No. 3 Buffs Cruise to Win in Paradise Jam Opener

ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands – No. 3 Colorado kicked off the Paradise Jam with a 77-60 win over Cincinnati Thursday afternoon at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center.

Three Buffaloes finished in double figures, but the team's production was largely from outside of the usual suspects Tameiya Sadler and Kindyll Wetta led the way with season-highs of 15 and 14 points, respectively. Wetta went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and handed out four assists. Aaronette Vonleh posted 13 points and Quay Miller led the team with eight rebounds.

"Right before the game, I heard two or three of us coaches telling her [Sadler] to be aggressive today," head coach JR Payne noted. "Ans she was. She's capable of finishing well at the rim and hit a 3 and just did a lot of different things.

"Kindyll is probably one of our most consistent players, certainly the hardest working player I've ever coached in 20-plus years," Payne continued. "I think her ability to score tonight came from her desire to never stop. Her cuts are incredible. Her penetration was incredible. She was confident when she hit that 3. She was great for us."

Jaylyn Sherrod was limited to six points and five assists, while Frida Formann went 4-for-9 from the field for nine points.

Colorado (5-0) shot a season 53.3% (32-60) from the field in the unfamiliar surroundings. Thursday was the third time in five games that the Buffs have shot 50% or better this season. More than half of CU's production came from close-range, totaling 48 points in the paint and converting 13 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points. Colorado handed out 21 assists, marking the fifth consecutive game with at least 20 helpers for the Buffs.

"I feel like we came out and threw the first punch and kept punching," Sadler exclaimed. "I feel like our group was very mature about going into it and we had a plan and executed all our game plans."

Jillian Hayes and her 17 points led Cincinnati (2-2). The Bearcats hit 10 3-pointers in an effort to stay close on the scoreboard but shot just 35.8% (19-53) overall.

How it happened
Colorado got the first basket of the afternoon, and it was off to the races. An early 10-0 run for the Buffs put CU in control, 12-2, with each starter scoring in the run. The Buffs had three assists on its first five makes and six in the quarter. CU shot 55.6% from the field in the first 10 minutes and totaled 16 of its 21 points in the paint. A Maddie Nolan 3-pointer gave CU an 11-point lead, its largest of the quarter, right before the end of the period.

The Buffaloes' hot shooting continued in the second quarter, hitting 57.1%. Vonleh stepped up in the quarter and scored four of CU's six points to take a 27-13 lead. The junior center totaled eight points in the quarter and helped build a 16-point lead before the half.

Wetta took over for the Buffs in the third quarter, helping CU extend its lead to 25 points. She scored eight of her 14 points in her seven minutes on the court and went 3-for-3 In the frame. A Sadler layup gave the Buffs a commanding 64-39 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Colorado let off the gas at the start of the fourth quarter and saw the Bearcats put together a 13-2 run, cutting the CU lead to 66-52 with 5:47 to play. A Sadler jumper followed by a Nolan 3-pointer put the Buffs back up by 19 and took the wind out of Cincinnati's comeback sails.

"I thought we played great for three quarters, which is fine," Payne expressed. "The goal is always to play great for four quarters and all 40 minutes. There are definitely some areas to improve there in the last quarter. It was great that we didn't have to play heavy minutes with the back-to-back-to-back games, and I was really pleased. I think Cincinnati is a good team. They're tough and fearless. They did a lot of great things. I think they banked four 3-pointers, so they shot the ball a lot better than usual. We have to make sure that we make those adjustments."

Key moment
The Buffs 10-0 run in the first quarter opened up a 10-2 lead but the Bearcats hit back-to-back 3s to cut the lead back down to four, 12-8. Wetta and Nolan teamed up for CU's next four points to put the CU lead back to 10, 18-8, with 2:05 to go in the quarter. CU's lead momentarily dipped back to nine to start the second quarter, but a Forman pull-up jumper to open the second quarter pushed the advantage back to double-digits, 23-12, and it didn't drop below 10 for the remainder of the game.

Up Next
The Buffs remain in St. Thomas with two more games left in the Paradise Jam Classic. Colorado will take on Kentucky on Friday (11 a.m. MT).

Notes
The Buffs are off to a 5-0 start for the fifth time under Coach Payne…CU has now failed to hit the 80-point mark for the first time this season…The last time CU had five consecutive games with 20+ assists was Nov. 26 – Dec. 4, 1982 (22, 23, 29, 28, 32)…CU was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and is 45-for-52 (86.5%) over its last three games…The CU bench accounted for its second-highest output of the season with 30 points (59, Le Moyne)…CU's 25-point lead at 0:46 of the third quarter was its second-largest of the season (60, Le Moyne)…Formann is now 29 points shy of 1,000 on her career (971)…Wetta recorded her third 100% shooting game of her career (min. 3 FGM).

Quotes
Head coach JR Payne
On the team's rotation – "In our program, we don't really care about starting. It's not a big deal. Sometimes we like to have our best and most productive players come off the bench. We always have and I don't think our team really cares about that either. They just want to win. They want to contribute when they come in. Kindyll is in at the end of most every game and that's because she's so reliable and tough. She knows her assignments and is just going to do what she's supposed to do."

On playing three games in three days – "All the teams here are really tough and athletic. They have great size. They are Power 5 teams and they play like it. So the biggest challenge is just being able to feel great by tomorrow afternoon. We have a great trainer and a great strength coach who's here with us. They will make sure we are fueled properly and rested properly. It was great that nobody had to play huge minutes tonight. That's really good for us to be able to have Aaronette and some of those high-minute players only playing 18 minutes."

Senior Tameiya Sadler
On keeping the team motivated – "I would say it was our maturity and the coaches. T [Toriano Towns] was saying that going into the fourth quarter they [Cincinnati] are here to play too. They're not going to just lay down for us. We have to keep punching. That's when we just responded to that. We kept on doing what he told us to do."

On being told to be aggressive – "I'm more so like you guys have to tell me what you want me to do and I'll go out and do it. They [coaches] have been reiterating that to me every game this season. I think today, I really responded to that."

On Kindyll Wetta – "Kindyll is great. I feel like she shot with a lot of confidence today. I was really proud of her. We always joke around if it's 5-4-3 just shoot it. I feel like she just really took on the role of being a scorer. She's always more of a passer, so her going out and being aggressive today was great for us."

Players Mentioned

Frida Formann

Quay Miller

Maddie Nolan

Tameiya Sadler

Jaylyn Sherrod

Aaronette Vonleh

Kindyll Wetta