Posts tagged Salt Lake City
Brooks: Buffs Rely On Tightened ‘D’ In Rout Of Utes
Feb 2nd
Colorado’s coach was more focused on what her team didn’t do than most anything Utah did – and fine-tuning her team was the right approach. Lappe’s Buffs clamped down defensively, made a few offensive tweaks and dispatched the Utes 61-45 at the Coors Events Center.
“It was good to get that win,” Lappe said. “I thought our players stepped up and did some good things on the defensive end and in rebounding.”
Winning for only the second time in their past eight games, the Buffs (13-8, 3-7) scored the afternoon’s first points and never trailed thereafter. CU led 33-16 at halftime, by as many as 20 points early in the second half, and allowed the Utes (10-11, 3-7) no closer than 13 for the rest of the game.
‘D’ was key for the Buffs, who had shot below 40 percent from the field in nine of their previous 11 games. While Sunday’s shooting percentage didn’t climb above 40 (35.8), CU held Utah to a frigid 25.9 percent – well below the 38.8 the Utes shot in Wednesday night’s 58-55 win.
In that game, CU’s Arielle Roberson and Jen Reese combined for only nine points. By halftime Sunday, Roberson-Reese had 16 between them – Roberson with 9, Reese with 7. Reese didn’t score in the second half, but Roberson doubled her first-half productivity and finished as the game’s high scorer (18).
Roberson said Lappe’s characterization of the Buffs now as “underdogs” made them “all come out and be more aggressive . . . we threw the first punch and were more aggressive.”
Defensively, said Roberson, the Buffs “boxed out a lot better, got a lot of defensive rebounds. We were better on our fouls, so I think (Lappe) was very pleased about that. We were scrappy, we were in passing lanes, and that set the tone for our offense.”
Brittany Wilson added 10 points for CU, seven of them in the second half. Freshmen Haley Smith contributed eight points and eight rebounds, matching Roberson’s board total. Lappe said Smith “played tremendous. I liked her demeanor . . . she was aggressive and that gave us a lot of energy and helped our overall intensity.”
Smith, a 6-0 wing from Sammamish, Wash., called Sunday’s win “a good bounce-back game for us . . . I think our mentality is changing.”
Sophomore Jamee Swan, who had scored 15 points and collected eight rebounds in Wednesday night’s loss, was held out of Sunday’s first for violating a team rule. She played 5 minutes, totaling one point and two rebounds.
Utah had one player in double figures – guard Danielle Rodriguez with 11. Forward Michelle Plouffe, the Utes’ high scorer (14) in Wednesday’s game, went 1-for-10 from the field Sunday and finished with 7 points. Cheyenne Wilson, who had 11 points against the Buffs in the earlier meeting, managed nine in the rematch.
Lappe credited Roberson, Reese and Rachel Hargis for their defensive work on Plouffe and for turning Sunday’s game in a guards duel.
“We match up well with her (but) you always have to know where (Plouffe) is,” Lappe said, noting that Hargis did “a great job” in spelling Roberson, which allowed Roberson to stay fresh on the offensive end.
The Buffs raced to a 33-16 halftime lead, finally ending a long 3-point drought and getting an impressive first-half finish from freshman Zoe Beard-Fails.
After missing the last 13 trey attempts – a span of 88:33 or two-plus games – CU got a 3-pointer from Reese to take a 5-2 lead that was never relinquished. Roberson closed the Buffs’ first-half scoring with a straightaway triple from the top of the key.
CU finished the half 2-of-6 from beyond the arc and got one of its top 3-point shooters – junior guard Lexy Kresl – back on the court. Kresl, out for the previous three games with a lower leg injury, played 4 first-half minutes but did not attempt a shot. But with 6:45 to play in the game, she knocked down a critical trey to send CU ahead 50-31. The Buffs finished 3-of-11 from behind the arc.
