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Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports
The Buffs are legit.
For the second time this season, the Colorado Buffaloes ran away from another top-10 opponent. First it was the defending champs LSU Tigers and today it was a 71-59 win over the #8 Stanford Cardinal.
Colorado looked to be in danger early on when the Cardinal jumped out to 10-2 lead. The Buffs didn’t look right, didn’t hit their open looks, and Cameron Brink played every bit like the superstar she is. But that was just a poor start rather than a harbinger of bad things.
After that slow start, Jaylyn Sherrod and Kindyll Wetta got the Buffs energized and running. The two of them harassed Stanford’s guards and caused many of their 11 first half turnovers. Five of those were live-ball steals the Buffs converted into fast break layups. That jolt of energy helped the Buffs turn this top-10 matchup into a frenetic mess.
The Buffs appeared to take control at the beginning of the second quarter. That’s when Charlotte Whittaker, Sherrod and Quay Miller hit back-to-back-to-back threes to take a 28-20 lead. The Cardinal fought back, however, as Sherrod picked up a second foul and the Buffs’ offense fell apart without her. The momentum swung towards Stanford, but it flipped against when Wetta hit a half-court buzzer-beater to send the Buffs into halftime with a 36-30 lead.
Everyone expected Stanford to fight back — the announcers, the fans, the coaches, the players themselves — but the Buffs beat the doors off of them in the third quarter. Stanford narrowed the lead to 36-35 before Buffs went on a 20-2 run to take total control of the game. Everything went right for Colorado. They played swarming defense, won the rebounding battle and picked apart the Cardinal D with backdoor cuts and inside-out passing. Everyone got going from Frida Formann to Madie Nolan to Wetta to Miller.
The problem for the Buffs was that they built too big of a lead. Rather than playing their typical chaos ball, they tried to slow down the pace and milk the clock. But by doing so, they opened the door for the Cardinal to get back into the game. Kiki Iriafen got to the line, Brooke Demetre hit a couple threes and suddenly the Buffs were caught in a four-minute scoring drought. Thank goodness that Miller and Aaronette Vonleh scrounged a few points and the Buffs had juuust enough breathing room to secure the win in the end.
The Buffs are now 15-1 on the season and 5-0 in Pac-12. More importantly, they beat a top-10 team, 71-59, and made it look relatively easy, barring the near collapse at the end. This team is a legit title contender and we need to appreciate it as much as we can. That means being there in person for the upcoming games against #2 UCLA and #9 USC on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
by Sam Metivier
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