Colorado University Athletics
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No. 25 Buffs Look to Rebound Against Visitors from Southern Cal
January 26, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Colorado hosts No. 8 UCLA and USC
BOULDER – The basketball season treks on for the No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes who welcome the Southern California contingency to the CU Events Center this weekend.
Colorado (15-4, 6-2 Pac-12) will prepare to take on No. 8 UCLA (17-3, 6-2 Pac-12) and Southern California (15-4, 5-3 Pac-12) on Friday (7 p.m. MT) and Sunday (Noon). The Buffs have beaten the last two ranked opponents who have come to Boulder and have won their last 11 games inside the Events Center.
"I think we're confident wherever we play," head coach JR Payne noted. "Every team has an advantage when they play at home from just a comfortability standpoint. You get to sleep in your own bed, eat your own food and you're not in and out of hotels. I do think it adds a level of comfort at home. We want to win every game, but we especially want to make sure that we're winning in front of our home crowd."
The Buffs are looking to rebound from a loss to then-No. 4 Stanford last Sunday. The Buffaloes got out to a slow start in the first quarter and trailed 18-8 after the first ten minutes. Colorado got back on track in the final three quarters, playing the Cardinal to a three-point game the rest of the afternoon.
"We need to have a more aggressive mindset from the beginning," Payne explained. "We need to have better all-around execution. These teams [in the Pac-12] are too good to have a slow start. We've got to have great warmups and just be focused and ready to battle from the jump."
CU has turned to its big four in the lineup in the Pac-12 season. The Buffs' bench was averaging 22.4 points per game in the non-conference season but has seen that production dip to 12.6 points per in across Pac-12 play. Colorado totaled just one point, a free throw, off the bench at Stanford. It was the fewest bench points for Payne's squad since the 2019-20 season.
"I think we need to get more productivity and more consistent minutes [from our depth players]," Payne added. "They [Stanford] were so big that there were only certain lineups that we thought could match that size. We do have good depth. We do have people that can come in and contribute and we need to be able to utilize that to be effective down the stretch."
Colorado won both of its last meetings against UCLA and USC on the road last season. Friday and Sunday's games are the only two meetings between the Buffs and the Los Angeles schools this season. Both matchups this weekend will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks (Jenny Cavnar, Kami Carmann Snyder).
The games will also be carried across the Colorado Radio Network, the Varsity app and CUBuffs.com/listen. Pregame coverage will start 30 minutes before tipoff.
Friday's game is the Buffs' annual Play4Kay game. The Bruins and Buffs will take part in a pregame ceremony that includes five honorary starters, each of who have been affected by Cancer. The honorary starters will join CU's starting lineup and walk out together with starting lineups.
On Sunday the CU Athletic Department will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Northwest entrance to the CU Events Center will open at 10 a.m., and the concourse will feature stations that will showcase women's athletics. Parents will need to purchase a ticket, kids 12 and under will get a free ticket upon check-in/registration https://app.cubuffs.com/NGWSD2023