Gonzaga women face Round of 32 matchup against Brynna Maxwell’s former team, Utah
The Gonzaga and Utah women’s basketball teams know each other better than most teams in NCAA Tournament second-round matchups.
The most obvious connection is 6-foot graduate wing Brynna Maxwell, who spent the first three years of her career at Utah and the last two at Gonzaga.
Maxwell and a handful of Utes remain friends.
Utah is well aware of Maxwell’s shooting abilities. She finished second in the nation last year in 3-point shooting efficiency.
“She’s one of the fastest shooters that I’ve ever met and played with,” said Utah junior point guard Ines Vieira. “She’s a really good shooter … a really, really good player. So we’ve got to lock in on that too.”
Maxwell scored 1,024 points in three years at Utah, starting all 31 games her freshman year. She ended up starting 63 of 85 games in Salt Lake City.
But after three years, Maxwell decided she needed a change. Gonzaga, which lost out on recruiting Maxwell the first time, swooped in and Maxwell headed to Spokane.
Lynne Roberts, who is in her ninth year as head coach at Utah, understood why Maxwell left.
“She was a big part of our program … and wanted a bigger role,” Roberts said. “Brynna is a great kid (with) a great family. The way she handled the transferring was respectful and there is no hard feelings. It’s been fun to see her succeed here and have fun.”
Roberts echoed Vieira about Maxwell’s shooting ability.
“One of the fastest release shots I’ve ever been around. She can just fill it,” Roberts said. “So I don’t want her to do well (Monday), but I’m glad she’s had a great career.”
Maxwell was named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Freshman Team and was twice an All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
“The truth was I was praying a ton and God was directing me out,” Maxwell said of transferring. “I love that program. They went a direction that was a little bit different than what I wanted to do to extend my game. So we just parted ways. That’s their call and their team and they’re having so much success with it. I have nothing but respect for them. It was a great three years for me.”
If Maxwell had a do -over, she said she’d make the same decision to head to Utah and finish at Gonzaga.
Fifth-seeded Utah (23-10) and No. 4 Gonzaga (31-3) meet Monday night to decide a berth in the Sweet 16 at the Portland Regional. Tipoff is at 7:30.
The game will be more than what Maxwell can or can’t do against her former team.
Both teams are similar offensively. They each feature a standout player with solid supporting casts.
They share a handful of common opponents. Gonzaga went 3-1 against Pac-12 foes, the highlight of which was a 96-78 win over then-No. 3-ranked Stanford on Dec. 10 – the same day that Utah fell to No. 1-ranked South Carolina 78-69 on a neutral court.
Against the same four Pac-12 opponents, Utah went 3-2. The Utes beat Washington State twice and fell 66-64 to Stanford the lone time the teams played. WSU topped Gonzaga in overtime in mid November.
And they both beat South Dakota State – Utah’s win coming Saturday in the NCAA first round.
“Their starting five is not dissimilar to our starting five,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “Everybody can shoot it. Everybody can score in a variety of different ways. They play unselfish just like us. Both teams play hard (and) both teams are veteran. Both teams run a lot of sets. There’s a lot of different actions that we can get to and lots of ball screens in the game. So those are definitely similar.”