Media after today's W:
(Note- Looking like NC State will also be as well rested as possible (for teams playing 3 games in 3 days), as they're cruising against Cincinnati and are up 50-22 at the half.)
Article
(Assume, especially since there currently aren't any quotes, that this might get updated. If this happens, I may edit this post and insert the final article.) -
https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/11/24/womens-basketball-no-3-buffs-trounce-the-wildcats.aspx
"
Game Recap: Women's Basketball | November 24, 2023 | Colin Wagner, CU Athletic Communications Associate
No. 3 Buffs Trounce The Wildcats
Colorado moves to 6-0 on the season
ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands – No. 3 Colorado continued its success at the Paradise Jam Classic Friday with a dominant 96-53 victory over Kentucky.
The Buffaloes (6-0) started the game out a bit slow but finished the first quarter on a 14-0 run which helped them pull away from the Wildcats (2-4) early. Colorado forced 27 Kentucky turnovers, resulting in 42 points off turnovers. CU's ability to cash in on Kentucky's mishaps ended up tied for the most posts off turnovers this season (Le Moyne) and most since recording 42 against Regis back in 2010.
The Buffs also out-assisted the Wildcats 22-8, giving CU its sixth straight game of 20 assists to start the season.
"Our assist numbers per field goal are really high which we haven't had in the past," head coach
JR Payne commented after the win. "We've had good offense and obviously really good defense over the years but the sharing of the ball and being able to make the extra pass, being able to finish and things like that are growing our assist numbers, which we love to see. I'm really pleased with how we're playing."
Five CU players scored double-digit points as
Aaronette Vonleh led the group with 19.
Jaylyn Sherrod (15),
Tameiya Sadler (10) and
Quay Miller (10) joined Vonleh as the other starters to score 10+ points while
Kindyll Wetta had 11 off the bench.
The Buffs totaled 16 steals today which helped lead to 23 fast break points. Colorado's aggressive defense and efficiency on offense allowed the team to go deep into its bench later in the game.
Sophie Gerber saw action in the closing minutes and scored her first career points at the free-throw line.
Colorado handedly won its first two games at the Paradise Jam Classic, but the Buffs will face a tougher test in No. 10 NC State tomorrow at 11 a.m. MT.
"They just have so many weapons and so many players on the floor that can score in a variety of ways," Payne said about NC State. "Just really learning to scout, understanding who does what, make sure we're playing as a team offensively and defensively, things like those will be the most important things tomorrow."
...
KEY MOMENT
After trailing 14-11, Colorado put together a 14-0 scoring run in the final 4:33 of the first quarter to take a 25-14 lead heading into the second quarter. Kentucky didn't take the lead for the rest of the game.
NOTES
Colorado is now 2-1 all-time against Kentucky…the last time the Buffs forced 25+ turnovers in a game was 28 vs Western Michigan on Nov. 30, 2022…second time this season Colorado had 5+ players score 10+ points in a game…second game this season that's tied for most points off turnovers since 42 against Regis on Nov.12, 2010...first time with 20+ assists in six consecutive games since Jan. 29-Feb. 13, 1982 (27, 21, 23, 24, 22, 24)...ties the largest win margin vs a Power 5 school since 43 against Arizona (75-36) on Jan. 20, 2013…Colorado has now scored 90+ points in three games this season (most since three in 2015-16)…Sherrod is now six assists away from tying
Shelley Sheetz for third in program history (514)…
Frida Formann finished with eight points and is now 21 shy of 1,000 for her career.
UP NEXT
In their final game in the Virgin Islands, the Buffs will take on NC State on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT (ESPN3).
It will be CU's first top-10 matchup since the No. 8 Buffs defeated No. 7 Purdue, 67-62, on Dec. 3, 1995.
QUOTES
Head Coach JR Payne
On the scoring run before halftime - "Well, truly down the stretch of the second quarter, I think it was Jaylyn just being really aggressive to the basket and then hit the corner three before the half ran out. I just thought we were trying to be more aggressive. We felt like the foul count, I don't know what the discrepancy was, but it felt pretty significant throughout the first half, so later in the half, we were just trying to be aggressive and get downhill."
On if there's any concern of the team looking ahead to NC State - "Yeah, a little bit. Coach T [
Toriano Towns] reminded the team before the game last year we were in the same situation where we were playing really well and won a bunch of games, had a couple of big wins, and then lost to Texas Tech when we shouldn't have. So definitely we reminded them about this game. I think our team did a great job of refocusing and being really centered going into the opening tip, but you definitely have to be intentional about trying to stay really focused on ourselves, on what we need to do to be successful and try not to listen to the noise outside of us."
On what the challenge is playing games in three straight days - "Just really being able to have a short memory. I think if you win or lose in these situations, you have to have a short memory because the next game is coming very quickly no matter what. You have to be able to hit that reset button, turn this one off, refocus on the next scout and understand who your next opponent is. And not even necessarily what they do, but who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, things like that. And it's a really difficult thing for all of these teams to do right now."
Junior Aaronette Vonleh
On the team taking control late in the second quarter - "I think we knew we'd be able to take advantage just in transition so capitalizing on that, making sure we're all running our lanes, getting to the rim and being able to score on them before they're settled. Then we just executed our offense and started being disciplined on defense."
On transition offense - "I think those are the easiest shots that I get every night. And when I'm able to get those, it opens up the other lanes when they start focusing on me because then shooters get wide-open transition looks. I think that's always a big focus of ours to take advantage of."
On not looking to NC State ahead of today's game - "We never overlook anybody, so we just focused on Cincinnati and then Kentucky. We haven't really even discussed NC State yet so we're probably going to focus on them tonight, but we just knew we had to take care of those first two games and take advantage of the opportunity we have to play NC State."
On exceeding expectations so far this season - "I think just coming off of last year and making it to the Sweet 16 we had a bunch of predetermined goals that we knew we all wanted to achieve this year and that starts with how we start from the jump. So just like setting the momentum now and then being able to keep building off of that to get into March I think is what we're focused on with what we've been able to do so far."
"
__________________________________________________________________________________
Box score - https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2023-24/kentucky/boxscore/16570