Saturday, November 25
St. Thomas,
11:00 AM
Colorado
6-1,0-0Pac-12
60
vs
78
North Carolina State
7-0,0-0ACC
1
2
3
4
F
Colorado
6
20
14
20
60
NC State
22
19
22
15
78
Photo by: Will Insull
Colorado Drops First of the Season
November 25, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Buffs go 2-1 at the Paradise Jam Classic
ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands – No. 3 Colorado couldn't get the offense clicking against No. 10 NC State in the finale of the Paradise Jam Classic. The Buffaloes, who shot a combined 56.6% in their first two games of the tournament, went just 32.8% on Saturday in the 78-60 loss.
Colorado (6-1) was led by All-Tournament selection Jaylyn Sherrod and her 20 points. She got half of her production from the free-throw line, hitting 10-for-10. Frida Formann hit four second-half threes and scored all 14 of her points in the final 20 minutes.
CU's offense went cold in its third game in as many days. The Buffs made just 20 field goals on 61 attempts. Colorado also turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 22 NC State points.
NC State (7-0) outscored the Buffs 36-14 in the paint with River Baldwin leading the way with a game-high 24 points.
"It was definitely the things we talked about going into the game," head coach JR Payne said of the Wolfpack following the loss. "Transition offense for them and overall pace for us on the offensive side of the floor and the half-court. I thought their transition offense was a lot better than our transition defense today. That's what they do. That's their superpower. It [the game] opened up really quickly because of that.
The Buffs closed the tournament 2-1 with blowout wins over Cincinnati and Kentucky and will now turn around and return home on Tuesday for a meeting with Boston U.
"I thought there was a lot of good basketball played offensively and defensively," Payne said of the Buffs' stay in St. Thomas. "A lot of different people contributed a lot of good things. I didn't think there were a lot of great things today to learn from or take with us. There were definitely a lot of learning opportunities. How do we respond when things aren't going our way? How do we individually and collectively stay together and pull ourselves out when things aren't going the way we want them to? We'll face a lot of really good teams this year. This is an important lesson to learn early in the season."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Colorado was slow out of the starting blocks on Saturday, starting 0-for-7 from the field with three early turnovers. The Wolfpack jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back.
The Buffs scored back-to-back baskets from Sherrod and Aaronette Vonleh to get within five but found themselves trailing by 16, 22-6, after the first quarter.
NC State grew its lead to 29-6 to start the second quarter, putting the Buffs in an insurmountable hole. A Maddie Nolan jumper cut the NC State run and kickstarted an 8-0 run for the Buffs with Nolan hitting consecutive 3s to cut the lead down to 29-14. Colorado's shooting improved in the quarter but was still limited to just six field goals.
Sherrod led the Buffs with 10 points at the break, going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. The Buffs shot just 9-for-34 in the half and turned the ball over nine times.
The NC State lead hit 20 points two minutes into the second half and the Wolfpack led by 23 at the end of the third quarter.
Colorado outscored NC State, 20-15, in the final period, getting 10 points from Sherrod in the quarter.
KEY MOMENT
NC State started the game 0-for-2 but got clicking off a Madison Hayes jumper. Tournament MVP River Baldwin followed with a second jumper to start a 4-0 run. Hayes and Baldwin combined for all nine points in the tone-setting 9-0 run that opened the game for the Wolfpack.
NOTES
Colorado is now 1-1 all-time against NC State…CU's 60 points were the fewest of the season and the lowest scoring output since scoring 49 against Washington State in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament (Mar. 3, 2023)…Saturday was CU's first game under 48.0 FG% this season…CU's 11 assists were the fewest since 9 against Duke (Mar. 20, 2023)…Sherrod has now hit 17 consecutive FTs dating back to the SMU game on Nov. 18, 2023…Sherrod is now two assists away from tying Shelley Sheetz for third in program history (514)…Formann is now seven points shy of 1,000 for her career.
UP NEXT
The Buffs have another quick turnaround returning to the CU Events Center to take on Boston U on Tuesday (6 p.m. MT).
QUOTES
Head Coach JR Payne
On if the team would fare better a second time – "We're way too tied to play again because we played three in three days. I definitely do not want to run it back right away. I think what we said they were going to do, they did. What we said we needed to do to be successful, we did not do. I think if we could go back and watch the film and reassess and go back in and try again and really execute those things – I think it would be a different outcome."
On the play in the post – "I think it was a combination of the two. I mean their posts players are very big. They're the biggest post players we've seen and there are several of them that they run out there. Their forwards are really athletic and long. They're able to switch aggressively and they did a really good job defensively. They are a really good defensive team."
