Colorado
14-3,4-1Pac-12
Arizona
14-3,4-2Pac-12
Colorado Takes Down No. 14 Arizona
January 13, 2023 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER – The CU Event Center continues to haunt visiting opponents as the Colorado women's basketball team won its 11th consecutive game on the home court on Friday. The Buffaloes defeated its second top-15 team in as many games, handing No. 14/10 Arizona a 72-65 loss on its way out of Boulder.
Prior to this season, CU had only beaten top-15 teams in consecutive games once, notching wins over No. 13 Oregon and No. 10 Tennessee in 1981-82. The Buffs defeated No. 14 Iowa State and No. 13 Texas Tech in the 2001-02 season but had two wins against unranked opponents sandwiched in between.
"I'm so happy, so proud and so many different people stepped up in huge key moments," head coach JR Payne said after the win. "It wasn't just Frida's [Formann] 3 it was Tayanna's [Jones] rebound it was Quay's [Miller] box out and it was Jaylyn's [Sherrod] attack to draw the foul. So many different people came up big, and our composure was great. Or free throws were not so great down the stretch, but so much composure execution, defensive switching and a great team win. I'm very proud of our ballclub."
Colorado (14-3, 5-1 Pac-12) fresh off a 10-point win over then-No. 8 Utah, needed every bit of Friday's contest to win its second ranked game of the season. Frida Formann went 5-for-8 from the 3-point line and finished with a season-high 23 points.
Quay Miller and Arizona transfer Aaronette Vonleh also had big nights for the Buffs. Miller totaled all nine of her rebounds on the defensive glass and finished with 13 points. Vonleh set a career-high with her nine rebounds and went 6-for-8 from the field against her former team.
"Honestly, going into it, I didn't know what it would be like or what my emotions would be," Vonleh said about playing her old teammates. "Once we got started, it was just a regular game for me."
The Buffs led the contest for the majority of the night, holding the time with the advantage to just 1:46 of game time. CU got up by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but the Wildcats got back within two at halftime. UofA got back in the lead late in the fourth quarter but stumbled to the finish closing the night shooting 0-for-4.
Colorado won the battle on the glass with a decisive 48-29 advantage. Tayanna Jones joined Vonleh and Miller with nine boards, matching her season high. Arizona entered Friday shooting 37.7% from 3-point range but CU held tight on the perimeter, limiting the UofA to 26.3% (5-19).
"Our game plan is that we usually want to be disruptive," Payne explained. "We want to make people work for their points. We are very scout-specific. We try to make sure that our team knows which direction people like to attack. Do they shoot the 3 off the bounce? We're specific. Our team is very mature. they do a great job of knowing personnel and trying to play them that way."
Arizona (14-3, 4-2 Pac-12) had four players hit double figures. Cate Reese led the way for the Cats with 14 points and nine rebounds.
How It Happened
The Wildcats hit two 3's in an 8-4 start to the final quarter to cut the Buffs' lead down to one, 55-54 with 6:56 to go. Back-to-back layups from Kindyll Wetta and Formann pushed Colorado back up by five with just over five minutes to play.
From that point on it became a sprint to the finish.
Arizona went on a 7-0 run to take retake the lead, 61-59, for the first time since the first quarter. The lead lasted all of 22 seconds before Vonleh tied it back up at 61-61 and a Sherrod free-throw put the home team back in front with 2:45 to play.
The Wildcats retook the lead, 63-62, on a Shaina Pellington layup, but that would be the last field goal of the night for UofA. CU outscored Arizona 10-2 in the final 2:25 with Formann closing out the night 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to secure the win.
"We played with a lot of emotion," Payne continued. "We are a very competitive group. I think that most days in practice we see a lot of fire, grit and competitive spirit. It is not surprising that we would play a game of this caliber that way. I love to see the celebration photos and how our team celebrates each other. The way that we share the ball in big moments is very unselfish, and it's fun to coach."
The Wildcats claimed the first lead of the night, but Formann's 3-point success got going early, hitting her first shot attempt of the night to give CU a lead that it would not relinquish until the fourth quarter.
Offense was hard to come by early with neither team getting the ball to fall in the opening half of the first quarter. Colorado started 1-for-8 from the field and held the Wildcats to an inefficient 2-for-12 open. It was a Miller 3 that got the Buffs rolling on a 15-2 run to take a 15-4 lead. Formann hit two more 3's in the quarter, including right before the buzzer, finishing the period with 11 of CU's 18 points.
