After six straight games on the road the BYU women’s basketball team returns to the Marriott Center to compete against in-state rival Utah State on Tuesday.
“I think (playing at) home makes a difference,” BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins said. “We haven’t been home for a month, so I think that’s part of it and I think traveling and all that is hard.”
At home now, the Cougars look to take on the Aggies who are currently standing 2–5 while the Cougars have a 3–4 record.
BYU and Utah State paired up last year in Logan where BYU took the game 73–65, but the Cougars know their defense will be tested by the Aggies versatile offense.
“They have a really good point guard who averages about 23 (points) a game,” Judkins said. “She can score in a lot of different ways from three pointers to driving to the basket. They have a big center that we recruited named Franny (Vaaulu), she’s physical. They have a couple of wings that can drive it and shoot it.”
BYU had a tough loss last week against Creighton, losing in overtime after owning a 14-point lead at halftime.
“I think we’ve just been kind of dead lately,” Steed said. “So we need to start coming out the second half fired up, with high intensity. Our huge problem in the second half has been scoring, we’ve got to come out and take smart, high quality shots in the first and second half to get ourselves going again.”
Watching film after the games has helped the team realize just how long they’ve gone without making a shot.
“When we go through our droughts we need to realize that we need a basket,” senior forward Keilani Unga said. “During the games there is so much adrenaline and so much going on that we don’t realize we just went five possessions without scoring anything.”
BYU looks forward to Tuesday’s game at home where it can work on executing its game plan and coming out with momentum both halves.
The Cougars and Aggies tipoff Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
