Colorado University Athletics
Thursday, March 1
Seattle, Wash.
12:30 PM
Colorado
vs
Utah
Brecca Thomas
Photo by: Benko Photographics
Buffs Looking To Repeat 2015 Team's Run In Pac-12 Tournament
February 27, 2018 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – As the Colorado's women's basketball team prepares for the Pac-12 Tournament this week, the team's five returners from last season are entering familiar territory. However, this season, they are looking for a different result.
CU's two seniors Brecca Thomas and Zoe Correal are the only two players on the roster who have advanced past the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in their careers as the team has bowed out in the first round the past two seasons. They were part of CU's shocking run to the semifinals in 2015.
Head coach JR Payne is trying to prepare the team to take a different mentality from years past and go into the tournament with confidence, understanding that it is win or go home at this point in the season—there is no tomorrow when you lose.
There are certainly reasons to be confident: her team has been playing its best basketball of the season over the past month. Despite facing one of its toughest stretches of the schedule, CU has managed a 3-5 record in February, notable considering the Buffs went 1-7 in January.
"I feel like we really have gotten better in the last month or so, and not just on the court, but off the court and the way that we're playing for each other is significantly better," Payne said. "Our urgency is better, our execution is better at times. We're short on numbers [due to injuries] so everybody just has to step up and everybody has to do a little bit more and everybody has to play with that do-or-die mentality because that's really what it is at this point.
"Every conference tournament that I've been a part of, you understand that there's a new level of urgency required to be successful. The phrase, 'it's a new season,' it's really like that. The seeds in my mind don't really matter. In our game, the 8/9 game, we're just a couple games apart. Everyone's injured, everyone's banged up, tired, but everyone will also be playing with a renewed sense of urgency, excitement and passion. The basketball is better basketball in the conference tournament and we need to be prepared for that."
First-team All-Pac-12 junior Kennedy Leonard, who has yet to win a conference tournament game in her career, has a goal of advancing past the first round. As a sophomore last season, Leonard was on the floor for a 79-78 loss to Washington State in the first round. In that game, CU had two opportunities in the final 12 seconds to tie or take the lead and came up short on both chances.
The Buffs are looking for Leonard's leadership, and the leadership of the other returners—seniors Correal and Thomas, junior Alexis Robinson and sophomore Quinessa Caylao-Do—to lead the newcomers.
"It's a different environment—it's either you win or you go home," Leonard said. "I think there's a little bit more of an attitude about it. I know for me, I haven't won a first round yet so to win a first round in my junior year would be something that would be really cool. We have a young team with a lot of people that haven't experienced it before so I'm going to try to do all I can with Lex and Q and Corre and Brecca and try to get them ready for what they're going to walk into. Just the mentality of you win or you do go home, it's a little scary sometimes. But if you don't get yourself worked up about it and remember at the same time that it's just another game, then I think that will keep us level-headed."
Correal and Thomas are the only two Buffs who have won a Pac-12 Tournament game. They've actually won two; CU upset No. 8 seed Southern California in the first round and then shocked No. 1 seed Oregon State in the quarterfinals during their freshman season in 2015. CU's No. 9 seed in 2015 remains the highest-seeded team to upset at No. 1 seed in Pac-12/10 Tournament history.
With the Buffs currently one game below .500 on the season, it would require the same route the Buffs went in 2015 if they want to qualify for the WNIT and secure a .500 record. Reaching the semifinals would put CU at 16-16 on the season and postseason eligible.
But Leonard has an attitude of taking it one game at a time. The Buffs need two upsets, but they will focus on Utah before thinking about top-seed Oregon, which awaits Thursday's winner in the quarterfinals.
"You have to learn that if you're up on a team, you have to put your foot [down] and end it there," Leonard said. "It's the tournament and it's March so anything can happen. Any team on any given night—there's always upsets. The biggest thing you can take away from it is on any given night, any given team at any given time, anything can happen. Keep that mindset and no matter what happens, good or bad—they're going to go on runs, we're going to go on runs—it's just another game."
