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Show Friday, March 5, 2010 4 5 MEN'S BASKETBALL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Seniors prep for last games as Utes No. 2 seed still in reach for Utah women Bubba Brown STAFF WRITER NATHAN SWEET/The Daily Utah Chronicle Senior Luka Drca will play his final regular-season game Saturday at Colorado State. Drca leads the team in assists. March is a funny month when it comes to college basketball. Dreams of Madness glory and cutting down the nets abound in college-hoops locker rooms, but for seniors, so does the reality that their college careers are quickly drawing to a close. Such is the case for the Runnin' Utes' Luka Drca and Kim Tillie, who will play their final regular-season game in Ute crimson Saturday afternoon when the team squares off against Colorado State. "It meant and it still means a lot," Drca said. "I mean, we know Utah is a school with huge tradition. We know the basketball program was huge here and is still big, and we know the people in Salt Lake (City) live for basketball, so it means a lot." Tillie was similarly appreciative of his time as a Ute. "This place has so much tradition that it puts a lot of pressure on us every time we go out there and play because we've got to live up to that tradition," Tillie said. "Over my career it was a great experience playing in one of the nicest arenas. I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life." Head coach Jim Boylen shuffled his starting lineup Wednesday night to honor his departing seniors; Tillie started in place of Shawn Glover. "I did it because he's a senior and it was his last (home) game," Boylen said. "I talked to Shawn about it; he wanted Kim to start. Kim wanted to start and that's what we did." But the seniors know their work is not quite done. "We've got to come back to work and get this win against Colorado State on Saturday to give us momentum going into the tournament in Vegas," Tillie said. "That's our last opportunity to make it to the NCAA Tournament, so we're going to lay it out there in Vegas and play as hard as we can." The Utes will have to deal with the Rams without the help of center David Foster, who sprained his ankle in the loss to BYU, re-aggravating a previous injury in the process. Boylen was certain that Foster would miss the game against Colorado State and believes the sophomore is done for the season. However, Boylen is still holding out hope for a return. "I'm hoping he comes back, but we'll see," Boylen said. The void left by Foster is a big one, as he was a vital part of the defense and has smashed a school record number of blocks this season. "It hurts us defensively," Tillie said. "He's huge in the paint. He changes shots. Even if he doesn't block the ball, he makes those guys miss shots, so it's going to be a loss for us." Foster's absence means the Utes will have to rely on freshman Jason Washburn for production from the center position. "When you look at his (Washburn's) year, to shoot 84 percent from the line, 57 percent from the field and to be able to rebound and block shots, he's a guy on the stat sheet you have to worry about for his efficiency in his minutes played, which is high," Boylen said. Washburn has struggled to stay healthy this season, but is beginning to flourish under Boylen's system. "Washburn's improvement in the last three weeks has been directly related to being able to practice every day and learn the system," Boylen said. "No concussion. No knee (problems). No flu and he's gained his 10-12 pounds back so he's back up to 215. Those things all matter with a young guy." b.brown@chronicle.utah.edu NEXT GAME Utah vs. Colorado State March 6 Fort Collins, Colo. 1:30 p.m. Utah THIEN SOK/The Daily Utah Chronicle The Utes will finish out the regular season without David Foster, who injured his ankle against BYU. The Utes will miss his defensive presence, as he averaged just over four blocks per game. 66.6 .431 .322 .742 34.3 11.8 13.6 5.4 6.2 Straight shot to semi-final round would require wins by U and SDSU a loss by BYU Corbin Godfrey STAFF WRITER After hitting a bump in the road against BYU on Wednesday, the Utah women's basketball team will look to bounce back in its last game of the regular season Saturday against Colorado State and carry some momentum into the Mountain West Conference Tournament next week. The Utes had a chance to jump into second place in the standings with a win over BYU on Wednesday, which would have given them a chance to finish the season as the No. 2 seed heading into the tournament. The first and second seeds in the tournament receive a bye the first two days and go straight into the semi-final round. BYU jumped the Utes with a full-court press early on, helping the Cougars to a 13-0 lead thst they never lost the rest of the game. Utah came within six early in the second half, but the Cougars followed with a pair of 3-point shots that pulled them out of reach and they continued on to a 54-37 victory. Utah has been playing great basketball in the second half of conference play thus far, shown by the five-game winning streak it held heading into the BYU game. However, against BYU, the Utes were struck by the reality that they are still a young Season Stats csu Points / game FG% 3-point FG% FT% Rebounds / game Assists / game Turnovers / game Steals / game Blocks / game 58.6 .394 .303 .673 33.5 9.2 16.1 6.0 1.9 team lacking experience and it's something head coach Elaine Elliott understands. "We have a lot of young players," Elliott said. "They still need that kind of experience to feel like there is going to be a consistency to their performance." In two games against the rival Cougars, the Utes have struggled shooting the ball. Utah averages a field goal percentage of 3o percent and are shooting 20 percent from the 3-point line against BYU this season. "Our shooting has been poor," Elliott said. "Our shooting from the 3-point line is poor and we didn't take any advantage of any of the opportunities to help keep it open." Although Utah's shooting has not been its strong suit this season, the Utes do have the conference's best scoring defense, allowing an average of 55.6 points per game. Tomorrow they will face the league's third-worst scoring offense and defense in Colorado State. The last time these two teams met, it was a back-and-forth game until the final minute. Utah's Kalee Whipple nailed a 3-point shot with 26 seconds left, making the final score 6865. CSU is 5-to in conference play, ranking the team second to last in the MWC standings. The Rams have lost their past three OMEN'S BASKETBALL Utah 58.5 .410 .316 .682 38.8 13.4 17.9 6.5 3.9 Season Stats csu Points / game FG% 3-point FG% FT% Rebounds / game Assists / game Turnovers/game Steals / game Blocks / game 60.9 .373 .318 .697 38.6 13.2 18.6 8.5 2.9 NEXT GAME Utah vs. Colorado State March 6 Huntsman Center 2 p.m. games and eight of the past to. With a win, Utah will finish the season with a record of io6. The top two teams, TCU (123) and BYU (to-5), will face each other tomorrow in a game that carries a lot of questions about the tournament seeding. If the Cougars win, they will clinch the No. 2 seed outright, but if they lose and Utah and San Diego (9-6) both win, then all JULIEN GOMEZ/The Daily Utah Chronicle Guard Janita Badon is swarmed by Air Force defenders. After falling short in Provo, the Utes look to regain momentum against CSU on Saturday at home. three teams will be in a tie for urday night. second place with to-6 records, Tip-off for the Utes is at 2 in which case the tie-breaker p.m. at the Huntsman Center. scenario would be released Satc.godfrey@chronicle.utah.edu Who is the best pro athlete to come out of Utah? Elaine Elliott- women's basketball- "Andre Miller because he has been able to stick around." Megan Marsden- gymnastics- "My favorite would have to be Michael Doleac because he was a great basketball player for us and played in the championship game and he married one of my dear gymnasts Shannon Bowles?' Elaine Elliot Megan Marsden Jim Boylen- men's basketball- "I don't want to insult anybody, Jerry Chambers." |