Utah women enjoying the dance all the way to the Sweet 16

SALT LAKE CITY — Minutes after Utah staved off defeat from Princeton on Sunday, Lynne Roberts was put on the spot.

The Huntsman Center's PA announcer told the 8,000 fans in attendance, who were still there to congratulate the team for its win, that Utah's head coach would now do a dance in honor of her team clinching a berth to the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.

Roberts felt the pressure, with seemingly the entire arena suddenly focused on her.

She reluctantly stepped forward into the middle of a crowd that included players, coaches, photographers, and a horde or other individuals on the court, and performed a quick version of the Griddy to appease the masses. Winning sometimes does that to people, especially after Utah reached its preseason goal of making it to the Sweet 16.

"I did not want to do the Griddy there, but I felt 8,000 eyes looking at me; I needed to do it. I'm better than that. I'm better than that," Roberts said, almost convincing herself during a postgame press conference. "If we win again, I'll pull out a legit one."

Maybe there's more dancing in Roberts' future just yet.

But for one night, Utah could let loose and celebrate. It was a cathartic moment after the rock fight that preceded it against a Princeton team that refused to go down easily. As much as teams do everything they can to win the big games, there's a necessary requirement to have fun, too.

Even when Princeton cut Utah's lead to 2 in the third quarter — after previously building up a 13-point lead — Roberts said it was important for her team to laugh and not take itself too seriously in a tense moment that was palpable in the Huntsman Center.

"We get to coach and play basketball for a living, and I think everybody does better when they don't feel pressure," Roberts explained. "Nobody responds well when it's that fear. And so I think I can set the tone with that keeping things light. I think our group does a good job of knowing when to laugh and when not to."

Utah earned its moment of levity.

After all, the Utes had just accomplished something that no other Utah team in the Pac-12 era had done before and made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The first two games weren't always pretty, but any win in March is worth celebrating.

"Survive and advance" is a common phrase for teams in March for good reason. It's survival of the fittest, and it doesn't really matter how you got there so long as you got there.

Utah wasn't perfect — its 3-point shooting was well below average and the team amassed a multitude of turnovers over the two days that made Roberts say she "lost my mind" — and needed some heroics from Alissa Pili, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, to stay afloat.

Pili scored 61 points in the two games and became the first Utah player to score 28 or more points in consecutive NCAA Tournament games. And as a result, Utah went undefeated at the Huntsman Center this season with a 16-0 record — the first time since the 2002-03 season — and is moving on as one of the top 16 teams left standing.

But now, Utah goes back to work, with a third-ranked LSU on the docket in Greenville, South Carolina.

"It means everything," Pili said about reaching the Sweet 16. "It's a lot of hard work paid off. But like coach said, we are not done yet and we can make a run even deeper in the tournament. So yeah, it means a lot just knowing that our hard work throughout the season is just paying off and we are being recognized as one of the best teams in the country now that we have made it this far. We just got to keep improving."

The dancing and the fun can continue, but Utah is focused on winning first.

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