FIRST-ROUND OPPONENT UTAH
CU gets a very familiar opponent in the first round with Utah (19-10, 8-10 Pac-12) on Thursday. The two teams split two meetings this season and have actually split their past four meetings. CU earned a 69-65 win on Feb. 1 in Salt Lake City after falling behind 16-0 to start the game. Leonard tied a career high with 31 points in that game and Thomas scored 13 second-half points to lead the comeback. However, just three days later, the Utes got revenge with a 78-74 win in Boulder.
"A couple points separated us both times," Leonard said. "The second time came down to a last-second shot and we had to foul, and the first one we were down by 16 at the beginning [and came back and won]. We know a lot about them and they happen to be our rival, our closest school. I'm excited to play them again. They're good, they run in transition, they're fast and quick and they rebound. But we're also pretty good when we want to be so hopefully we come to play."
Both programs have a lot of similarities in both playing style and recent history. Both teams play up-tempo and are strong on the boards. Both also have relatively new coaching staffs that are reviving programs that were struggling just a few years ago. Utah's Lynne Roberts is in her third year as head coach; Payne is in her second year in Boulder.
"These are two kind of similar teams, though they're a little more senior-laden than we are," Payne said. "But both are teams that like to play up-tempo, like to rebound the basketball, move the ball pretty well. I think Lynne is a great coach and they are one year ahead of us as far as taking over the program there, but they've done such a great job in growing their program. We are right on their heels where we're developing."
Utah is led by Megan Huff, a first-team all-conference selection. The 6-3 junior is averaging 14.5 points and 7.9 rebounds, both team bests, but she missed the past two games with an injury.
Senior Emily Potter, a 6-6 forward from Canada, averages 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from the floor with 53 blocked shots. Junior wing Daneesha Provo, another Canadian, is averaging 13.0 points and connects at a 43 percent rate from deep, but has missed the past three games due to injury.
With Huff and Provo out recently, freshman Tori Williams and senior Tilar Clark stepped up in their absence. Williams had 13 points in an overtime loss at No. 10 UCLA on Saturday and Clark had 12 points and six rebounds in an overtime loss at USC on Thursday.
Potter also raise her level of play last weekend, averaging 22.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in the two games.
Thursday's game will tip off at 12:30 p.m. MT at KeyArena in Seattle and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
CU's two seniors Brecca Thomas and Zoe Correal are the only two players on the roster who have advanced past the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in their careers as the team has bowed out in the first round the past two seasons. They were part of CU's shocking run to the semifinals in 2015.
Head coach JR Payne is trying to prepare the team to take a different mentality from years past and go into the tournament with confidence, understanding that it is win or go home at this point in the season—there is no tomorrow when you lose.
There are certainly reasons to be confident: her team has been playing its best basketball of the season over the past month. Despite facing one of its toughest stretches of the schedule, CU has managed a 3-5 record in February, notable considering the Buffs went 1-7 in January.
"I feel like we really have gotten better in the last month or so, and not just on the court, but off the court and the way that we're playing for each other is significantly better," Payne said. "Our urgency is better, our execution is better at times. We're short on numbers [due to injuries] so everybody just has to step up and everybody has to do a little bit more and everybody has to play with that do-or-die mentality because that's really what it is at this point.
"Every conference tournament that I've been a part of, you understand that there's a new level of urgency required to be successful. The phrase, 'it's a new season,' it's really like that. The seeds in my mind don't really matter. In our game, the 8/9 game, we're just a couple games apart. Everyone's injured, everyone's banged up, tired, but everyone will also be playing with a renewed sense of urgency, excitement and passion. The basketball is better basketball in the conference tournament and we need to be prepared for that."
First-team All-Pac-12 junior Kennedy Leonard, who has yet to win a conference tournament game in her career, has a goal of advancing past the first round. As a sophomore last season, Leonard was on the floor for a 79-78 loss to Washington State in the first round. In that game, CU had two opportunities in the final 12 seconds to tie or take the lead and came up short on both chances.
The Buffs are looking for Leonard's leadership, and the leadership of the other returners—seniors Correal and Thomas, junior Alexis Robinson and sophomore Quinessa Caylao-Do—to lead the newcomers.
