Colorado Finishes Up Regular Season at Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — JR Payne and the Colorado women's basketball team concludes the regular season with a visit to Utah on Sunday.

For the Buffaloes, it is a chance to build on their four-game conference winning streak as the Pac-12 Tournament looms around the corner. The Buffs have been on a roll since Feb. 7, closing down the stretch with wins against California, Southern California, Washington State and Washington.

Colorado's (10-9, 8-8 Pac-12) upward swing is coming at the right time of the season, despite the team not playing its best basketball. CU, averaging 64.9 points per game this season, didn't total more than 60 points during last week's Washington trip. The Buffs also turned the ball over 23 times against the Huskies, but still pulled out the five-point victory.

"If you watch the film [of Washington] I don't know we played particularly well," Coach Payne admitted. "We feel very confident about who we are as a ballclub. I would say I think we feel confident about our roles and who's doing what and who's contributing in what ways. We still have lots of areas to grow and we recognize that. I do think we all feel very comfortable with each other and how we're playing right now."

Utah (5-15, 4-15 Pac-12) marked CU's first Pac-12 game of the season back on Dec. 14. Colorado cruised to an 80-50 win over the Utes, but both teams have gone through changes since then. Guard Jaylyn Sherrod, who has been out since Jan. 18, scored 24 points for CU in the December victory. Utah will be without one of its top stars in Dru Glyten this time around as well.

"We are completely redoing the scout on Utah because it's been such a long time since we played," Payne added. "The teams are so different. Even the personnel is different at this point of the year compared to the first week of December. I think Utah had its first couple of games canceled due to COVID so they had only played a few games before we saw them."

The Buffs are averaging 62.0 points per game, during the current wins streak. Senior Mya Hollingshed has helped lead the way with 17.0 points per game, slightly better than her 16.7 average for the season. Freshman Frida Formann has totaled 14.8 points per game in the streak that includes a scoreless night at Washington State. Peanut Tuitele is scoring almost a little more than two points better, 9.8, during CU's run than her season average of 7.3

As a team, Colorado is shooting 45.5 percent over the last four games, compared to its season average of 41.5. One of the biggest differences has been the Buffs' ability to better convert from the free-throw line, shooting 70.2 percent against its 63.4 percent average.

A win on Sunday would give CU its first above.500 finish to Pac-12 play since the 2012-13 season. Colorado's eight conference wins this season already marks the most since its 13-5 finish, also in the 2012-13 season.

Tip-off for Sunday is set for noon MT. Krista Blunk and Amanda Smith will have the call on the Pac-12 Networks. The game will also be on the Colorado Radio Network (CUBuffs.com/Listen) and locally on AM 630.

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Players Mentioned

Frida Formann

Mya Hollingshed

Jaylyn Sherrod

Peanut Tuitele