No. 4 Utes Suffer First Loss Of The Season At The Hands Of No. 21 Baylor

The Utes were simply out-muscled in their unexpected loss to Baylor.

The 4th-ranked Utah Women's basketball team went into Waco with one thing on their mind, winning. 

Instead, they leave bruised and battered after a physical game in which they were upset 84-77 against 21st-ranked Baylor. The Baylor women never trailed and outscored the Utes in the first three quarters while only having a 2-point difference in the fourth. Baylor also had four players with double-digit point totals while the Lady Utes only had three. Star player Alissa Pili was one of those three grabbing 22 points despite only playing 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

Bears coach Niki Collen based her strategy on Pili, saying "Our game plan was to get Pili in foul trouble," she continued by saying "We thought the best way to defend her was her sitting on the bench. So that worked really well early, it worked a little bit faster than I anticipated.” 

Losing such a player early no matter the cause is most likely going to impact how the game plays out and Utes coach Lynn Roberts echoed that sentiment saying, "I think they played a little more inspired than we did. You know, maybe some of that was because we lost Pili (early). She kind of makes us go, especially on the road.” Despite losing the reigning Pac-12 player of the year, the Lady Utes had plenty of other factors that led to the upset.

In the first two games of the season, the Utes had gracefully put up more than 100 points while sinking a cool 34 shots from beyond the arc. Baylor not only held Utah to a measly 77 points but shut them down from three as well as the Utes went 6-24 (25%). Utah also shot 52.9% from the line (9-17) and let Baylor capitalize with 27 points generated from the Utes 18 turnovers.

Losing to a future conference opponent is never ideal but if anything, it gives the Utes bulletin board material come next season. While this loss isn't the end all be all for this highly touted team, it serves as a lesson learned that Pili can't be the sole source of production for this team if they plan on making waves for the rest of the campaign. This game requires five players on the court at all times and when only one of the five players is producing at an efficient level, there won't be many positive outcomes when facing tough and gritty opponents. 

Alissa Pili is in for a homecoming as the  Utes travel to Anchorage next to face Alaska Anchorage in the Great Alaska Shootout tournament. Baylor will host Harvard in their next game.