Utah had no trouble putting away Weber State, though ‘sloppy’ second half curbed the enthusiasm a bit

Utah looked the part of a veteran-led bunch in its 86-46 dismantling of Weber State on Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.

While the victory moved Utah to 2-0 on the young season and the Utes followed the usual suspects — and a newcomer who’s shining early in her Utah career — to the dominant victory, the second-half effort left coach Lynne Roberts emphasizing the need for full-game execution.

“I’m happy with the win. I’m not exactly, I’m not at all happy with our second half. I didn’t think we did a good job at all,” she said. “Credit to Weber, they kept competing and they did a good job. I think they’re going to do well in the Big Sky.

“... We kind of figuratively punched them in the mouth there in that first half, but then we just took our foot off the gas and got sloppy in all areas — offense, defense, whatever, so it’s a process, and it’s only game two, and we’re 2-0, but there’s a lot for us to improve upon.”

Here’s a look at a few takeaways from the victory:

Maye Toure shines again

Maye Toure, the 6-foot-3 transfer from Rhode Island, is quickly making her name familiar to Utah fans.

One game after putting up 14 points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in the season opener Monday, the fifth-year senior simply dominated the interior against Weber State.

Toure scored a game-high 22 points while shooting 10 of 13 from the floor — that included a pair of 3-pointers, including one that banked in with just over 5:30 to play in the contest.

Toure also had five rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes, with three turnovers.

She had a team-high three offensive rebounds, which helped the Utes own a 14-7 edge in that statistic and a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points.

“It feels great. I feel like my teammates were great trying to find me and put me in good position to play my game,” she said.

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Different levels of intensity in each half

The Utes pulled away from Weber State in the first half, taking a 47-14 lead into the break, and the second quarter was particularly impressive on the defensive end.

Utah outscored the Wildcats 22-5 in the period, holding Weber State scoreless for the final 6:13. The Wildcats shot 2 of 11 in the second quarter, while Utah was 8 of 21, its worst-shooting quarter of the game.

It was the defense that stood out, as Utah forced 17 first-half turnovers. The Utes turned that into a 30-0 edge in points off turnovers over the first two quarters.

“That was the plan, to just be aggressive, be up in passing lanes,” Roberts said. “You know, there’s still new players that are learning, and even returners, how we want to defend.

“I thought we did a great job in the first half and in the second half, I don’t know if we lost our intensity. We played too cool. We just didn’t have the intensity it takes to get stops.”

Utah held Weber State to 38% shooting for the game — the Wildcats shot 27.3% in the first half before shooting 46.4% after the break.

Things to learn, improve on

Utah had another solid, if unspectacular outing on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 50.8% from the floor while making 13 of 31 3-pointers.

Roberts, though, emphasized the complacency from the second half as she fielded questions in the postgame press conference — it’s true, Utah wasn’t as crisp on both ends of the floor as they were in the first 20 minutes.

Utah’s head coach took the responsibility on herself for Utah’s second-half effort.

“We traded baskets with them most of the second half,” Roberts said, “and you know, again, I give them credit for executing and competing and not quitting. That’s sign of a well-coached team. We didn’t look very well-coached in the second half, so that’s on me.”

While Weber State never went on any lengthy runs during the second half, the Wildcats matched Utah point for point nearly the entire way.

The Utes outscored the visitors 39-32 after the break, including 15-14 in the fourth quarter. It came one game after Utah outscored another in-state opponent, Southern Utah, 59-31 in the second half of the season opener.

The Utes ended up with 23 assists on 33 made baskets. Utah did have an unusually high number of turnovers, though, with 18.

In addition to Toure’s night, Gianna Kneepkens (15 points, five rebounds, two steals), Kennady McQueen (13 points, three assists, three rebounds) and Ines Vieira (12 points, eight rebounds and three steals) put up solid individual numbers.

Regarding not playing as crisply in the second half, Vieria said, “The ball got really sticky. We weren’t able to execute, and Coach Rob told us a million times, and we weren’t able to make that change.

“So next game, it’s going to be really different. We got to learn from this, but just the ball was really sticky, and then we weren’t taking pride on defense.”

With the team’s first road trip of the season upcoming, Roberts emphasized the need to continue working toward executing through an entire four quarters.

“There’s a lot of learning to be done and I’m grateful that we won and we can learn from winning, but there has to be a mentality from our whole locker room that we have to learn and get better and improve and know and feel what that intensity feels like,” Roberts said.

“The next game we’re playing on the road at a Big Ten school, that’s going to be a different vibe and a different level of intensity necessary.”

What’s next

The Utes will hit the road for the first time this season when they play at Northwestern next week. Those Wildcats are 0-1 on the year after losing in their season opener to Illinois State.

Northwestern hosts Lehigh on Sunday.

Utah and Northwestern will play Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. MST at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network, with the radio broadcast on 700 AM.