Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Gavin Petersen on the Utah WBB's season so far, Facing BYU tomorrow in Provo + more
Transcript
- 0:11Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdock
- 0:14Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two one
- 0:19Speaker 1: a half. M Utah Women's basketball at BYU tomorrow afternoon
- 0:28Speaker 1: two o'clock tip off, pregames at one. It's on our
- 0:33Speaker 1: sister station ninety two to five FM.
- 0:35Speaker 2: That's the beat.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Utah women's basketball head coach Gavin Peterson kind enough to
- 0:41Speaker 1: give us some time today here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
- 0:45Speaker 2: Coach Pete, welcome back. It's been a while. How are you, sir?
- 0:48Speaker 3: Yes, I'm doing great. Man. How are you doing?
- 0:50Speaker 4: Ohc Thanks for having me.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Yeah, we appreciate you giving us some time. We've been
- 0:54Speaker 2: doing great.
- 0:55Speaker 1: We've been having a lot of fun, obviously rounding out
- 0:57Speaker 1: of the middle of football all season and now focusing
- 1:01Speaker 1: in more on college hoops and that's where yeah, that's
- 1:04Speaker 1: where you and.
- 1:04Speaker 2: Your ladies come in.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Before we get into the specifics of a matchup against BYU,
- 1:10Speaker 1: just tell me, you know, we've had a couple of
- 1:11Speaker 1: players on and tell me how you feel like this
- 1:15Speaker 1: roster has come together and how your the team chemistry
- 1:18Speaker 1: is going. Fifteen and six overall for people who have
- 1:20Speaker 1: not been watching. Coming off a win though eight and
- 1:23Speaker 1: four at home, what are you thinking about the way
- 1:26Speaker 1: that this this team is coming together.
- 1:28Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're right on pace to kind of
- 1:32Speaker 3: I think hit our full potential heading into the Big
- 1:36Speaker 3: twelve tournament.
- 1:37Speaker 4: We've showed signs of being really, really good.
- 1:40Speaker 3: And then we've also had some stretches where you know,
- 1:43Speaker 3: we weren't connected and maybe weren't shooting the ball as
- 1:47Speaker 3: well as we should have been just and that's an
- 1:49Speaker 3: execution type of deal where I think that's part of
- 1:52Speaker 3: the growing process with this team when we have you know,
- 1:56Speaker 3: we have some senior leadership with a lot of game experience,
- 1:59Speaker 3: and then we're relying on a lot of newcomers. Three
- 2:03Speaker 3: freshmen have been thrown into the fire to play right away.
- 2:06Speaker 3: We have two sophomores that are playing and in the rotation. Uh,
- 2:10Speaker 3: and then we had, you know, a player like a
- 2:11Speaker 3: Kira Evans who's coming off a year on the sideline
- 2:15Speaker 3: with two angle injuries.
- 2:16Speaker 4: So I think we're right where we need to be.
- 2:20Speaker 3: You know, we'd have liked to have performed a little
- 2:22Speaker 3: bit better in some of those games at home, especially
- 2:25Speaker 3: against Baylor and Texas Tech. But that's part of the
- 2:28Speaker 3: growing process, and I think that made us tougher as
- 2:31Speaker 3: we were able to bounce back.
- 2:32Speaker 4: Against West Virginia and as we head in to the.
- 2:34Speaker 3: Rest of Big Twelve plays. So I really proud of
- 2:36Speaker 3: where we're at, But I do think there's still more
- 2:38Speaker 3: growth and improvement to be made.
- 2:42Speaker 1: When you talk about freshmen being thrown right into the
- 2:45Speaker 1: fire and having to play the process of getting them
- 2:49Speaker 1: ready through practice, does is it different? Do you do
- 2:52Speaker 1: you change how you get the freshmen ready in practice
- 2:55Speaker 1: versus the more veteran players.
