In historic win over No. 2 UCLA, the Utes finally answered a question that has plagued them

Even after Utah had cruised to a blowout victory over the USC Trojans, the sixth-ranked team in the country, the Utes’ biggest questions still felt unanswered.

Alissa Pili had scored 37 points, tying a career-high.

But the Utes only had one other player, Maty Wilke, in double figures. The supporting cast that had been searching for a way to fill the void left by the injured Gianna Kneepkens didn’t entirely impress.

Fast forward to Monday, and the Utes finally looked like a team with answers.

In the process of taking down No. 2 UCLA, Lynne Roberts’ group barely used its best player on the offensive end. Pili didn’t attempt a shot until the second quarter. She didn’t score from the field until halfway through the third.

In her place, Kennady McQueen had 21 points. Dasia Young and Wilke had 16. Ines Vieira had 12. Utah scored 94 points against a team that only gives up 60 on average. And it did so while Pili went 4 of 15 from the field.

If the win over USC showed that Utah still had a heartbeat, defeating UCLA showed that the Utes still had the squad that could live up to its Final Four aspirations. One-dimensional teams get beat in March. Utah finally looked more than that.

“They were so keyed in on [Pili] that nothing was easy for her,” Roberts said. “So for her to only hit four baskets and us to score 94 points, that tells you what our team is about.

“... UCLA has what it takes to be at the end of season, the last man standing. And I think we do, too.”

It is hard to argue with that now.

For the first time, Utah showed it didn’t need a herculean effort from one player to stay in games. That wouldn’t be sustainable if Utah has its sights set on an Elite Eight and possibly more.

All year long, it felt like Utah was too reliant on Pili. Against No. 1 South Carolina, Utah rode Pili for 37 points and it still wasn’t enough. That day, the bench contributed just two points.

Go back to a loss to No. 8 Colorado. Pili had 27. The bench had 12 points.

Even against No. 8 Stanford, another narrow loss, Pili had slightly more help but not enough. She scored 15 and the bench had 13.

On Monday, though, Roberts’ bench was deep and masterful. She played nine players by the end of the first quarter and got 24 points by the end of the night.

It wasn’t just the subs, either. It was the supporting cast in the starting lineup. They saw driving lanes and found 30 points in the paint. They saw open threes and knocked them down. Young hit three. Wilke hit four.

It allowed McQueen, who has been guarded so tightly since Kneepkens went out with an injury, to get 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting. With her defender having to help off to respect the other scorers, she found more room on kick-out threes.

“On free ups definitely [didn’t have more space]. That was still very challenging,” McQueen said. “But my teammates did a great job when the defense would collapse and help on the drives, my man would go help in. ... Usually that hasn’t happened. So a little bit more space.”

All the while, Pili was quiet. Which, as weird as it sounds, was a good thing for the Utes.

“Everyone knows how good Alissa is,” McQueen said. “And of course she is going to be the focus of the opposing team. So with that, we just know we have to be ready to step up when nights like tonight happen.”

As Roberts said, UCLA is a Final Four contender. And Utes just beat it with their best player scoring eight points from the field.

As Utah makes it way to March, more nights like this will come. The nation’s best teams will limit Utah’s best player occasionally. But instead of rolling over, now Utah has a way to win.

For the first time this year, Utah looked like it could be truly dangerous in March.

Contenders, again.