Women's Basketball Announces Pac-12 Weekly Pairings
SAN FRANCISCO – It is officially time to tip off the 2020-21 season for the University of Utah Women's Basketball program as the Pac-12 announced weekly matchups and site designations today for the league's 22-game schedule.
The nation's top-rated conference by RPI in three of the last five seasons will play a 22-game, double-round robin league schedule with future scheduling and formats continuing to be discussed. Specific dates, game times and TV selections will be announced at a later date.
The season is slated to span 12 weeks from Dec. 4, 2020 to March 1, 2021 with the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament scheduled for March 4-7 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
The Utes get started with two non-conference games in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, opening the season against Southern Utah on Wednesday, Nov. 25 with Utah then taking on Utah Valley on Saturday, Nov. 28.
All basketball competitions will be conducted in accordance with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee healthy and safety recommendations and guidelines. No fans will be permitted at any sporting competition taking place on Pac-12 campuses with the decision being revisited based upon health and safety considerations in January 2021.
Utah begins conference play on the road for two consecutive weeks, playing at Oregon and Oregon State Dec. 4-7, followed by the first rivalry week (Dec. 10-14) to take on Colorado in Boulder. The Utes hold a 19-18 lead against Colorado in the all-time series which includes wins in Boulder in 2018 (76-61) and 2020 (84-69).
The Utes trade two weeks on the road for two weeks at home, starting Dec. 18-21 when they host Arizona and Arizona State. Utah had a key victory against the Sun Devils at home last season, beating the No. 21 ranked Arizona State squad 75-71 on senior day.
Utah remains home the next week (Jan. 1-4), seeing Washington and Washington State in the Huntsman Center. Utah has swept the Washington schools in Salt Lake City the last two times they've made the trip, including in Utah's 20-win season in 2018-19 when they closed their home schedule with victories against both.
The Utes hit the road once again Jan. 8-11 to take on UCLA and USC before finishing out the first half of the Pac-12 season at home against California and Stanford (Jan. 14-18). Utah takes off on its second half of the season at Arizona and Arizona State Jan. 22-25, then returning to Salt Lake City to host Oregon and Oregon State Jan. 29-Feb. 1.
Utah heads to the Bay Area Feb. 12-15 to play its second set of games against California and Stanford, staying on the west coast for a pair of games against Washington and Washington State Feb. 19-22.
The Utes finish the regular season Feb. 26-March 1 in the Huntsman Center, taking on Colorado before the Pac-12 Tournament.
Utah returns eight letter winners and four starters to the court for the 2020-21 season, including All-Pac-12 sharp shooter Brynna Maxwell. Head coach Lynne Roberts enters her sixth season at the helm, bringing in the No. 20 recruiting class in the country to join an already young, but experienced crew.