- 2:57Speaker 3: Yes, I think we're playing more in practice this year
- 3:01Speaker 3: than we did last year because last year we had
- 3:04Speaker 3: such a senior leaden group with so much experience that
- 3:08Speaker 3: we could make tweaks on the fly. We could talk
- 3:11Speaker 3: about game plans and they'd be able to go out
- 3:13Speaker 3: and execute it. So we really were able to kind
- 3:16Speaker 3: of pull back and scale back as we got into
- 3:18Speaker 3: February last year. I think this year's team, you know,
- 3:22Speaker 3: as much as we'd love to scale back, we still
- 3:24Speaker 3: need to give them game like reps. When we practice
- 3:27Speaker 3: against our scout team. We want to make sure that
- 3:30Speaker 3: those practice reps can translate to game experience, and I
- 3:35Speaker 3: think that's why our freshmen have been able to slowly
- 3:37Speaker 3: get better. Is just I think the valuable experiences from
- 3:41Speaker 3: games have really paid dividends because they've been thrown into
- 3:44Speaker 3: the mix. And now, you know, are they really freshmen? Yes,
- 3:48Speaker 3: they are, especially with some of their decision making, But
- 3:52Speaker 3: in terms of the experience, they're ready for the moment,
- 3:54Speaker 3: and I'm excited that we have them and we can
- 3:57Speaker 3: rely on them.
- 3:58Speaker 1: Undefeated so far on the road, and obviously this game
- 4:01Speaker 1: on Saturday is another road game.
- 4:05Speaker 2: How does that happen? Coach?
- 4:06Speaker 1: I mean, typically, you know, any team in basketball at
- 4:09Speaker 1: any level performs better at home than on the road.
- 4:13Speaker 1: We kind of like pencil in the difficulties of road
- 4:16Speaker 1: matchups and maybe a loss here or there because of that.
- 4:20Speaker 1: But so far, so good on the road. Is this
- 4:22Speaker 1: something you recognize about your team early on?
- 4:26Speaker 3: You know, probably I'd be lying if I said, yeah,
- 4:30Speaker 3: I think we pencil it in similar to you do.
- 4:33Speaker 3: Let's you know, let's split on the road and let's
- 4:36Speaker 3: take care of home court. Well, you know, we've lost
- 4:38Speaker 3: a few games at home already in Big Twelve conference play,
- 4:41Speaker 3: so we really don't have a choice. We've got to
- 4:43Speaker 3: go steal some on the road. But I think with
- 4:46Speaker 3: the dynamic and the makeup of our team, the personalities
- 4:50Speaker 3: we have on our team, it makes traveling together fun.
- 4:55Speaker 3: They enjoy each other's company. And that's the only thing
- 4:58Speaker 3: that I can point to is that we you know,
- 5:00Speaker 3: we pour into each other away from practice time. We
- 5:04Speaker 3: don't just go to the road or go to our
- 5:06Speaker 3: hotels and like you guys all go to your room.
- 5:08Speaker 3: We actually spend time together in our meeting space. We'll
- 5:11Speaker 3: put up some you know, basketball games on the big screen,
- 5:14Speaker 3: we'll play some board games, and we just kind of
- 5:17Speaker 3: hang out with each other. And I think that is
- 5:19Speaker 3: critical for team development and it can bring a team together,
- 5:23Speaker 3: and you know, luckily for us it has, and we've
- 5:26Speaker 3: been performing pretty.
- 5:28Speaker 4: Well on the road.
- 5:28Speaker 3: So hopefully we can finish strong and you know, keep
- 5:32Speaker 3: that record in tact.
- 5:33Speaker 4: But tough one this Saturday, tough.
- 5:36Speaker 2: One this Saturday. Indeed, we'll get to that here in
- 5:38Speaker 2: a second.
- 5:39Speaker 1: I want to talk about the win you're coming off of,
- 5:41Speaker 1: because a win over a top twenty five squad in
- 5:44Speaker 1: West Virginia, that's obviously an important little feather in the cap.
- 5:48Speaker 1: And I you know, you had four women in double
- 5:51Speaker 1: digits in terms of scoring in this game. In previous
- 5:54Speaker 1: Top twenty five matchups, it's been harder and you've had
- 5:57Speaker 1: to kind of spread it out a little bit more.
- 5:59Speaker 1: Not obviously every game you wish he had four double
- 6:03Speaker 1: digit scorers, But all right, how were you able to
- 6:05Speaker 1: achieve that against West Virginia specifically?