Lappe said Kresl wasn’t necessarily ahead of schedule in her comeback, noting that she will be brought along slowly and monitored for this week’s games. The Buffs visit the Pacific Northwest this week, playing at Oregon State on Friday (9 p.m. MT) and at Oregon on Sunday (3 p.m. MT).
Beard-Fails, who had scored six points in the previous nine Pac-12 games, matched that total in final 2:38 of Sunday’s first half. The 6-2 Beard-Fails, of Herndon, Va., followed a pair of free throws with two inside baskets as the Buffs stretched their advantage to 30-16.
Half a minute later, Roberson drained her 3-pointer, giving CU its 17-point lead at the break. The Buffs owned a healthy 27-12 rebounding edge after the first 20 minutes (51-35 for the game), but they committed 11 turnovers (17 for the game) which the Utes converted into 11 first-half points – the key number in keeping Utah as close as it was after one half. The plus-15 board advantage was the Buffs’ biggest in a half this season.
CU shot 42.9 percent in the opening half and went into the second half wanting that stat to hold up. It didn’t, but the Buffs compensated on the defensive end. They kept their intensity up to open the final 20 minutes, opened a pair of 20-point leads and kept the Utes playing catch up for the remainder of the game.
Utah coach Anthony Levrets applauded CU for adjusting after Wednesday’s game: “When they played big the first time, we had our two guards guarding Arielle on the perimeter, and then that allowed Plouffe to guard Reese.
“When they went back small today, it was a really good move by them because then our ‘five’ man has to either guard Reese or Roberson –and neither one of them is ever a ‘five.’ Playing on the perimeter was really hard for our big girls. It was a great adjustment by Colorado and I give a lot of credit to them.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Climate change could dry up Salt Lake City watersheds
Nov 1st
challenge Salt Lake City’s water supply
In an example of the challenges water-strapped Western cities will face in a warming world, new research shows that every degree Fahrenheit of warming in the Salt Lake City region could mean a 1.8 to 6.5 percent drop in the annual flow of streams that provide water to the city.
By midcentury, warming Western temperatures may mean that some of the creeks and streams that help slake Salt Lake City’s thirst will dry up several weeks earlier in the summer and fall, according to the new paper, published today in the journal Earth Interactions. The findings may help regional planners make choices about long-term investments, including water storage and even land-protection policies.
“Many Western water suppliers are aware that climate change will have impacts, but they don’t have detailed information that can help them plan for the future,” said lead author Tim Bardsley, with NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Because our research team included hydrologists, climate scientists and water utility experts, we could dig into the issues that mattered most to the operators responsible for making sure clean water flows through taps and sprinklers without interruption.”
Bardsley works for the CIRES Western Water Assessment, from the NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center in Salt Lake City. For the new paper, he worked closely with colleagues from the city’s water utility, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and the University of Utah.
The team relied on climate model projections of temperature and precipitation in the area, historical data analysis and a detailed understanding of the region from which the city utility obtains water. The study also used NOAA streamflow forecasting models that provide information for Salt Lake City’s current water operations and management.
The picture that emerged was similar, in some ways, to previous research on the water in the Interior West: Warmer temperatures alone will cause more of the region’s precipitation to fall as rain than snow, leading to earlier runoff and less water in creeks and streams in the late summer and fall.
“Many snow-dependent regions follow a consistent pattern in responding to warming, but it’s important to drill down further to understand the sensitivity of watersheds that matter for individual water supply systems,” said NCAR’s Andy Wood, a co-author.
The specifics in the new analysis—which creeks are likely to be impacted most and soonest, how water sources on the nearby western flank of the Wasatch Mountains and the more distant eastern flank will fare—are critical to water managers with Salt Lake City.
“We are using the findings of this sensitivity analysis to better understand the range of impacts we might experience under climate change scenarios,” said co-author Laura Briefer, water resources manager at the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. “This is the kind of tool we need to help us adapt to a changing climate, anticipate future changes and make sound water-resource decisions.”