Colorado's largest lead of the night came early in the second quarter, with Vonleh converting on the fast break to put the Buffs up 22-10. Arizona went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to five at the 6:15 mark. CU's offense hit a snag in the quarter, going just 4-for-12 from the field. Arizona countered with an 8-for-17 performance and narrowed the Buffs' lead to 31-29 at the half.
CU went on an 8-2 run early in the third quarter, aided by 3's from Miller and Formann to grow the lead to eight, 41-33. The Wildcats narrowed the game to three, 45-42, at the 3:57 mark, but the Buffs held onto the lead the entire frame. Kindyll Wetta was a key factor in the quarter for the Buffs, totaling eight points and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Key Moment
Colorado trailed 63-62 with 2:25 to play when Formann hit one of the biggest shots of the night. She drained her fifth 3 of the contest with 1:37 on the clock to put the Buffs in front 65-63. Arizona missed on a 3-pointer and Miller got to the rim for AND1 to complete a 6-0 run and give CU the 67-62 lead with 52 to seconds to play.
"My play was kind of broken, but Quay's was all set and we knew what we wanted," Formann noted. "As soon as I saw her come up I passed it to her. It's just those things we are executing down the stretch and it's really good for us."
Up Next
Colorado will have some unplanned rest on the schedule with Sunday's game against Arizona State being canceled. The Buffs will next be in action on Jan. 20, taking on California in Berkeley.
Notes
The last time CU won consecutive games against ranked opponents was the 2007-8 season, defeating No. 21 Wyoming and No. 20 Vanderbilt…CU went back-to-back in ranked wins last season defeating No. 25 Oregon and No. 14 Arizona with wins over unranked Oregon State and Washington in between…Friday's win was CU's 9th win over a top-25 program under head coach JR Payne… Vonleh has scored 10+ points in 12 straight games…Formann tied Brittany Wilson for 13th on CU's career 3-point list with 140…CU's 16 assists are the most in a Pac-12 game for the Buffs this season…The team's 48 rebounds are the second-most this season (49 at Marquette).
Quotes
JR Payne
On moving forward
"It feels great. I think our coaching staff does a great job of focusing on every day. This is cool. It's great. We beat Arizona, but the next practice, nobody cares about that anymore. We're focused on what we must do to be great today. I think that allows us to work to be excellent at everything we do, whether it's Arizona or a team that nobody's ever heard of. We try to play the same brand of basketball every single day. And our upperclassmen have done a great job setting that standard with our new and young players, and it's very much ingratiated in our culture. That's who we are, no matter what. It's cool to play great teams and then show that we also have a great team. I think because, as I said, Sunday's practice will be the same type as yesterday's. I think because we're very much wired that way within our program. It doesn't matter whom we play or when we play, we expect that we will work to be excellent, you know, and we use the phrase, the standard is the standard, you know, and effort is everything like these are phrases we, we talk about, and we believe in you know, and so I think our practice will be great Sunday, it'll be short, but it'll be great. And then we'll start preparing for Cal and, you know, get ready to go on the road again."
Frida Formann
On pushing through foul trouble
"It's always tough when you're in foul trouble. You just get taken out of your rhythm and I was already shooting the ball well, and it was just so annoying to have to go in and out so much. But I just tried to stay locked in because I knew that I would have to play down the stretch. I wasn't thinking too much about (the go-ahead three). I just thought that I was open I shot it and that's usually what I do. I just think staying locked in I've gotten better at emotional composure and just trying to know when my team needs me."
On her fans
"I saw some of them [holding signs] when I was subbing in and just gave them a nod. They came up to me after the game and it's great to see, especially students because I really want more students to come to our games. It's always nice to have some fans out there."
On the team's veterans
"It's awesome. I think in the past we had those games where we've just let up down the stretch. I'm there on the bench and we're in it, we keep looking up, we're still in it. And even though it feels like we're not playing the best basketball every minute, we're just not letting up. And I think that just speaks to how we practice and what our identity is. We just don't quit, that's just not who we are. So, to be able to play that way, every game is huge."
Aaronette Vonleh
On near double-double
"Rebounding has been my weakness recently, so I was focused on crashing more because it gives us more possessions with the ball and it helps us in general. So that was my main focus and then making layups and going to work down low when I get the ball."
On career-high rebounds
"It definitely feels good just because now Coach [Toriano] Towns might relax a little bit. It's just nice to see the impact that rebounding can have. I hope I can keep building off of that."
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes
On Arizona's defense
"We are not knowing personnel and we know that. Frida Formann is a great shooter. We don't want to give up open shots and let her go 5-of-8 from 3. That is the lack of focus. A lack of attention to detail and we're not going to win like that. We're not the biggest, we're not the smartest and we're not the toughest, so we have to be able to pay attention to details and we are not doing that right now."