- 6:08Speaker 4: You know, I think we were, you know, against Texas Tech.
- 6:11Speaker 3: Coming back from that loss, that was going to be
- 6:13Speaker 3: a challenging and of itself, and you know, our coaching staff,
- 6:17Speaker 3: our players, we really came together and learned. And I
- 6:21Speaker 3: felt like that Texas Tech game, we played a little
- 6:25Speaker 3: bit disjointed. We let their full court pressure get to
- 6:29Speaker 3: us and that just got us off rhythm. So learning
- 6:32Speaker 3: from that, and to answer your question, I feel we
- 6:35Speaker 3: stayed in contact and connection with each other on the
- 6:40Speaker 3: offensive end. After we you know, took advantage of our
- 6:43Speaker 3: press offense, we got it past half court. We were
- 6:46Speaker 3: able to find a rhythm in our half court execution,
- 6:49Speaker 3: which was lacking on that Saturday's performance against Texas Tech.
- 6:53Speaker 3: So I think just because of that, allowing the ball
- 6:56Speaker 3: to move, you know, finding the open man, that that's
- 7:00Speaker 3: when you know you know your shots are going to
- 7:02Speaker 3: come because of the extra pass being made. We're shot ready,
- 7:05Speaker 3: and when you're shot ready and you're taking good shots,
- 7:08Speaker 3: you know chances are you're going to make more than
- 7:10Speaker 3: you miss.
- 7:12Speaker 1: Gavin Peterson, you tell women's basketball head coaches our guest
- 7:15Speaker 1: here on the Sean O'Connell show tomorrow, you can listen
- 7:19Speaker 1: to their game against BYU. It's again a two o'clock
- 7:24Speaker 1: tip off in a pre game ninety two to five.
- 7:28Speaker 1: The Beat our sister station is where you can hear
- 7:30Speaker 1: that basketball being played. So coach, let's get into this
- 7:33Speaker 1: now b YU in state rivalry, emotional game all the time.
- 7:37Speaker 1: Where's BYU most dangerous?
- 7:40Speaker 4: You know they're they can shoot the three.
- 7:43Speaker 3: They like to play up tempo, as do we, so
- 7:47Speaker 3: they're gonna be dangerous on both ends of the floor.
- 7:50Speaker 3: They have one of the best players in the Big
- 7:52Speaker 3: twelve in Delaney Gibb, and she is going to have
- 7:56Speaker 3: the ball in her hands and gonna be making plays,
- 7:59Speaker 3: whether she's enough for teammates for open shots or scoring
- 8:02Speaker 3: the ball ourselves.
- 8:02Speaker 4: So we have our work.
- 8:04Speaker 3: Cut out for us to try to slow her down.
- 8:06Speaker 3: You're not going to stop a player like that. She's
- 8:09Speaker 3: a phenomenal gifted basketball player, so we just got to
- 8:11Speaker 3: be you know, making her work for her points, work
- 8:15Speaker 3: for her assists, and then if we can do that
- 8:18Speaker 3: and then execute and take care of the basketball on
- 8:21Speaker 3: our end, I think you'll be a very good basketball game.
- 8:24Speaker 3: But you know, team down south Man, they bring it.
- 8:27Speaker 3: They don't take any plays off, they play hard all
- 8:29Speaker 3: the time. They're one of the best rebounding teams in
- 8:32Speaker 3: our league. And we just got to make sure that
- 8:34Speaker 3: we answer and match their intensity from the jump. And
- 8:40Speaker 3: if we do that, I think it's going to be
- 8:41Speaker 3: a great game, as it always is between these two schools.
- 8:46Speaker 1: You know, we do this all the time when we're
- 8:48Speaker 1: talking about the rivalry game. The level of emotional investment
- 8:52Speaker 1: from players, especially ones like transfers that come in maybe
- 8:56Speaker 1: halfway through their career or you've got international players that
- 9:00Speaker 1: it's an unrealistic expectation to be like, hey, what do
- 9:04Speaker 1: they think of byu Utah in Australia?
