana (19-12, 10-8 Big 10)
DATE | TIME: Friday, March 21 | 11:30 a.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
TV: ESPN2 | Watch
LISTEN: Click Here
LIVE STATS: Click Here
TWITTER UPDATES: @UtahWBB
HOW TO TUNE IN
Fans can watch the matchup on ESPN2 with Courtney Lyle on the play-by-play and Carolyn Peck as analyst. The radio call will be on ESPN700 and can be found on the TuneIn app, with Tyson Ewing and Milee Rustand calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
The Utah women's basketball team fell 75-64 to Texas Tech in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. Utah allowed Texas Tech an 11-point advantage in the second quarter that the Utes couldn't recover from in the second half. Utah was led by Gianna Kneepkens' 23 points, six assists and six rebounds. Mayé Touré also posted double figures with 10 points.
THE UTES
Utah returns four starters from last year's squad including 2022-23 All-American Gianna Kneepkens. Kneepkens returns after suffering a season ending injury early in the 2023-24 season. Utah also brought back starters Jenna Johnson, Kennady McQueen and Inês Vieira. Other key players returning are Matyson Wilke, Samantha Crispe and Reese Ross. The Utes welcome two transfers in Chyra Evans and Mayé Touré and three true freshmen in Grace Foster, Kylie Ray and Brooke Walker.
50/40/90
Utah has two shooters flirting with an elite status level in Kennady McQueen and Gianna Kneepkens. They are currently near the 50/40/90 percentages while averaging at least 10 points per game and have played over 150 minutes. The duo have either averaged 50/40/90 or narrowly outside of the averages for the last five weeks of play.
Kennady McQueen is averaging 10.5 points per game and has logged 714 minutes of play. She's shooting 49.7% from the field (92-185), 42.7% from the three (56-131) and 91.7% from the line (22-24).
Gianna Kneepkens is averaging 19.2 points per game and has logged 896 minutes of play. She's shooting 50.4% from the field (183-363), 45.0% from three (90-200) and 89.5% from the free throw line (119-133).
KNOWING KNEEPKENS
Kneepkens is currently averaging 19.2 points per game while shooting 50.5% from the field, 45.0% from the three and 89.5% from the free throw line going 119-of-133. She is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. She leads the Utes from beyond the arc knocking down 90 total so far on the year. Kneepkens sits in the Top 15 in the nation in all three, three point statistical categories. She's No. 9 three point percentage (45.0), No. 13 total three pointers (90) and No. 9 three pointers per game (3.00).
Kneepkens was named Big 12 Player of the Week (1/27/25) after posting back-to-back 30 point games including a career-high 32 points against BYU (1/25). Over the two games, she averaged 31 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals per game. She shot 58.8% from the field, 66.7% from the three and 83.3% from the line. Kneepkens' 31.0 points per game led league players during the week and ranked fourth in the country.
Kneepkens has recorded three 30 point games. Most recently she tied her career-high 32 points and six made threes against UCF (2/8/25). Before that she hit back-to-back 30 point games and established a career-high 32 points against BYU (1/25/25) that included a career-high 10 made three pointers and tied a career-high six made three pointers.
Prior to her injury in 2023-24, Kneepkens played just eight games and was averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting 63.3 percent from the field and 54.0 percent from beyond the arc. She averaged 5.5 rebounds and four assists per game.
Utah is 14-2 when Kneepkens hits three or more three pointers in a game this season. She is a 1,000 point scorer as she broke the 1,000-point milestone last season when she put up 19 against Carroll College (Nov. 28, 2023).
She was named to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Midseason Team as well as the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Midseason Watchlist. She was named a Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 candidate. In the preseason, she was a Naismith Player of the Year and Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watchlists. Kneepkens was also placed on the Big 12 Preseason All-Conference team.
IN THE RANKS
The Utes received votes in 13-of-16 weeks of the season. Utah was ranked for two weeks in the season. Utah was ranked as high as #22 this season (Jan. 6) and received votes for five consecutive weeks prior to cracking the Top 25 the week of Jan. 6.
HEAD COACH GAVIN PETERSEN
Petersen was named the head coach of the Utah women's basketball team on Nov. 19, 2024 just four games into the 2024-25 season. He brings 23 seasons of college coaching experience to the role, he is in his 10th season overall with the Utes and spent the previous five years as associate head coach under Lynne Roberts.
Petersen has been a part of the staff that has led the Utes to six postseason appearances—including three NCAA tournaments and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen—and four 20-win seasons, as well as regular appearances in the AP Top 25.
SCOUTING INDIANA
The Indiana Hoosiers are currently 19-12 on the season and finished 10-8 in Big 10 play.
