Colorado
8-3,0-1Pac-12
Utah
9-0,1-0Pac-12
Buffs Fall in Pac-12 Opener
December 14, 2022 | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY – The Pac-12 Conference season started on a sour note for Colorado on Wednesday. The Buffaloes dropped the one-off opener, 85-58, to No. 13 Utah at the Jon H. Huntsman Center.
Colorado (8-3, 0-1 Pac-12) was led by Aaronette Vonleh who was the lone Buff to find double-figures with 10 points on the afternoon. The Buffs struggled offensively on the day, closing with just 18 made baskets and shooting 31.0%.
Utah (9-0, 1-0 Pac-12) had three players reach double digits, led by USC transfer Alissa Pili and her 25 points. Gianna Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson aided in the scoring efforts with 17 and 14 points respectively.
"They [Utah] are a really good team," head coach JR Payne explained. "They were really good last year and then they added one of the better post players in the country in Pili. They're just really good. They are hard to guard. We kind of changed our coverages based on Pili. I don't know that that helped us because it kind of took us out of our comfort zone."
The Buffs were able to keep the second-leading scoring offense in the nation under its season average. Utah began the day averaging 94.4 points per game. The 85 points allowed by the CU defense, who was limiting opponents to 53.4 points per game, were the most by an opponent in regulation this season.
How It Happened
The Buffs got out to a hot start, opening the game on an 8-2 run. CU's defense kept the Utes in check early in the quarter, holding the home team to a 0-for-3 start from the floor. Both teams used runs to swap leads with Utah going on a 7-0 streak and the Buffs countering with an 8-3 run to regain the lead, 17-14. Utah closed with a 4-0 run to take a 19-17 lead into the second quarter.
The Utes opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run to extend the lead to 23-17. Kindyll Wetta got CU's first basket of the period at the 8:29 mark, but Colorado would struggle to get anything going in the quarter. CU scored six points at the free-throw line and was outscored 25-11 in the frame. CU was limited to 2-for-14 from the field, with Tayanna Jones hitting a 3-pointer to snap an 0-for-8 shooting streak.
"It's hard because they score so well," Payne said of the Utah offense. "Even if you can score, it's hard to string together stops and scores consecutively. It's a difficult thing to do against them."
Colorado outscored Utah, 22-19, in the third quarter. Vonleh was a perfect 3-for-3 in the third, recording seven of her 10 points in the period. Tameiya Sadler came on strong in the closing minutes of the frame, totaling all five of her points.
Utah put the game out of reach at the start of the fourth, using a 5-0 run to increase its lead from 13 to 18. A Frida Formann layup cut the lead back to 16, 68-52, but that was as close as CU would get the rest of the way.
The Buffs were just 2-of-13 from the field in the final quarter and got outscored 22-9 on the way to the final buzzer.
Turning Point
Colorado went cold in the second quarter and saw the Utes use a 21-4 run to go up 40-21. In the run, the Buffs were 1-for-9 shooting and had a stretch of nearly four minutes without a point.
Up Next
Colorado has a quick turnaround, returning to Boulder to host Alcorn State on Friday (6 p.m. MT). It is the team's annual winter holiday celebration game. Fans in attendance will receive Ralphie cookie cutters.
Quotes
Head coach JR Payne
On quick turnaround
"I think anytime you don't play the way you want and don't have the outcome you want – competitive people want to get back out [on the court] and be better. I think we all look forward to that opportunity."
On using the game as a learning experience
"I think that's exactly what it is. It's an opportunity to play a great team. That's an incredible challenge early in the season. That's it. You take it as that. An opportunity to learn, get better and figure out ways [to get better]. We'll play them again in Boulder and figure out how we're going to be better next time we play them. At this point of the season, with a couple of non-conference games, we're still trying to get better and improve. Certainly, there were things that showed up tonight that are areas that haven't necessarily been exposed [this season]."