- 9:06Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
- 9:07Speaker 1: Like that, right, But obviously they're all bought in on
- 9:11Speaker 1: being utes, and this is part of being bought in
- 9:13Speaker 1: on being utes, is you hate BYU, and you understand
- 9:16Speaker 1: how important this rivalry is. But how much education, how
- 9:19Speaker 1: much deliberate education, goes into that for you?
- 9:23Speaker 3: And you know, I think it just because of where
- 9:26Speaker 3: our season stands. A lot of the newcomers get to
- 9:29Speaker 3: experience a football game, or they get to experience a
- 9:32Speaker 3: volleyball game, and then they you know, obviously paying attention
- 9:37Speaker 3: to men's basketball, who already played them twice this year,
- 9:41Speaker 3: so they understand the hype, the social media aspect, all
- 9:44Speaker 3: those things that magnify this game between these two schools.
- 9:50Speaker 3: So by the time it comes our turn to play,
- 9:54Speaker 3: I always joke with the newcomers who it's their first time,
- 9:57Speaker 3: it's like, give yourself three minutes and three minutes into
- 9:59Speaker 3: the game, you're gonna feel the intensity. You're gonna feel
- 10:03Speaker 3: the passion that both sides of the court want to
- 10:07Speaker 3: execute and want to win so badly that you have
- 10:10Speaker 3: no choice to just fall in line and be all in.
- 10:14Speaker 3: And you know, we've been able to do that through
- 10:17Speaker 3: the years, and it's fun.
- 10:19Speaker 4: I actually enjoy the rivalry.
- 10:21Speaker 3: I have fun with it. I don't write in blue
- 10:24Speaker 3: pen I make it a point to let that be
- 10:27Speaker 3: known to our team, and I joke about it.
- 10:30Speaker 4: I try not to use the letters.
- 10:31Speaker 3: I always say TDS, But it's just all funny games.
- 10:35Speaker 3: There's a lot of respect between our programs. I love
- 10:38Speaker 3: what they're doing down there, and you know it's for
- 10:41Speaker 3: forty minutes. Let's get after it. And you know this
- 10:44Speaker 3: year as just like last year, we get to play
- 10:47Speaker 3: them twice, so once down there and once year, So
- 10:49Speaker 3: it's gonna be a fun year.
- 10:52Speaker 1: As we as we round closer and closer to tournament time,
- 10:55Speaker 1: how much will you adjust the way that you handle
- 10:58Speaker 1: practice workloads, injuries and more bumps and bruises knock on
- 11:03Speaker 1: wood than significant injuries to deal with and stuff like that.
- 11:07Speaker 1: But you've got to be peaking at the right time,
- 11:09Speaker 1: which is a theme in college basketball and something you
- 11:11Speaker 1: and I have discussed before. As you as you go
- 11:14Speaker 1: through all the data and the study and the science
- 11:18Speaker 1: of maximizing what your team is capable of, how do
- 11:21Speaker 1: you handle it?
- 11:22Speaker 3: Yeah, rely on people smarter than me, first and foremost.
- 11:26Speaker 3: We have a sports performance team that that team is
- 11:30Speaker 3: comprised of athletic trainer, our strength coach, our sports scientists,
- 11:34Speaker 3: and also our sports psychologists.
- 11:36Speaker 4: They're meeting weekly. They update me.
- 11:39Speaker 3: In terms of where they view our players and where
- 11:43Speaker 3: we what for them to kind of be at their
- 11:47Speaker 3: best when their best is needed. And to be honest,
- 11:50Speaker 3: I just rely on them a tremendous amount and I'm
- 11:54Speaker 3: able to with our coaching staff adjust as we go.
- 11:58Speaker 3: But I think, you know, allowing the information serve and
- 12:01Speaker 3: be useful for you to bet your best, it's something
- 12:05Speaker 3: that I accept. I actually the fact that information is
- 12:10Speaker 3: being brought to me early and we can make those decisions,
- 12:14Speaker 3: so we can't taper up if needed to do so,
- 12:17Speaker 3: or and there are times when no, sometimes we have
- 12:19Speaker 3: to ramp it up to make sure that they know
- 12:22Speaker 3: that intensity and then be ready for a game day.
