Buffs seek road sweep at Arizona St.
Program hasn’t started 3-0 in league play since the 1996-97 season
TUCSON, ARIZ. >> Like many coaches, JR Payne harbors a few superstitions.
One of them, common in the profession, is Payne’s habit of not looking ahead to the next opponent until her Colorado women’s basketball team has finished its business with the current opponent.
That holds true on the rare occasions the Buffaloes play three games in three days, as they did in the U.S. Virgin Islands in November. And it holds true this weekend, as the fifth-ranked Buffs follow up an often ugly but ultimately gritty 75-74 win at Arizona on Friday night with a tipoff just 42 hours later on Sunday at Arizona State.
“The biggest thing is resting. Fueling, hydrating and resting,” Payne said following Friday’s win. “Our team does a really good job with their mental preparation. I think they can learn a scout, they can learn a new team, they can study their tendencies. And really digest them and know who Arizona State is without taking a physical rep. And that’s just because we’re so veteran. They’ll be able to be fully prepared without having to physically do too much.
“I’m pretty superstitious so I don’t look at anything beyond the game in front of us. But I also am a pretty quick study, so by (late Friday) I’ll know everything about (Arizona State).”
While the Buffs improved to 2-0 in conference play with Friday’s win in Tucson, it certainly wasn’t one of the Buffs’ more memorable performances.
CU committed 13 turnovers in the first half and finished with 19, its third-highest total of the season. Defensively, the Buffs struggled against a shorthanded Wildcats club that dressed only seven players, allowing UA to shoot a lofty .595 (25-for-42) through three quarters. Although CU’S ability to limit the Wildcats to a more manageable .438 mark in the fourth quarter was a key ingredient in the Buffs’ late rally, Arizona’s final field goal percentage of .552 was the highest for any CU opponent since Utah put up a .569 mark on Dec. 14, 2022.
Still, the effort wasn’t without its bright spots. Playing in front of what likely will be the biggest (7,386), most fervent road crowd the Buffs will face this season, Colorado dominated the fourth quarter to eke out the victory. The Buffs also received a much-needed, bounce-back performance from fifth-year senior
forward Quay Miller. After posting just two rebounds without a shot attempt in only 11 minutes during CU’S league-opening win last week against Utah, Miller finished with a near-double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds, going 6-for-12 from the field and 2-for-2 on 3-pointers.
“It is what it is. We’ve just got to go out there and play our best,” CU guard Jaylyn Sherrod said. “We’ve got to be better than (at Arizona). I think (Friday) left a bad taste in all of our mouths. It’s one of them you’re happy to win, but you didn’t play your best. You didn’t do what you’re supposed to do. You’ve just got to go out there and be better on Sunday. Arizona State’s no different. They’re scrappy. They’re young. They want to win, too. We’ve just got to go out there and play our game and we’ll be all right.”