"It's a different environment—it's either you win or you go home," Leonard said. "I think there's a little bit more of an attitude about it. I know for me, I haven't won a first round yet so to win a first round in my junior year would be something that would be really cool. We have a young team with a lot of people that haven't experienced it before so I'm going to try to do all I can with Lex and Q and Corre and Brecca and try to get them ready for what they're going to walk into. Just the mentality of you win or you do go home, it's a little scary sometimes. But if you don't get yourself worked up about it and remember at the same time that it's just another game, then I think that will keep us level-headed."
Correal and Thomas are the only two Buffs who have won a Pac-12 Tournament game. They've actually won two; CU upset No. 8 seed Southern California in the first round and then shocked No. 1 seed Oregon State in the quarterfinals during their freshman season in 2015. CU's No. 9 seed in 2015 remains the highest-seeded team to upset at No. 1 seed in Pac-12/10 Tournament history.
With the Buffs currently one game below .500 on the season, it would require the same route the Buffs went in 2015 if they want to qualify for the WNIT and secure a .500 record. Reaching the semifinals would put CU at 16-16 on the season and postseason eligible.
But Leonard has an attitude of taking it one game at a time. The Buffs need two upsets, but they will focus on Utah before thinking about top-seed Oregon, which awaits Thursday's winner in the quarterfinals.
"You have to learn that if you're up on a team, you have to put your foot [down] and end it there," Leonard said. "It's the tournament and it's March so anything can happen. Any team on any given night—there's always upsets. The biggest thing you can take away from it is on any given night, any given team at any given time, anything can happen. Keep that mindset and no matter what happens, good or bad—they're going to go on runs, we're going to go on runs—it's just another game."
FIRST-ROUND OPPONENT UTAH
CU gets a very familiar opponent in the first round with Utah (19-10, 8-10 Pac-12) on Thursday. The two teams split two meetings this season and have actually split their past four meetings. CU earned a 69-65 win on Feb. 1 in Salt Lake City after falling behind 16-0 to start the game. Leonard tied a career high with 31 points in that game and Thomas scored 13 second-half points to lead the comeback. However, just three days later, the Utes got revenge with a 78-74 win in Boulder.
"A couple points separated us both times," Leonard said. "The second time came down to a last-second shot and we had to foul, and the first one we were down by 16 at the beginning [and came back and won]. We know a lot about them and they happen to be our rival, our closest school. I'm excited to play them again. They're good, they run in transition, they're fast and quick and they rebound. But we're also pretty good when we want to be so hopefully we come to play."
Both programs have a lot of similarities in both playing style and recent history. Both teams play up-tempo and are strong on the boards. Both also have relatively new coaching staffs that are reviving programs that were struggling just a few years ago. Utah's Lynne Roberts is in her third year as head coach; Payne is in her second year in Boulder.
"These are two kind of similar teams, though they're a little more senior-laden than we are," Payne said. "But both are teams that like to play up-tempo, like to rebound the basketball, move the ball pretty well. I think Lynne is a great coach and they are one year ahead of us as far as taking over the program there, but they've done such a great job in growing their program. We are right on their heels where we're developing."
Utah is led by Megan Huff, a first-team all-conference selection. The 6-3 junior is averaging 14.5 points and 7.9 rebounds, both team bests, but she missed the past two games with an injury.
Senior Emily Potter, a 6-6 forward from Canada, averages 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from the floor with 53 blocked shots. Junior wing Daneesha Provo, another Canadian, is averaging 13.0 points and connects at a 43 percent rate from deep, but has missed the past three games due to injury.
With Huff and Provo out recently, freshman Tori Williams and senior Tilar Clark stepped up in their absence. Williams had 13 points in an overtime loss at No. 10 UCLA on Saturday and Clark had 12 points and six rebounds in an overtime loss at USC on Thursday.
Potter also raise her level of play last weekend, averaging 22.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in the two games.
Thursday's game will tip off at 12:30 p.m. MT at KeyArena in Seattle and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
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