SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah women’s basketball team got another dose of the Big 12 Conference gauntlet Saturday evening – and it didn’t go well.
After splitting home games against No. 9 TCU and No. 14 Baylor, the Utes faced another of the league’s top teams – 19th-ranked Texas Tech – at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, and were blown out by the Red Raiders, 77-49.
Senior transfer Snudda Collins scored a career-high 28 points as Texas Tech never trailed and claimed the win in front of 3,440 fans.
Texas Tech improved to 20-2 overall and 6-2 in league play – currently good enough for third place (behind TCU and Baylor) in the Big 12.
The Utes fell to 14-6 and 5-3 (just ahead of BYU), and the schedule doesn’t get easier with No. 22 West Virginia coming to town next.
“They were the more hungry team from the jump, and they got us out of our rhythm early,” said Utah coach Gavin Petersen. “Very uncharacteristic, unconnected basketball team on our part.”
Utah shot just 32.7% (16-49) and didn’t make a 3-pointer until Maty Wilke connected with 3:26 left in the game. Texas Tech recovered quickly from Wednesday’s loss at BYU and didn’t look anything like the squad that dropped a 73-61 contest to the Cougars.
“Our kids had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, nothing necessarily toward Utah, but just how they’ve been playing,” said Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich.
“We came out with a good focus and a good intensity and jumped on them early, which you have to do on someone’s home floor.”
Collins came off the bench less than four minutes into the game and nailed her first basket 30 seconds later. She ended up making 9 of 15 shots, including 6 of 7 from 3-point range.
She had 20 points by halftime as Texas Tech claimed a 39-20 lead. Ironically, her 28-point effort was exactly the same amount as the final score.
“We played her in the Bahamas (in the 2023-24 season) when she was at Ole Miss. She started there, I believe,” said Petersen. “I remember my scouting report. She was a shooter and a very good player. She got into a rhythm tonight.”
In that game, Collins had 16 points (on 6 of 16 shooting) but Utah won 69-67.
“Part of the growing-up process for us is to identify in-game adjustments,” Petersen said. “When she makes two or three (baskets), we can’t wait for timeouts or halftime (to adjust).
“We’ve got to do better than that. We are always going to play not a perfect game. In this case, she made us pay for not being perfect.”
The Utes, meanwhile, never built any momentum because they didn’t find their shooting touch until the end, as they missed their first 11 3-point attempts, with their usual 3-point threats usually having a Texas Tech hand in their face.
Lani White finished 0 for 3 from the perimeter and Wilke was 0 for 4 before she finished the night on a roll.
One bright spot was junior forward Reese Ross. She was Utah’s top scorer with 13 points (she made 7 of 8 free throw attempts) and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
White had 10 points and Wilke eight.
But for as bad as Utah’s offense was Saturday, it was the inconsistent defensive effort effort that Petersen emphasized most after the loss.
“Unfortunately, with our team this year, our 3-point field goal making dictates our intensity on defense,” he said.
Petersen also noted that freshman point guard LA Sneed was injured late in the game and her status was unknown.
Sneed had five points, four assists and three rebounds but hit the court hard after being fouled with 2:03 remaining.