The Utah women’s basketball team is set to face rival BYU in the Phillips 66 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. Utah enters as the No. 8 seed, while BYU holds the No. 9 seed after defeating Houston in the first round.
The matchup will take place on Thursday, March 5 at 12:30 PM MT at T-Mobile Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty providing commentary. Radio coverage will be available on ESPN700 with Tyson Ewing and Milee Rustand.
Utah concluded its regular season with an 81-67 win over Arizona, led by Lani White’s 19 points. Reese Ross contributed 16 points, Maty Wilke added 12, and LA Sneed scored 11. Ross and Chyra Evans each had six rebounds, while Sneed recorded five assists.
Key players for Utah include returning contributors Maty Wilke, Samantha Crispe, Brooke Walker, and Reese Ross. Lani White has rejoined Utah after a season at Virginia Tech and leads the team with an average of 15.6 points per game. White earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors ahead of the tournament and has reached double figures in scoring in 16 of her last 18 games.
“White earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors heading into the Big 12 Tournament,” according to team information provided by Utah athletics staff.
Maty Wilke remains a significant presence for the Utes, averaging 10.6 points per game while shooting nearly 40% from the field and over 35% from three-point range.
Head coach Gavin Petersen is in his second season leading Utah and was named head coach four games into last season. He has a career record of 38-19 and previously served as associate head coach under Lynne Roberts for five years.
“Petersen became the fastest coach in program history to get a Top-10 victory when he led the Utes to a 78-67 win over No. 3 NotreDame (11/30/24). He brings 23 seasons of college coaching experience to the role,” states official team documentation.
BYU comes into this contest on a four-game winning streak under first-year head coach Lee Cummard, who holds a record of 21-10 this season. The Cougars are averaging just over seventy points per game while allowing about sixty-five points per contest. Delaney Gibb leads BYU with an average of nearly eighteen points per game; Olivia Hamlin adds almost thirteen.
Utah leads BYU in their all-time series by a margin of seventy wins to forty-three losses but is currently winless against BYU this season (0-2).
Utah ranks fifty-fifth nationally in Net Rankings and enters this matchup on a two-game winning streak after finishing their regular season strong against Arizona.
In recent seasons, Utah has maintained consistent success with four consecutive twenty-win campaigns and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances under Petersen’s guidance.
Statistically, Utah ranks among the top fifty teams nationally in several categories including assists per game (42nd), defensive rebounds (27th), three-point attempts (24th), three-point percentage (46th), and three-pointers made per game (16th).
The Utes are looking to improve their Big 12 Tournament record after falling to Texas Tech last year in their only previous appearance as members of the conference.
