Buffs Fall at No. 21/20 Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla.–The No. 21/20 Miami Hurricanes handed Colorado its first loss of the season on Sunday. Miami shot 53.1 percent on the day to down the Buffaloes 73-58.

Colorado drops to 6-1 on the season, while Miami improves to 7-3.

Sunday's game was tabbed Miami's "Silent Night," encouraging fans to remain quiet until the home team's 10th point. The game's early atmosphere was oddly quiet for a large portion of the first quarter. Neither team got off to a hot start. The Buffs and 'Canes each opened 1-for-5 from the floor. Colorado kept the arena in their seats up until the 3:25 mark of the quarter, when the home team went up 10-6.

Miami shot 50 percent or better in each quarter, starting with an 8-for-14 (57.1 percent) showing in the opening 10 minutes. CU, despite a slow offensive start, outscored Miami in the second quarter 14-12. CU twice took the lead in the second and went into the locker room trailing by two points, 31-29.

Colorado cut the Hurricanes' lead down to one early in the third quarter, but Miami continued to impress from the floor.

STAT LEADERS: CU was led by freshman Peanut Tuitele. She totaled 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Sophomore Mya Hollingshed was held off the board in the second half, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds. Senior Kennedy Leonard tied a career-high, handing out 13 assists, while classmate Alexis Robinson closed with 13 points, surpassing 1,000 career points.

Miami's Laura Cornelius led all players with 26 points. She went 8-of-11 from the field, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Beatrice Mompremier added 15 points for the 'Canes.

How it Happened: Colorado started the third quarter 3-for-4, regaining the lead off a Robinson fast-break layup. Miami responded with back-to-back 3's from Cornelius, resulting in a game-turning 13-1 run. Mykea Gray hit a 3 with 3:47 on the clock to put UM up by 11.

Colorado's Annika Jank cut the Miami lead to seven at the start of the fourth quarter, but the deficit proved to be too large to overcome. Miami extended its lead to 16 at the midway mark of the final quarter, diminishing any chance of Colorado comeback.

KEY STATISTICS: Miami shot a season-high 53.1 percent by a CU opponent, including a 50 percent (8-16) showing from 3. The Hurricanes shot 80 percent (4-5) from 3 in the third quarter.

NOTES: Robinson passed the 1,000 career point mark with 4:41 left in the fourth quarter…she is the 31st player in CU history to hit 1,000 career points doing it in her 98th career game…Leonard's 13 assists were the most by a Miami opponent since 14 by Syracuse's Tiana Mangakahia (1/18/18)…it is the 10th time Leonard has had 10 or more assists in a game…Tuitele has scored in double-figures her first two career starts…Robinson moves into a tie with Leonard for 10th on CU's all-time 3-point list with 144.

UP NEXT: Colorado returns home for the remainder of its non-conference slate. The Buffs will take on San Jose State on Dec. 6 to kick off a season-long seven game homestand.

POSTGAME QUOTES:
Head Coach JR Payne
Overall thoughts
"It was a tough road game against a very good basketball team. I thought we competed on the glass even though we did end up getting outrebounded. We forced a lot of turnovers. We just did not get to the free-throw line enough. They took twice as many free throws as we did. We probably took too many 3's. I think that many [28] is too many for our team. There are some things that we need to improve on. That is our goal is to keep getting better and better throughout the preseason. This will give us an opportunity to do so."

On Colorado's shooting
"To take 28 3's on the road when nothing seems to be going your way is too many. We have to figure out a way to be more aggressive to the basket. We want to utilize our low-post presence more, although these guys were huge inside. We have to figure out how to make those adjustments next time around."

On stopping Miami's top-scorers
"We talked all week about their two bigs [Mompremeir and Hof]—their two leading scorers. I thought we did a pretty good job on them. I thought we contained them pretty well on the glass as well. It was Cornelius that hurt us. We cannot allow her to go for 26. That kind of takes away the strength that you build when you are defending inside."

Senior Kennedy Leonard
On Miami's play
"Props to them. They are a really good team. We stopped their two post players who are their go-to players. The point guard kind of went off. We have to stop them all. We did a good job stopping the posts we just could not stop her [Cornnelius]."

On CU's offense
"We are shooting too many 3's. We need to get to the basket some more. When our 3's are hitting then cool we will shoot them but we need to stop taking as many when they are not hitting. We have gotten lucky the last few games where we have been able to build a lead and get a nice cushion. Today we were never ahead by that cushion. It starts with getting to the basket in transition. It starts with me. I get to get my teammates open more open around the basket and we have to finish more layups."

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Team Stats

Peanut Tuitele

Alexis Robinson

Mya Hollingshed

Kennedy Leonard

Players Mentioned

Mya Hollingshed

Annika Jank

Kennedy Leonard

Alexis Robinson

Peanut Tuitele