Fast break
Why the Buffs won: From the start, they were the more physical team, playing exceptional defense and dominating in rebounding, 39-25.
Three stars:
1. CU’s Logyn Greer: The freshman finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots, the most blocks by a CU player this year.
2. CU’s Desiree Wooten: Posted 10 points, four assists and four rebounds.
3. Kansas’ S’Mya Nichols: Scored a game-high 14 points and had three assists and four steals.
Up next: The sixth-seeded Buffs will face third-seeded Baylor in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals on Friday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+) in Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A personal prayer and the perspective that comes from a lifetime in basketball helped Colorado women’s basketball head coach JR Payne relax going into her team’s game on Thursday night.
“I always just pray and just like, it’s just a game. It literally is just a basketball game,” she said. “So, you know, that allows me to kind of take a deep breath and not get too stressed about it.”
There’s no question, however, that there was reason to be stressed.
Payne and the Buffaloes could exhale a bit by the end of the night, though, as they knocked off Kansas 55-48 in the second round of the Big 12 tournament at T-Mobile Center. The Buffs will face third-seeded and No. 20-ranked Baylor on Friday.
“For sure, we felt like this was a must-win game for us, just because we dropped the last two,” Payne said after CU snapped a two-game skid.
Sitting firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble, sixth-seeded CU (21-10) boosted its resume with a strong victory against the 11th-seeded Jayhawks (18-12), who are also a bubble team.
“It was a big game,” said junior guard Desiree Wooten, who had 10 points, four assists and four rebounds. “We’re going to take it one game at a time. I mean everybody’s goal is to go dancing and it’s, like I said, one game at a time to be honest.”
The Buffs didn’t win any style points, which hardly matters, but they slugged past the Jayhawks in a physical battle, holding the lead throughout the final 32 minutes.
“I said to the team after, that sure wasn’t pretty, but in March, it doesn’t have to be pretty as long as it goes in the win column,” Payne said. “I’m really proud of our team for how we competed tonight. It was definitely a battle. I thought it was a very physical game and I thought our execution was really good, but just great team effort.”
Freshman Logyn Greer matched Wooten’s 10 points to tie for the team lead. Greer also had six rebounds and four blocked shots. Starting forwards Jade Masogayo, Anaelle Dutat and Tabitha Betson combined for 20 points and 17 rebounds.
Guard Zyanna Walker was hit with two fouls in 12 seconds, going to the bench just 2 minutes, 36 seconds into the game. Masogayo was hit with her second foul late in the first quarter and Greer with her second early in the second quarter.
Despite that, the Buffs took the lead for good on Wooten’s 3-pointer with 1:52 to play in the opening quarter and led by as many as 12 points before closing out the Jayhawks.
“Just staying composed with all the ref calls,” Wooten said. “We know the game’s going to be a game of runs; there may be good calls, bad calls. Just stay composed, poised during it all.”
CU frustrated KU stars S’Mya Nichols and Jaliya Davis all night. Both were named first-team All-Big 12 this week and both struggled against the Buffs.
Nichols had a game-high 14 points, but missed 10 of 15 shots. Davis, the Big 12 freshman of the year, had a season-low eight points on 2-of-9 shooting, as well as six turnovers.
“She’s one of the best freshmen in the country,” Payne said. “She’s very difficult to guard. We knew that it would not be one person that could try to slow Jaliya down, so we knew it was going to be a group effort and different people rotated on her at different times. … Just really a team effort.”
Kansas, which defeated Central Florida in Wednesday’s first round, hit just 35.8% of its shots, but did pull within five in the close seconds.
On a day when higher seeds struggled, however, CU survived. Earlier on Thursday, No. 5 seed Texas Tech, No. 7 seed Iowa State and No. 8 seed Utah all lost.
“Different people in foul trouble throughout the entire game, but players stepped up and played heavier minutes in some spots than they’re used to,” Payne said. “Just great team effort. Really proud of our squad tonight.”
Colorado 55, Kansas 48
KANSAS (18-13)
Davis 2-9 4-5 8, Meister 1-7 1-2 3, Nichols 5-15 3-3 14, Fandel 2-4 0-0 4, Copeland 1-3 0-2 3, Williams 4-7 0-1 8, Conesa 1-2 0-0 2, Evans 3-6 0-0 6, Harshaw 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 7-13 48.
COLORADO (21-10)
Masogayo 1-6 6-8 8, Dutat 3-3 1-2 7, Betson 1-2 2-2 5, Walker 2-6 2-2 6, McErlane 1-5 2-4 5, Wooten 4-14 0-2 10, Gooden 1-1 0-0 2, Greer 4-7 0-0 10, Crook 1-2 0-0 2, Nworie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 13-20 55.
Kansas 11 7 11 19 – 48
Colorado 12 14 12 17 – 55
3-point goals – Kansas 2-13 (Nichols 1-3, Copeland 1-3, Meister 0-2, Fandel 0-2, Evans 0-2, Conesa 0-1), Colorado 6-14 (Wooten 2-7, Greer 2-2, McErlane 1-3, Betson 1-2). Rebounds – Kansas 25 (Davis 6), Colorado 39 (Masogayo, Dutat, Greer 6). Assists – Kansas 8 (Davis, Nichols 3), Colorado 11 (Wooten 4). Steals – Kansas 10 (Nichols 4), Colorado 3 (Masogayo 3). Turnovers – Kansas 15, Colorado 20. Total fouls – Kansas 22, Colorado 21. Fouled out – Masogayo. Attendance – 4,646.