On learning to play against a similar team – "Anytime you play a really good team, you're going to learn something, good or bad – usually both. I think this game was no different. We need to really learn from the mistakes and I think our team does that well. They take constructive feedback and they want to do well. They're going to watch the film and learn from it. We become a better ballclub when we have that mindset."
Colorado (6-1) was led by All-Tournament selection Jaylyn Sherrod and her 20 points. She got half of her production from the free-throw line, hitting 10-for-10. Frida Formann hit four second-half threes and scored all 14 of her points in the final 20 minutes.
CU's offense went cold in its third game in as many days. The Buffs made just 20 field goals on 61 attempts. Colorado also turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 22 NC State points.
NC State (7-0) outscored the Buffs 36-14 in the paint with River Baldwin leading the way with a game-high 24 points.
"It was definitely the things we talked about going into the game," head coach JR Payne said of the Wolfpack following the loss. "Transition offense for them and overall pace for us on the offensive side of the floor and the half-court. I thought their transition offense was a lot better than our transition defense today. That's what they do. That's their superpower. It [the game] opened up really quickly because of that.
The Buffs closed the tournament 2-1 with blowout wins over Cincinnati and Kentucky and will now turn around and return home on Tuesday for a meeting with Boston U.
"I thought there was a lot of good basketball played offensively and defensively," Payne said of the Buffs' stay in St. Thomas. "A lot of different people contributed a lot of good things. I didn't think there were a lot of great things today to learn from or take with us. There were definitely a lot of learning opportunities. How do we respond when things aren't going our way? How do we individually and collectively stay together and pull ourselves out when things aren't going the way we want them to? We'll face a lot of really good teams this year. This is an important lesson to learn early in the season."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Colorado was slow out of the starting blocks on Saturday, starting 0-for-7 from the field with three early turnovers. The Wolfpack jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back.
The Buffs scored back-to-back baskets from Sherrod and Aaronette Vonleh to get within five but found themselves trailing by 16, 22-6, after the first quarter.
NC State grew its lead to 29-6 to start the second quarter, putting the Buffs in an insurmountable hole. A Maddie Nolan jumper cut the NC State run and kickstarted an 8-0 run for the Buffs with Nolan hitting consecutive 3s to cut the lead down to 29-14. Colorado's shooting improved in the quarter but was still limited to just six field goals.
Sherrod led the Buffs with 10 points at the break, going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. The Buffs shot just 9-for-34 in the half and turned the ball over nine times.
The NC State lead hit 20 points two minutes into the second half and the Wolfpack led by 23 at the end of the third quarter.
Colorado outscored NC State, 20-15, in the final period, getting 10 points from Sherrod in the quarter.
KEY MOMENT
NC State started the game 0-for-2 but got clicking off a Madison Hayes jumper. Tournament MVP River Baldwin followed with a second jumper to start a 4-0 run. Hayes and Baldwin combined for all nine points in the tone-setting 9-0 run that opened the game for the Wolfpack.
NOTES
Colorado is now 1-1 all-time against NC State…CU's 60 points were the fewest of the season and the lowest scoring output since scoring 49 against Washington State in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament (Mar. 3, 2023)…Saturday was CU's first game under 48.0 FG% this season…CU's 11 assists were the fewest since 9 against Duke (Mar. 20, 2023)…Sherrod has now hit 17 consecutive FTs dating back to the SMU game on Nov. 18, 2023…Sherrod is now two assists away from tying Shelley Sheetz for third in program history (514)…Formann is now seven points shy of 1,000 for her career.
UP NEXT
The Buffs have another quick turnaround returning to the CU Events Center to take on Boston U on Tuesday (6 p.m. MT).
QUOTES
Head Coach JR Payne
On if the team would fare better a second time – "We're way too tied to play again because we played three in three days. I definitely do not want to run it back right away. I think what we said they were going to do, they did. What we said we needed to do to be successful, we did not do. I think if we could go back and watch the film and reassess and go back in and try again and really execute those things – I think it would be a different outcome."
On the play in the post – "I think it was a combination of the two. I mean their posts players are very big. They're the biggest post players we've seen and there are several of them that they run out there. Their forwards are really athletic and long. They're able to switch aggressively and they did a really good job defensively. They are a really good defensive team."
On learning to play against a similar team – "Anytime you play a really good team, you're going to learn something, good or bad – usually both. I think this game was no different. We need to really learn from the mistakes and I think our team does that well. They take constructive feedback and they want to do well. They're going to watch the film and learn from it. We become a better ballclub when we have that mindset."
Team Stats
CU
NCSU
FG%
.328
.466
3FG%
.280
.308
FT%
.813
.952
RB
35
39
TO
18
15
STL
5
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
10
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
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