Throughout her career, Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne has liked having one of her top players come off the bench.
In recent years, guards Kindyll Wetta and Tameiya Sadler were spark plugs off the bench. Forward Quay Miller filled that role in 2021-22.
As CU progresses through this season, and Payne learns how the pieces of the new-look roster fit, she believes she’s found the off-the-bench spark.
Guard Desiree Wooten, a 5-foot-8 junior transfer from North Texas, started the first seven games for the Buffs (7-3), but has come off the bench in the last three.
“I care more about who finishes the game,” Payne said. “(Wooten) has been playing just as many minutes, but it allows us to insert her in when we need a punch and a lift and she’s definitely doing that.
“She’s provided a spark that I’m not sure anybody else could really do off the bench.”
Wooten is averaging 10.4 points, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game this season and has actually been better off the bench.
In seven games as a starter, Wooten averaged 25.1 minutes, 9.9 points, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals, while hitting 29.2% of her 3-pointers. In her three games off the bench, Wooten has averaged 24.3 minutes, 11.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals while draining 70% of her 3s (7-for-10, including 5-for-5 in the last two games).
“Obviously there’s going to be thoughts (questioning the move),” Wooten said about being asked to come off the bench, “but I just do whatever my team needs me to do. So, I’m not really like mad about it or anything. Whatever y’all need me to do, I do it, clearly.”
Wooten, in fact, has enjoyed the new role, in part because she believes she can surprise the opponent.
“It’s like that edge that you think the other team’s underestimating you, then you come in and just, like, go down their throats,” Wooten said with a smile. “Charleston was like, ‘Oh, they didn’t put shooter on the scouting report.’”
In the 66-47 win against Charleston on Dec. 2, Wooten went 3-for-3 from 3-point range and finished with nine points and five rebounds.
“Oh yeah, it’s pretty fun,” she said of being the spark off the bench. “I have the same mentality (as starting), so I don’t think anything really changes.”
Overall, Wooten has been as advertised for the Buffs. As a full-time starter at North Texas last year, she averaged 11.5 points and 2.6 assists and made the all-defensive team in the American Athletic Conference.
“I think she’s played really well,” Payne said. “She’s significantly quicker and faster than any of us had seen on film, and we need even more of that. Like, we need her to continue to be aggressive, to score, and especially in transition.”
Wooten has also been a better shooter to this point than she was at UNT, and said she hopes to continue doing her part to help the Buffs win.
“I’ve enjoyed (playing at CU) a lot, honestly,” she said. “I’ve improved so much. I’ve improved my 3-point shot a lot. I’m just looking to keep working, keep getting better, and being better for my team.”
Aiming for improvement
As a whole, the Buffs aren’t shooting well this season.
Through Thursday’s games, CU was 14th in the 16-team Big 12 Conference in field goal percentage (.422) and 15th in 3-point shooting (.255). Those numbers are a significant drop from last year, when CU was fourth in field goals (.465) and sixth from beyond the arc (.349).
Payne said she believes her team can be better than the numbers show.
“Definitely we’ve got to be able to knock down shots,” she said. “I don’t think we’re taking bad shots. I think we’re getting open looks. We just got to knock them down.
“This is a group that will put in the work and will invest in film and will invest in getting up shots and in each other and things like that. It’s a group that is really coachable and will lean into areas that we need to develop and grow and things like that. So, I have a lot of faith in them because of those qualities.”
Notable
CU has been off since Sunday, but will return to the court Sunday when Miami of Ohio visits Boulder (1 p.m., ESPN+). It’ll be just the second meeting between the teams, and first since 1998. … It hasn’t helped the Buffs’ shooting that Claire O’Connor, a 40.8% 3-point shooter at Gonzaga last year, has been out. Dealing with foot injuries, O’Connor has averaged just 10.9 minutes and hasn’t played the last two games.