“Water emanating from our local Wasatch Mountains is the lifeblood of the Salt Lake Valley, and is vulnerable to the projected changes in climate,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. “This study, along with other climate adaptation work Salt Lake City is doing, helps us plan to be a more resilient community in a time of climate change.”
Among the details in the new assessment:
- Temperatures are already rising in northern Utah, about 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last century, and continue to climb. Summer temperatures have increased especially steeply and are expected to continue to do so. Increasing temperatures during the summer irrigation season may increase water demand.
- Every increase in a degree Fahrenheit means an average decrease of 3.8 percent in annual water flow from watersheds used by Salt Lake City. This means less water available from Salt Lake City’s watersheds in the future.
- Lower-elevation streams are more sensitive to increasing temperatures, especially from May through September, and city water experts may need to rely on less-sensitive, higher-elevation sources in late summer, or more water storage.
- Models tell an uncertain story about total future precipitation in the region, primarily because Utah is on the boundary of the Southwest (projected to dry) and the U.S. northern tier states (projected to get wetter).
- Overall, models suggest increased winter flows, when water demand is lower, and decreased summer flows when water demand peaks.
- Annual precipitation would need to increase by about 10 percent to counteract the stream-drying effect of a 5-degree increase in temperature.
- A 5-degree temperature increase would also mean that peak water flow in the western Wasatch creeks would occur two to four weeks earlier in the summer than it does today. This earlier stream runoff will make it more difficult to meet water demand as the summer irrigation season progresses.
Authors of the new paper, “Planning for an Uncertain Future: Climate Change Sensitivity Assessment Toward Adaptation Planning for Public Water Supply,” are Tim Bardsley, CIRES Western Water Assessment; Andrew Wood, NCAR and formerly of NOAA’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center; Mike Hobbins, NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, and formerly NOAA’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center; Tracie Kirkham, Laura Briefer, and Jeff Niermeyer, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Steven Burian, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Earth Interactions is jointly published by the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society and the Association of American Geographers.
CIRES is a joint institute of NOAA and CU-Boulder.
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CU Men Step Up, Beat Utes Without Scott
Feb 22nd
Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – With freshman center Josh Scott on the bench in jeans and a team pullover, the Colorado Buffaloes needed someone to fill the void Thursday night against Utah. Turns out it wasn’t a question of whom, but how many.
Getting stand-up performances from players in stand-in roles and a typical night’s work from Andre Roberson, the Buffs put away the Utes 60-50 at the Coors Events Center.
“It was a must win,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to get it done.”
It followed a bitter overtime loss to Arizona State last Saturday and avenged an equally bitter loss in Salt Lake City earlier this month. Utah (11-15 overall, 3-11 Pac-12 Conference) won that one 58-55, withstanding a rally that almost brought CU back from a 22-point second-half deficit.
In the rematch, CU (18-8, 8-6) never got itself in that predicament, taking control with a 17-5 run to open the second half. The Buffs got 13 points from Spencer Dinwiddie, 12 from Sabatino Chen, 10 from Roberson and season-high nine from Jeremy Adams off the bench.
Roberson added 11 rebounds, 4 blocks and two steals. And among Roberson’s 11 boards was his 1,000th career rebound. He is in second place (1,006) at CU, trailing only Stephane Pelle (1,054).
“It means a lot,” Roberson said, mainly because of Boyle’s emphasis on defense and rebounding. Roberson said he took that emphasis “to heart . . . it’s a great accomplishment for me and I’m not done working.”
Boyle called Roberson “the best defender in America and without a doubt in the Pac-12 12 . . . he doesn’t get enough credit.” Boyle said Chen “was terrific defensively and getting the ball in the lane.” Adams, he said, contributed “critical minutes in both halves.”
And then there was Beau Gamble, whose contribution didn’t appear on the stat sheet and went unseen by the 9,823 at the CEC. According to Roberson, after the Utes “disrespected” the Buffs by banging on their locker room door at halftime, Gamble waded through and “messed up their huddle” before the Utes took the court.