Indiana concluded the regular season winning six of its last ten games while knocking off #8 Ohio State at home on Feb. 20. As the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Hoosiers defeated No. 8 seed Oregon 78-62 before falling to No. 1 seed USC 84-79 in the quarterfinals.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams. The only team both Utah and Indiana have played this year was Northwestern. The Utes fell to the Wildcats 71-69 on Nov. 14 while the Hoosiers defeated NU 68-64 on Jan. 8, both in Evanston.
Indiana has four players averaging double figures as junior guard Yarden Garzon leads the team with 14.5 points per game while also grabbing a team-high 164 rebounds over the course of the season. Garzon finished the season atop the Big Ten standings for 3-pointers made as the junior knocked down 85 throughout the season, ten more than the next player while shooting it at 41.5%. Sydney Parrish (11.9), Shay Ciezki (11.6), and Karoline Striplin (10.1) also sit in double-figures.
Both Shay Ciezki and Yarden Garzon saw their fair share of minutes this season, ranking third and fifth in the conference for total minutes played, accumulating 1,052 and 1,032 respectively.
As a team, the Hoosiers rank third in the conference in three point field goal percentage, shooting at a 36.7% clip from behind the arc.
From the free throw line, Indiana has the third-best percentage in the Big Ten, burying free throws at a 78.9% mark.
NEW THIS WEEK
- Utah continued receiving votes in the latest poll that dropped March 3
- The Utes downed BYU in overtime 76-73 to end the regular season. Utah's Matyson Wilke drained a half court buzzer beater with one second left in overtime to give Utah the rivalry victory.
- Kneepkens sits in the Top 10 in the nation in all three three point statistical categories.
- No. 8 three point percentage (45.3)
- No. 10 total three pointers (86)
- No. 9 three pointers per game (2.97)
- The Utes are 14-1 in games when Gianna Kneepkens hits three or more three pointers in a game.
- Gianna Kneepkens and Kennady McQueen have been flirting with 50/40/90 while scoring over 200 points and have played over 150 minutes all season. Matyson Wilke is flirting with the status.
- Utah's 78-67 win over No. 3 Notre Dame marks the highest ranked win while traveling in school history. Previously, the record for the highest ranked neutral site game was during the 2002-03 season when Utah defeated No. 14 Mississippi State 69-65. The previous record for highest ranked win outside of Salt Lake City was last season when Utah defeated No. 6 USC with a 74-68 score in Los Angeles (2/25/24).
- This is back-to-back seasons the Utes have taken down top-10 teams away from the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
- Gavin Petersen became the fastest head coach in school history to get a win over a top-10 team. Accomplishing the feat in just four games when Utah downed No. 3 Notre Dame 78-67 (11/30/24).
- Utah's 105 points against SUU (11/4/24), marked the first time in school history the Utes scored 100 or more points in the season opener in back-to-back seasons.
- Utah's 118 points against McNeese (11/18/24) marks the second highest points scored in a game in Utah program history. The record stands at 124 which has occurred twice, with the most recent time coming in 2022-23 against Oklahoma State.
- In Utah's 67-57 win over Washington, the Utes trailed by 10 points going into the fourth quarter. The Utes outscored the Huskies 27-7 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. At the time, Utah was one of six teams to overcome a double digit deficit for a victory.
- Gianna Kneepkens has left no doubts with her comeback as she leads the team averaging 19.2 points per game shooting 50.4% from the field, 45.0% from the three and 89.5% from the free throw line. She also leads the team in made three pointers with 90 and free throws with 119.
- At the helm for the Utes is Gavin Petersen who is in his first season as head coach and 10th overall season at Utah. He was named head coach Nov. 19, 2024 just four games into the season.
- Utah is currently in the top 30 nationally in six major statistical categories:
- No. 8 assists per game (18.5)
- No. 17 field goal percentage (46.5)
- No. 32 scoring offense (76.7)
- No. 11 three point attempts per game (26.9)
- No. 6 three pointers per game (10.0)
- No. 14 three point percentage (37.1)
- Gianna Kneepkens is currently No. 13 in the nation and leads the Big 12 in free throw percentage with 89.5.
- Kneepkens recently jumped to No. 36 in the nation in scoring with 575 total points on the season and No. 28 in points per game with 19.2.
- She sits in the Top 15 in the nation in all three three point statistical categories.
- No. 9 three point percentage (45.0)
- No. 13 total three pointers (90)
- No. 8 three pointers per game (3.00)
- Kennady McQueen sits at No. 17 in the nation in three point percentage with her 42.7% on the season.
OFFICIAL MOBILE APP OF UTAH ATHLETICS – UTAH 360
The official mobile app of Utah Athletics is Utah 360. Download it today to unlock a refreshed game-day experience, from managing tickets to mobile concessions ordering, as well as video content, news and information, schedules, rosters and stats. The app is available in both the Apple Store (download) and Google Play (download). Add it today, access your game tickets and download them to your smartphone's wallet to make yourself game-day ready.
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2024-25 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
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