- 12:25Speaker 3: So it's the ebb and flow of the season. And
- 12:27Speaker 3: you're absolutely right. During college basketball season in the month
- 12:31Speaker 3: of February, as we close, as we're really close to February,
- 12:35Speaker 3: those are when tough teams, the gritty teams, those ones
- 12:40Speaker 3: that win. And with a young that is our goal,
- 12:43Speaker 3: that is our charge. We've got to roll up our sleeves,
- 12:46Speaker 3: embrace that process, accept it, and just you know, plow
- 12:50Speaker 3: through it.
- 12:52Speaker 1: Big picture perspective, especially where the conference is act as
- 12:55Speaker 1: conference tournament and conference play before you get to anything
- 12:59Speaker 1: NC Double Tournament wise, you know, you got four ranked
- 13:02Speaker 1: teams in the top twenty five right now in this
- 13:04Speaker 1: Big twelve conference, and you were obviously familiar with what
- 13:08Speaker 1: it was like playing women's basketball in the Pac twelve
- 13:10Speaker 1: Conference as well. Before that conference died, it was probably
- 13:13Speaker 1: the best or one of the best in the nation.
- 13:15Speaker 2: And that's we're well removed from that now.
- 13:19Speaker 1: But have things gone according to your expectations outside of
- 13:23Speaker 1: your own room and your own building when it comes
- 13:25Speaker 1: to TCU, Baylor, Texas, Tech, West Virginia, the other teams
- 13:30Speaker 1: in this league showing where they're at, Yeah, you know, I.
- 13:33Speaker 3: Think it's the adjustment process. You know. I think last
- 13:37Speaker 3: year we probably thought going in we were going to
- 13:41Speaker 3: be better than where we actually finished. But that's again,
- 13:45Speaker 3: that's part of going into a new league. This year,
- 13:48Speaker 3: I feel, even though we might not have the experience
- 13:51Speaker 3: and we're playing a lot of newcomers and a lot
- 13:54Speaker 3: of freshmen, the expectation and knowing what we need to
- 13:58Speaker 3: do on a night in, night out basis to be successful.
- 14:02Speaker 3: I think we have a better grasp for it from
- 14:04Speaker 3: a coaching perspective and a program's perspective.
- 14:07Speaker 4: So I like where we're at.
- 14:10Speaker 3: I really believe that incruiting land recruiting process. We've been
- 14:15Speaker 3: able to identify certain needs and have addressed those. So
- 14:19Speaker 3: we're positioning ourselves to be really successful, you know, hopefully
- 14:24Speaker 3: the rest of this year, but also into the future
- 14:27Speaker 3: with some of the players and the talent that we
- 14:29Speaker 3: are recruiting, uh and the kids that we've been able
- 14:31Speaker 3: to uh you know, commit to the University of Utah.
- 14:34Speaker 3: So it's an exciting time. I still think we're gonna
- 14:38Speaker 3: we still have yet a lot of to accomplish this year,
- 14:40Speaker 3: but I'm really excited and the future is bright here
- 14:43Speaker 3: at Utah.
- 14:44Speaker 1: We have also talked about this in the past, but
- 14:47Speaker 1: you know, these these last couple of years have very
- 14:50Speaker 1: much felt like a moment for women's athletics and women's
- 14:54Speaker 1: basketball pretty specifically, where women's college hoops and pro hoops
- 14:59Speaker 1: is getting a lot more attention. Big time personalities and
- 15:02Speaker 1: star players have certainly helped that, but even companies giving
- 15:06Speaker 1: shoe deals out and things like that.
- 15:09Speaker 2: Do you feel like we're still on that upswing coach, Yes.
- 15:14Speaker 3: I think We're trying to sustain that and get consistenters
- 15:19Speaker 3: across the board when it comes to viewership and fan attendance,
- 15:24Speaker 3: and I feel, you know, again, it's the storylines, it's
- 15:27Speaker 3: the personalities, and you know, because we have some newcomers,
- 15:32Speaker 3: the people that have been coming out to our games,
- 15:34Speaker 3: which you know, our Texas Tech crowd was phenomenal. Phenomenal
- 15:38Speaker 3: is about three five hundred people, and we just want
- 15:41Speaker 3: to continue to build on that. But as they get
- 15:43Speaker 3: to know the game and the personalities of each of
- 15:46Speaker 3: our players, I think that's just going.
