The Utah Utes have made their way into the 2025 NCAA Tournament and are the better seed by just a hair as they are the eight seed matching up against the nine seeded Indiana Hoosiers.
The Utes ended the regular season 22-7 and 13-5 in the conference. They were the six seed in the Big 12 conference tournament and earned a first-round bye. However, they put up a dud against the 14th seed Texas Tech Lady Raiders and lost in the second round.
Thankfully, the selection committee thought highly enough of them and the Big 12 conference as a whole to still give them an at-large bid in Birmingham region.
This is the fourth year in a row that they’ve been in the NCAA Tournament. They didn’t make it out of the Round of 32 in 2022 and 2024 and were able to reach the Sweet Sixteen in 2023. Their deepest tournament run was in 2006 where they got to the Elite Eight before losing to Maryland in overtime.
The Utes finished their season as a dominant team, winning nine of their last 11 games by an average margin of 18.3 points per win. Throughout the season, they were mostly unranked but got as high as the 22nd ranked team in the country.
They are led by Junior guard Gianna Kneepkens who averages 19.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. She is a sharp-shooter who hits 45 percent of her three-pointers, 50.4 percent from the field, and 89.5 percent of her free throws.
Their first-round opponent, the Indiana Hoosiers finished the season in 8th place in the competitive Big 10 conference with a record of 19-12 and 10-8 in the conference. IU was ranked 25th coming into the season but after an early season loss to Harvard, they weren't able to crack the national ranking again.
How to watch Utah vs Indiana:
- Date: March 21, 2025
- Time: 1:30pm EST
- Venue: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
- How to watch: ESPN2
- How to stream: ESPN+/ fuboTV
- Utah Record: 22-8
- Indiana Record: 19-12