Said Roberson: “We were behind him 100 percent. We’re not going to let anybody come in on our home court and punk us – so that’s how it is.”
If CU needed an edge to start the final 20 minutes, maybe Gamble’s “walk-through” provided it – although the visitors didn’t appreciate it. Whatever, the Buffs limited the Utes to 31.9 percent from the field and outrebounded them 22-14 in the second half.
Boyle also called for increased ball pressure and trapping Utah’s guards, which helped bring CU back in Salt Lake City. “They had to call some time outs (and) the traps took them out of some of their set plays,” Boyle said.
Scott was still in recovery mode from the elbow to the head received in last weekend’s brutally physical overtime loss to Arizona State. Boyle said Scott “is still day-to-day . . . I don’t know when he’ll be back. But until he gets back we’re going to need Shane (Harris-Tunks), Andre and everyone else.”
CU opened with a small starting lineup, using the 6-4 Chen in Scott’s place. Scott’s absence left the 6-11 Harris-Tunks as the Buffs’ biggest inside presence. Along with Roberson, Harris-Tunks was counted on to contend with Utah’s Jason Washburn, a 6-10 senior who entered the game averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game.
Harris-Tunks played five first-half minutes, with Roberson proving most effective against Washburn, who had scored in double figures in 14 of the past 16 games and had four double-doubles in Pac-12 play. One of his double-doubles (13 points, 11 rebounds) was against the Buffs on Feb. 2. Washburn finished Thursday night with 10 points and five boards.
“They were smaller, but they have a quick team,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “I thought the energy and movement really got them going. They kept the ball moving (and) we struggled to get the ball inside.”
Dinwiddie, who had averaged 23 points in his last three games, entered Thursday night having made 32 consecutive free throws. He went two-for-four in the first half but was the catalyst in the Buffs closing with a 9-2 run to take a 30-28 lead at intermission. He also hit four-of-four in the final 46 seconds, enabling CU to close out the win.
To Boyle’s chagrin, CU allowed Utah to shoot 50 percent (10-for-20) from the field in the first 20 minutes and gave up a two-rebound advantage (15-13). But minus Scott, CU’s bench made a contribution, outscoring Utah’s 8-2, with Adams getting six of his total in the first half.
“I was talking to some of my teammates and some of the guys who come off the bench and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to make up for Josh, if not by scoring then by rebounding,’” he said. “And I think we did a great job.”
The Buffs’ second-half challenges: tighter defense and better ball movement that hopefully would produce a higher second-half field goal percentage (42.3). CU attempted 17 first-half treys (hitting four), but Boyle refrained from telling his players to cease and desist.
“It’s such a big part of our offense and we really need it,” he said. But knocking a few down would help, and in the second half the Buffs attempted just seven more and hit two. Revving up their rebounding effort in the second half helped the Buffs outscore the Utes 14-8 on second-chance points.
After Utah freshman Jordan Loveridge – a former CU recruit – canned a three-pointer to put the Utes up 31-30 to start the second half, the Buffs answered with an 8-0 run to go to up 38-31. CU got its points in that surge on a tip-in by Xavier Johnson and back-to-back treys by Askia Booker and Chen.
Sensing the night might be slipping away, Krystkowiak called a timeout. But the Utes whiffed on that possession and Booker hit one of two free throws (39-31) and Roberson added a layup to push the Buffs’ lead to double digits (41-31).
Utah crept to within five points but CU responded with six consecutive points, completing a 17-5 run for a 47-36 advantage with 12:22 remaining. The big lead didn’t last, but neither did Utah’s energy.
The Utes pulled to within five points three times in the final 6:25, but got no closer. The Buffs made five of six free throws – four of them by Dinwiddie one of two by Chen – to account for the final margin.
CU travels to the Bay Area next week to play Stanford (Wednesday, Feb. 27) and California (Saturday, March 2) on its final regular-season road trip.[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]