- 15:47Speaker 4: To continue to grow and we can.
- 15:49Speaker 3: Sustain that knowing that night in, night out, year into year,
- 15:54Speaker 3: we are going to be in there competing for Big
- 15:57Speaker 3: twelve Championships, competing to possibly the first second round, and
- 16:02Speaker 3: those are the things that when you do that on
- 16:05Speaker 3: a consistent basis, it's a lot easier to create that
- 16:08Speaker 3: home court advantage and get people into the stands and
- 16:12Speaker 3: really following our program. So we really appreciate all the
- 16:16Speaker 3: support we get from the community, and we just implore
- 16:19Speaker 3: them to go tell a friend or two or ten
- 16:22Speaker 3: and keep making the Huntsman Center a really hard place
- 16:26Speaker 3: for our opponents to come and play. Like I said,
- 16:29Speaker 3: we lost three games already in Big twelve play, which
- 16:32Speaker 3: is very uncharacteristic of us. But we got to do
- 16:36Speaker 3: a better job of protecting home court and giving our
- 16:39Speaker 3: fans that home court advantage and that home court feel
- 16:43Speaker 3: to make the Huntsman Center a special place.
- 16:47Speaker 1: Is the contract, the collective bargaining negotiation happening right now
- 16:52Speaker 1: in the w a topic of conversation with your team
- 16:55Speaker 1: at all.
- 16:57Speaker 3: No, we don't get caught up in all that. You know,
- 17:00Speaker 3: our coaching staff talks about it because it's like, you know,
- 17:02Speaker 3: what we want to see. We want to see a
- 17:05Speaker 3: WNBA schedule. We want to go maybe head out to
- 17:09Speaker 3: LA and watch coach robertson her staff go through training camp.
- 17:13Speaker 3: We want to be able to learn a little bit
- 17:16Speaker 3: and do those type of things. So we always joke
- 17:17Speaker 3: about it, but we hope that it gets taken care
- 17:21Speaker 3: of sooner than later. I think the players deserve what
- 17:26Speaker 3: they're asking for, and I also think that people are
- 17:29Speaker 3: going to continue to show up and support women's athletics,
- 17:33Speaker 3: especially at the w NBA level. But if this goes
- 17:36Speaker 3: too long, I wouldn't want to flirt on.
- 17:39Speaker 4: Killing any of that momentum that has been.
- 17:41Speaker 3: Built over the last two to three seasons on their part,
- 17:44Speaker 3: So let's get it done.
- 17:46Speaker 4: Come on, folks.
- 17:47Speaker 2: That's how I feel. It's it's tough.
- 17:48Speaker 1: It's cool to see you know this moment that I
- 17:51Speaker 1: just referenced, but yeah, you can't then interrupt that with
- 17:55Speaker 1: the stoppage play.
- 17:57Speaker 2: I like that.
- 17:59Speaker 1: That's there's no way to sustain momentum if there's no
- 18:02Speaker 1: forward movement at all.
- 18:04Speaker 3: No, it's you're gonna take three steps forward and then
- 18:06Speaker 3: you're gonna take five steps back. It's like you cannot
- 18:08Speaker 3: do that. So uh, they definitely, I know they're working
- 18:11Speaker 3: hard on it, but they got to get done. They
- 18:13Speaker 3: gotta get it done soon.
- 18:14Speaker 2: Well that's above my pay grade and even above your
- 18:16Speaker 2: pay grade. We'll let them handle. A coach.
- 18:19Speaker 1: You just do your thing and go get a winning
- 18:22Speaker 1: provo tomorrow. And as always, I appreciate your time, especially
- 18:26Speaker 1: in season.
- 18:27Speaker 4: Awesome.
- 18:27Speaker 3: I appreciate you, my man. Thanks so C and Goutevin.
- 18:31Speaker 1: Peterson, the head coach of Utah women's basketball. You could
- 18:36Speaker 1: hear that game tomorrow on ninety two to five The
- 18:40Speaker 1: Beat two o'clock Tip one forty five pre game