Gavin Petersen knew he had to sub Gianna Kneepkens out.
“It wasn’t until that last media timeout,” Utah’s head coach said, “that I told her, ‘Stop scoring, you guys are done for the night.’”
At the time, he didn’t know the junior guard’s stat line.
Petersen trusted the eye test. Then he looked up at the scoreboard and found out Kneepkens was having a career night.
“Oh, 30 points,” Petersen thought to himself. “Oh, 10 boards. Oh, eight assists.“
Then he said, “I don’t care, you’re coming out. Stat chasing is not something that I’m comfortable with doing.”
One could say he didn’t have to worry about that.
Kneepkens was the primary offensive catalyst in Utah’s 79-61 home win over Kansas on Wednesday night. She finished the night with a career-best 30 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists against the Jayhawks. She was just two assists away from an elusive triple-double.
Her best performance came at a much-needed time. The Utes were on a two-game losing streak to ranked opponents, falling to No. 9 TCU and No. 25 Baylor last week.
Kneepkens struggled in those losses, too. Sure her scoring output was close to the same, but she had a combined 10 turnovers in the pair of losses.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes forward Maye Toure (21) and Utah Utes guard Gianna Kneepkens (5) as Utah hosts the Kansas Jayhawks in NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
Against Kansas, she was firing on all cylinders.
“Credit to my teammates for finding me,” Kneepkens said. “I think on their coverages, I was just trying to find the gaps, and my teammates were finding me. I thought we prepared super well, so we kind of knew what they were getting into, so i was also able to find passes to my teammates that they were able to finish.
“So, yeah, it was a good night. Like we talked about, I think we started well, and that was kind of our focus.”
Kneepkens and the Utes were able to get off to a fast start in the first quarter. By the end of the period, Utah held a 21-5 lead over Kansas.
Kneepkens had 12 points then. She ended the quarter by splashing a shot from 3-point range.
Everything went up from there.
“We might lose two in a row, but we’re not out of anything,” Petersen said. “In both of those games we fought until the bitter end. You’re not going to put us away that easily. And it does take some time as well with Kennady McQueen out. Everyone’s still trying to figure out their new roles and expanded roles in some cases. So, I think we’re slowly starting to figure that out.”
That energy was infectious for senior forward Jenna Johnson.
She finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“I feel like we had a difficult week in Texas and some losses we felt like we didn’t play our best in,” Johnson said. “These last few days we tried to focus on ourselves and figure out how to get back to Utah basketball. We had some good energy tonight and I felt like we found ourselves again.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes guard Gianna Kneepkens (5) battles Kansas Jayhawks guard Laia Conesa (6) in NCAA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.
Next, Utah will shift its focus to a short road trip down south to BYU at 2:30 p.m. MT on Saturday in Provo. It’s another chance for the Utes to stack another Big 12 win to their NCAA Tournament resume.
Admittedly, Kneepkens is also excited to have a carry-over performance against Utah’s bitter in-state rival.
“I think rivarly games are the best,” Kneepkens said. “Because a lot of people come out for them. The environment is great. They’re always good games.
“Playing high-level basketball against a team that’s just 40 minutes away is always fun, so I’m looking forward to it.”
