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Show 6 Tuesday February 5, 2013 SPORTS Packed powder and bumps, firm snow in the morning and softening in the afternoon. TODAY'S SKI REPORT 26° / 9 a.m. 36° / 3 p.m. Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS WEDNESDAY: Men's Basketball 26° / 9 a.m. 36° / 3 p.m. Canyons 31° / 9 a.m. 42° / 3 p.m. Deer Valley 31° /9 a.m. 420 I 3 p.m. Conditions and weather from utahskiweather.com Snowbird 26° / 9 a.m. 36° / 3 p.m. Utes lose valuable all-arounder Matt Ellis STAFF WRITER 8 p.m. Corvallis, Ore. Utah @ Utah Invitational TBA Loveland, Colo. FRIDAY: Women's Basketball Utah vs. Oregon 7 p.m. Huntsman Center AP TOP 25 MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Indiana Florida Michigan Duke Kansas Gonzaga Arizona Miami Syracuse Ohio St. Louisville Michigan St. Kansas St. Butler New Mexico Creighton Cincinnati Minnesota Oregon Georgetown Missouri Oklahoma St. Pittsburgh Marquette Notre Dame 27° / 9 a.m. 37° / 3 p.m. GYMNASTICS Utah @ Oregon State RANK Solitude RECORD 20-2 18-2 20-2 19-2 19-2 21-2 19-2 17-3 18-3 17-4 18-4 18-4 17-4 18-4 19-3 20-3 18-4 17-5 18-4 16-4 16-5 15-5 18-5 15-5 18-4 ERIN BURNS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Junior Corrie Lothrop ruptured her Achilles tendon, ending her season and leaving the Utes with a big role to fill. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Better scores ahead for Utes Team looks forward to wins against unranked teams Michael Smith STAFF WRITER The Utes have had a brutal schedule so far in Pac-12 play, as Sunday's game against UCLA was the seventh time they have faced a ranked team in the last ten games. Fortunately for Utah, the remainder of its schedule sets up favorably, as none of its opponents are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. "We'll continue to get better," said head coach Anthony Levrets on the ESPN 700 post game show after Utah lost to UCLA on Sunday. "We'll continue to improve. We'll be at home next weekend and I think this team has the chance to do something pretty good down the stretch." Not only are none of the Utes' remaining opponents ranked, but three of the final six teams Utah will play have losing records. Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State are all below .500, while Arizona is ii-to and Arizona State is II-II overall. The only team favored over Utah is Washington, but the Utes have the benefit of playing the Huskies at home on Feb. 22. MADELINE SMITH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Iwalani Rodrigues and the Utes have been away from the Huntsman Center since Jan. 20 where they defeated Arizona State. The Utes return home this week to play both conference foes from Oregon. Besides the lower quality of opponents, the fact that four of the Utes' next six games are home should play to their advantage as Utah hasn't played at home since Jan. 20. On weekends when the team plays at the Huntsman Center, not only do they have home-court advantage, but they benefit from having a full week of practice without travel. "The schedule evens itself out by the time the year is over," Levrets said. He also said the goal is to not get so beat up physically that when the team has a chance to play squads, it's healthy enough to win those See SCORE page 8 The seventh-ranked Utes have continued to get season-high scores from both individuals and as a team, and it will now be more critical than ever they keep putting up solid scores. Five-time All-American Corrie Lothrop, who was also an alternate for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, tore her left Achilles tendon while warming up for her floor exercise in the Huntsman Center on Friday night. She had season-ending surgery to repair the tendon on Monday. This is the second time Lothrop has torn an Achilles. She ruptured the tendon in her right ankle the year before she came to Utah. The injury happened on a takeoff during one of her tumbling passes. As soon as it happened, Lothrop knew it was severe. "It felt pretty much like the first time," Lothrop said. "It actually kind of hurt worse. But I knew right away, I think that's why I was the most upset." Lothrop was coming off a win on the beam, where she posted a 9.875, and was in the lead for the all-around title. One of the more decorated gymnasts in Utah history, Lothrop leaves a gaping hole in the team. She is currently ranked i3th in the nation in all-around and 19th on bars, but Nansy Damianova is confident that the Utes have the talent to cover for her. "We do have girls on bars that will be ready to step up, girls on beam that will be ready, floor and vault as well," Damianova said. "I think we'll be fine. It will be hard for the first week, but I don't have any doubt that we'll be able to fill in for her." One of the gymnasts that the Utes will look to is Kassandra Lopez. She hurt her calf before the first meet of the year and so far has only competed on bars as she See GYMNASTICS page 8 Utah basketball lacking without Jimmer Fredette immer Fredette came and went through Utah on Monday night — putting up JAKE a measly two points on BULLINGER o-of-5 shooting for the 441 111! ) Sacramento Kings. It was a woeful performance for a player who is havSports Editor ing a woeful start to his NBA career. But when I see having both in one package. Fredette, I'm not looking at He was that entertaining. a disappointing NBA player. I watched Fredette play Rather, I see a reminder three games during his of the most entertaining senior season, and two of and captivating player in them rank No.1 and 2 of the Utah history. best individual performancWe forget it was just es I've ever seen. The first two years ago Fredette was was his memorable percaptivating the nation. He formance at Utah when he finished his senior season dropped 47 on a Utes team at BYU with a 28.9 scoring that didn't understand just average, which was easily how overwhelmed it was. top in the nation. He led the A couple months later, Cougars all the way to the Fredette squared off with Sweet 16, and could have New Mexico in the semifigone further if Brandon Danals of the Mountain West vies hadn't been suspended. Conference tournament in But most importantly, Las Vegas. Unlike the Utes, Fredette brought the naNew Mexico was good, and tional spotlight and a ton of Fredette more than rose to fun to Utah basketball, and the occasion. Never before Beehive residents are still — and probably never again suffering from the hangover — have I seen a player after his departure. single-handedly take over a Every game Fredette game. Fredette shot 22-of-37 played in was a must-watch and scored 52 points. He contest. It was never uncom- matched everything the mon for him to erupt for 3o Lobos could throw at him. — or as the Utes learned — I was dumbfounded the 47 points. When he was on entire game. a roll, there was no stopping Two games. Ninety-nine him. Remember the wonpoints. Think about that for derful scoring race of the a minute. 2005-06 season between the Of course, Fredette develsharp-shooting J.J. Redick oped a wild, cult following. and the oh-so-unique Adam See BULLINGER page 8 Morrison? Fredette was like j |
