Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Set To Host USC, Honor Alumni On Sunday
January 30, 2016 | Women's Basketball
THE GAME: The University of Colorado wraps up its four-game homestand against Southern California on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Center.
BROADCAST: Sunday's game is scheduled to air live on the Pac-12 Los Angeles and Pac-12 Mountain channels. Kate Scott will have the call alongside Brenda VanLengen. The game will also be available on KKZN 760 AM with Cory Lopez and Carol Callan of USA Basketball.
COLORADO TO HONOR ALUMNI: Former Colorado women's basketball players and staff will be on hand at Sunday's game as part of Alumni weekend.
CU women's basketball alumni will be honored at halftime of Sunday's game with special recognition to the 1995-96 team celebrating the 20th anniversary of their Big Eight Conference Tournament title.
Also at halftime there will be a special presentation. CU will present the third Jane Wahl Legacy Award given to “a member of the CU women's basketball community, who through their achievements bring honor and recognition to the university and CU Athletics.”
Wahl was Colorado's first women's Athletic Director when the program first introduced varsity competition in 1974-75 and oversaw women's athletics through the 1978-79 season.
The 2016 Jane Wahl Legacy Award will be presented to Lisa Van Goor (1981-85), regarded as one of the best players in Colorado women's basketball history. She is the second all-time leading scorer (2,067 points), the leading rebounder (1,145) and the only player in CU history to average a double-double for her career (18.0 points, 10.0 rebounds).
ABOUT THE BUFFS: Colorado is 5-15 overall and 0-9 in Pac-12 play. The Buffaloes close out their four-game homestand against USC on Sunday evening at the Coors Events Center, looking to snap a 10-game skid and earn their first conference win of the season.
On the offensive end, the Buffaloes are averaging 62.7 points per game while shooting 39.3 percent from the field. Colorado is shooting 74.9
percent at the free throw line, 26th in the nation and third in the Pac-12 Conference. The team has also been solid from long distance as CU ranks 39th in the country and third among Pac-12 teams in 3-point field goal percentage, connecting on 35.1 percent of its shots behind the arc.
Defensively, Colorado has allowed 68.7 points per game on 40.8 percent from the field. The Buffaloes average 37 total rebounds, and are fifth in the Pac-12 with 4.4 blocked shots per game.
Senior Jamee Swan is the team's top scorer and rebounder, averaging 13.2 points and 7.3 rebounds while hitting 43.5 percent from the field and 69.3 percent from the free throw line. Swan has also recorded a team-leading 32 blocks on the season and three double-doubles.
Swan ranks 14th in the Pac-12 in scoring, 10th in field goal percentage, 12th in overall rebounding, eighth in free throw percentage, is 10th with 5.5 defensive rebounds per game and is fourth in blocked shots (1.8 bpg).
Freshman Kennedy Leonard has made a significant impact for the Buffaloes in her debut season as the team's starting point guard and continues to grow into a leadership role on the floor. She enters the game as Colorado's second highest scorer, averaging 11.3 points per game and has also dished out a team-leading 92 assists, averaging 4.6 in each contest.
On the Pac-12 leaderboard, Leonard is 21st in scoring, seventh in assists and 12th in assist/turnover ratio (1.4).
Junior guard Haley Smith is having a strong 2015-16 campaign, averaging 10.4 points per game and is second on the team with 5.7 rebounds. She has been one of Colorado's most accurate shooters from the field at 46.4 percent and at the free throw line where she has gone 30-of-33 (.909).
Smith ranks 24th overall in the conference in scoring and 19th in rebounding.
Junior wing Lauren Huggins is averaging 8.4 points per game and is third on the team in 3-point shooting, connecting on 41-of-106 of her shots for a 38.7 field goal percentage from behind the arc. In eight Pac-12 games this season, Huggins has shot 40.5 percent from the 3-point line. She tied a career-high with five treys against Arizona. The Littleton, Colo. native is fourth in the conference in 3-point field goals made as she averages 2.2 per game and 10th in 3-point field goal percentage. She missed her first game of the season on Friday due to concussion protocol.
Freshman Alexis Robinson has earned a place in the starting line up since the Buffs' second Pac-12 game of the season after providing a nice spark off the bench during non-conference action. The Ashland, Ky. native is averaging 7.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists. She is shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line, second best on the team and has connected on 33.8 percent of her shots from the field. Robinson had one of her best offensive performances of her young career against UMass when she scored a personal-best 21 points and her best defensive performance came in the Buffs' Pac-12 opener when she held Washington's Kelsey Plum to a season low 18 points, 10 below her nation leading average of 28.1 per game at the time.
Junior Zoe Beard-Fails leads the team in scoring and rebounding off the bench. She is averaging 5.1 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field and 71.1 percent at the free throw line.
Sophomore center Zoe Correal is averaging 2.2 points and 3.7 rebounds and is second on the team in blocked shots with 15 total. All 12 of her career starts have come this season.
Sophomore Brecca Thomas and freshman Makenzie Ellis have also contributed in various ways off the bench. Collectively, the duo is averaging 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season.
ABOUT USC: The USC Trojans are 16-5 record and 4-5 in Pac-12 play as they arrive in Boulder having won two straight contests. The Trojans average 70.1 points per game on 41.7 percent shooting from the floor. As a team, they are averaging 14.5 assists and have the second-best scoring margin in the conference at +14.3 points. USC has the fourth-ranked scoring defense in the Pac-12, holding opponents to 55.8 points on 38.2 percent shooting. The Women of Troy own the conference's best turnover margin, (+5.9) and are second in steals, averaging 10.4 per game.
The Trojans have a trio of players averaging more than 10 points a game, led by forward Temi Fagbenle, who averages 13.8 points (12th in the Pac-12) and is the team's top rebounder with 8.9 per contest, which ranks sixth in the conference. She also has blocked a team-high 31 shots this season (1.5 bpg). Guard Jordan Adams averages 12.8 points and forward Kristen Simon averages 12 points a game. Guard Brianna Barrett ranks third in the Pac-12 in assists as she dishes 5.8 helpers per game.
THE SERIES: In 13 meetings against USC, Colorado owns a 5-8 record. USC swept last year's regular season contests before the Buffaloes defeated the Trojans in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament, 75-63 in Seattle. This will be the seventh time Colorado has hosted USC with the Buffaloes owning a 2-4 record against the Trojans at home.
WHAT'S NEXT?: The Buffaloes will play their first of two straight against Utah. They are in Salt Lake City to face the Utes on Thursday, Feb. 4 and then return to Boulder to host Utah on Sunday, Feb. 7 at the Coors Events Center.
