Colorado University Athletics
Friday, November 10
Birmingham, Ala.
5:00 PM
Colorado
at
Samford
Photo by: Luke Hathaway-Clark/Benko Photographics
Buffs Excited To Open Season This Weekend On The Road
November 08, 2017 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – Colorado's women's basketball team opens the 2017-18 season on Friday on the road, taking on Samford at 5 p.m. MT in Homewood, Ala. CU will then play at North Carolina on Sunday at noon MT in Chapel Hill.
"We are thrilled for an opportunity to really get going for real," head coach JR Payne said. "Our exhibition game last week was real enough. There were people watching us play, referees and all of that, but it did not count for anything. I think it is a different mindset going into a real game."
The Buffs, featuring eight newcomers, came out a bit timid in their exhibition last week against Colorado Christian, trailing by one point at halftime. But the team made adjustments at half and blew away the Cougars in the second half, cruising to a 90-55 victory.
Payne was pleased with her team's ability to adjust on the fly in the exhibition game. She also felt the new players picked up on new plays and schemes quickly.
"We were able to adjust a lot more quickly than I thought we would," Payne said. "We did some things defensively and offensively that we had never talked about or had done before. So it was cool to see that such a young group could adjust on the fly, read off of each other, and make things happen. Just an overall more tenacious mindset is what produced the good play in the second half and the mindset we need going forward."
Sophomore guard Quinessa Caylao-Do had similar thoughts on the team's performance against CCU and felt the defense was the key to the win.
"Our defense was a positive," Caylao-Do said, "being able to jump to the ball and know who we have. Offensively, being able to execute and being aggressive was a positive. The second half was Colorado basketball. We were really intense on defense and that created our offense."
Now that the Buffs got some of those first-game jitters out of their system in the exhibition, it's all excitement heading into Friday's game.
"I feel like since we have a lot of new players, it will be super exciting for us to play in a real game," Caylao-Do said. "It will be good to see what we are going to do and how we need to adjust."
"I think [the players] are definitely excited," Payne said. "I think the nerves were there last weekend in the exhibition game, but I think excitement is definitely the overall feeling now."
Several newcomers who could make an immediate impact showed off their abilities against Colorado Christian. Junior college transfer Janea Bunn led the Buffs with 19 points and had five rebounds. She was able to impose her 6-foot-3 athletic frame down low to shoot 9-of-12 from the floor, scoring the majority of her points in the paint.
Two freshmen also stood out in the game. Aubrey Knight poured in 14 points off the bench, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and making all four of her free throw attempts. Both she and Annika Jank led CU with eight rebounds apiece. Jank also had 10 points and shot 4-of-5 at the line. She was the only newcomer in the starting lineup.
While the newcomers perhaps stole the headlines, CU's five returners all made an impact as well and appear to be improved from last season.
"I think the weight room helped a lot of us to get stronger," Caylao-Do said when talking about the offseason. "Alexis [Robinson] is super big. Kennedy [Leonard] got a lot stronger. I feel like I got a lot stronger and that helps being able to finish better."
Caylao-Do has been mentioned by Payne during the fall as the team's most improved player. It showed in the CCU game as she scored 10 points and had five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Her career high in scoring is six points.
Leonard and Robinson both played well overall, despite struggling to shoot the ball. While the pair combined to go just 4-of-20 from the floor, they proved to be leaders in other areas. Leonard still finished with 10 points, making 5-of-6 at the free throw line and adding four assists and four steals. Robinson had a team-high six assists and neither player committed a turnover. Brecca Thomas was also excellent off the bench, scoring nine points and contributing five assists. Zoe Correal had four points and four rebounds in limited action as she recovers from an injury.
The Buffs will need that steady leadership from the returners this season as the Buffs look to build off a 17-16 record last year, which included a trip to the third round of the WNIT. The five returners combined for just two turnovers against Colorado Christian and when things turn adverse as they certainly will at times in such a tough conference as the Pac-12, that group will be counted on to take care of the ball.
Scouting Samford and North Carolina
Payne noted that both Samford and North Carolina return a lot from last season's teams.
"Both teams return a lot of experience—a lot of really good scorers and an experienced lineup," Payne said. "Both teams have good size, athleticism, and return their leading scorer. They are experienced teams on their home court and will be difficult to beat. We just have to have the right mindset that we are young, aggressive, excited, kind of care-free, and just go from there."
Samford returns three players who started at least 15 games last season, including leading scorer Hannah Nichols, who averaged 13.3 points. Sophomore Olivia Crozier, who averaged just 1.6 points last season, had game highs of 15 points and nine rebounds in a starting role in Samford's 94-44 exhibition win over Montevallo. Nichols and freshman Makaila Woolard each had 13 points.
The Bulldogs went 12-19 a year ago.
UNC returns its top five scorers from last season and as a result, the Tar Heels are receiving votes in the preseason top 25, despite finishing 15-16 in 2016-17.
Paris Kea is the top returner after averaging 17.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Stephanie Watts (16.8 PPG, 7.9 RPG), Jamie Cherry (14.9 PPG) and Destinee Walker (12.4 PPG) are also back.
While Watts and Walker both sat out the team's two exhibition games—both blowout victories over NCAA Division II opponents—Kea was her normal self, averaging 20.0 points and 7.0 assists. Cherry averaged 18.5 points and six assists, shooting 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Taylor Koenen averaged 15.5 points.
Pac-12 Outlook
The Pac-12 is once again expected to be the top conference in the country with five teams ranked in the preseason top 25. UCLA is the highest-ranked team at No. 8, followed by No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Oregon, No. 19 Oregon State and No. 20 California. Three other conference schools are receiving votes.
