SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah men’s and women’s basketball teams easily won a doubleheader at the Huntsman center on Thursday night in their second games as Big 12 members.
The Utah women (2-0) beat Weber State, 86-46, as four players were in double figures — Mayè Tourè with 22, Gianna Kneepkens with 15, Kennady McQueen with 13 and Ines Vieira with 12
The Utah men (2-0) beat Central Arkansas, 98-63, with four players in double figures — Gabe Madsen with 25, Mason Madsen with 15, Mike Sharavjamts with 13 and Ezra Ausar with 13.
Here are three takeaways from the night.
Tourè’s Step Forward
This was one of those early-season games where you want to get your run and not get anyone hurt. The Utes were successful at both. By halftime (Utah up 47-14) the game was basically done. Coach Lynne Roberts was able to use 10 players in the first 20 minutes and no one was overloaded with minutes.
This isn’t a new team, but she is integrating new players, and one stood out. Forward Mayè Tourè, who played four seasons at Rhode Island, finished with 22 points and five rebounds. She’s a player that Roberts talked about at media day in October as a player she expected to make a difference.
“She fits perfectly,” Roberts said. “She’s really athletic and long, and she can get her shot off quickly. But then she can also shoot the 3. So when she’s out there … she was 2-for-4 (from 3) today. That’s perfect. That’s enough to make defenses play honest.”
The 6-3 forward moves with a lot of fluidity offensively, understands how Utah wants to space the floor and, after she got warmed up, showed that 3-pointer and it was definitely a space creator in the paint. She can help and recover smoothly on screen-and-roll defense, which is a plus so smaller defenders don’t have to fully switch with her.
Given the amount of terrific centers in the Big 12, Tourè is a quality fit for Utah.
Madsen Men
Gabe and Mason Madsen are going to set the tone for Utah all season. The brothers finally get to play college basketball today and they shot against Central Arkansas like they were making up for lost time.
Gabe Madsen had six 3-pointers and passed 1,000 points for his career. Luke, in his second game with the Utes after stints at Cincinnati and Boston College, scored all 15 of his points on five 3-pointers. The pair combined for 11 3-pointers as the Utes made 19 for the night.
It’s the kind of shooting performance that plays well in the Big 12. The Utes will need it because there are some elite shooting groups in the conference the Madsens’ ability to rain from distance will help Utah keep up.
‘Coaching Season’
I like to call this time of year “coaching season.” Why? Because this is when men’s and women’s basketball coaches earn their money. If you want to win March, you have to lay the groundwork now, even if you sound like you’re “complaining about a 40-point win,” as Roberts said on Thursday.
“Rest up tomorrow, ladies,” Roberts said with a grin.
The course of her concern? Weber State basically played even with the Utes in the second half.
“I don’t know if we lost our intensity,” she said. “We played too cool. We just didn’t have the intensity it takes to get stops.”
Sounds like a lot of defensive work entering next week’s road game at Northwestern.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