The Buffs may luck out a bit with this season's scheduling, only facing the Oregon and Bay Area schools one time each. That said, 11 of CU's 23 potential opponents (both Drake and George Mason are considered as the Buffs will match up with one of them in the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic) are either ranked or receiving votes to start the season.
"We are thrilled for an opportunity to really get going for real," head coach JR Payne said. "Our exhibition game last week was real enough. There were people watching us play, referees and all of that, but it did not count for anything. I think it is a different mindset going into a real game."
The Buffs, featuring eight newcomers, came out a bit timid in their exhibition last week against Colorado Christian, trailing by one point at halftime. But the team made adjustments at half and blew away the Cougars in the second half, cruising to a 90-55 victory.
Payne was pleased with her team's ability to adjust on the fly in the exhibition game. She also felt the new players picked up on new plays and schemes quickly.
"We were able to adjust a lot more quickly than I thought we would," Payne said. "We did some things defensively and offensively that we had never talked about or had done before. So it was cool to see that such a young group could adjust on the fly, read off of each other, and make things happen. Just an overall more tenacious mindset is what produced the good play in the second half and the mindset we need going forward."
Sophomore guard Quinessa Caylao-Do had similar thoughts on the team's performance against CCU and felt the defense was the key to the win.
"Our defense was a positive," Caylao-Do said, "being able to jump to the ball and know who we have. Offensively, being able to execute and being aggressive was a positive. The second half was Colorado basketball. We were really intense on defense and that created our offense."
Now that the Buffs got some of those first-game jitters out of their system in the exhibition, it's all excitement heading into Friday's game.
"I feel like since we have a lot of new players, it will be super exciting for us to play in a real game," Caylao-Do said. "It will be good to see what we are going to do and how we need to adjust."
"I think [the players] are definitely excited," Payne said. "I think the nerves were there last weekend in the exhibition game, but I think excitement is definitely the overall feeling now."
Several newcomers who could make an immediate impact showed off their abilities against Colorado Christian. Junior college transfer Janea Bunn led the Buffs with 19 points and had five rebounds. She was able to impose her 6-foot-3 athletic frame down low to shoot 9-of-12 from the floor, scoring the majority of her points in the paint.
Two freshmen also stood out in the game. Aubrey Knight poured in 14 points off the bench, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and making all four of her free throw attempts. Both she and Annika Jank led CU with eight rebounds apiece. Jank also had 10 points and shot 4-of-5 at the line. She was the only newcomer in the starting lineup.
While the newcomers perhaps stole the headlines, CU's five returners all made an impact as well and appear to be improved from last season.
"I think the weight room helped a lot of us to get stronger," Caylao-Do said when talking about the offseason. "Alexis [Robinson] is super big. Kennedy [Leonard] got a lot stronger. I feel like I got a lot stronger and that helps being able to finish better."
Caylao-Do has been mentioned by Payne during the fall as the team's most improved player. It showed in the CCU game as she scored 10 points and had five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Her career high in scoring is six points.
Leonard and Robinson both played well overall, despite struggling to shoot the ball. While the pair combined to go just 4-of-20 from the floor, they proved to be leaders in other areas. Leonard still finished with 10 points, making 5-of-6 at the free throw line and adding four assists and four steals. Robinson had a team-high six assists and neither player committed a turnover. Brecca Thomas was also excellent off the bench, scoring nine points and contributing five assists. Zoe Correal had four points and four rebounds in limited action as she recovers from an injury.
The Buffs will need that steady leadership from the returners this season as the Buffs look to build off a 17-16 record last year, which included a trip to the third round of the WNIT. The five returners combined for just two turnovers against Colorado Christian and when things turn adverse as they certainly will at times in such a tough conference as the Pac-12, that group will be counted on to take care of the ball.
Scouting Samford and North Carolina
Payne noted that both Samford and North Carolina return a lot from last season's teams.
"Both teams return a lot of experience—a lot of really good scorers and an experienced lineup," Payne said. "Both teams have good size, athleticism, and return their leading scorer. They are experienced teams on their home court and will be difficult to beat. We just have to have the right mindset that we are young, aggressive, excited, kind of care-free, and just go from there."
Samford returns three players who started at least 15 games last season, including leading scorer Hannah Nichols, who averaged 13.3 points. Sophomore Olivia Crozier, who averaged just 1.6 points last season, had game highs of 15 points and nine rebounds in a starting role in Samford's 94-44 exhibition win over Montevallo. Nichols and freshman Makaila Woolard each had 13 points.
The Bulldogs went 12-19 a year ago.
UNC returns its top five scorers from last season and as a result, the Tar Heels are receiving votes in the preseason top 25, despite finishing 15-16 in 2016-17.
Paris Kea is the top returner after averaging 17.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Stephanie Watts (16.8 PPG, 7.9 RPG), Jamie Cherry (14.9 PPG) and Destinee Walker (12.4 PPG) are also back.
While Watts and Walker both sat out the team's two exhibition games—both blowout victories over NCAA Division II opponents—Kea was her normal self, averaging 20.0 points and 7.0 assists. Cherry averaged 18.5 points and six assists, shooting 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Taylor Koenen averaged 15.5 points.
Pac-12 Outlook
The Pac-12 is once again expected to be the top conference in the country with five teams ranked in the preseason top 25. UCLA is the highest-ranked team at No. 8, followed by No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Oregon, No. 19 Oregon State and No. 20 California. Three other conference schools are receiving votes.
The Buffs may luck out a bit with this season's scheduling, only facing the Oregon and Bay Area schools one time each. That said, 11 of CU's 23 potential opponents (both Drake and George Mason are considered as the Buffs will match up with one of them in the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic) are either ranked or receiving votes to start the season.
Players Mentioned
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