Friday, January 12
Boulder, Colo.
7:00 PM
Colorado
vs
California
Photo by: Serena Rodriguez
No. 5 Buffs Open Four-Game Homestand with Cal & No. 8 Stanford
January 11, 2024 | Women's Basketball
Colorado looks to extend winning streak
BOULDER – The No. 5 Colorado women's basketball team opens up a four-game homestand on Friday, hosting California (7 p.m .MT). The Buffaloes will also welcome in No. 8 Stanford on Sunday (Noon MT) to complete the first weekend of the season-long home stint.
The Buffs (13-1) went on the road last week and picked up its first sweep of Arizona and Arizona State since the 2012-13 season. CU, winners of its last eight games, has its longest winning streak since its 13-0 start to the 2021-22 season. The team's 3-0 start to the Pac-12 season is the first unbeaten stretch through three games in conference play since 1996-97.
With a win on Friday, the team would have its first 4-0 conference start since going a perfect 14-0 in the 1994-95 Big Eight season.
"Last year Jaylyn [Sherrod] and I had a joke after a lot of league games doing those first, 'Well we have never done that before,' and two days later, 'Well never done that before,'" head coach JR Payne exclaimed. "We said the same thing in Arizona. Never done that [sweep] before. It's great. We just want to play great. We feel like if we do our job, play together, play as well as we can play, then we have a chance against anybody."
California (12-3, 2-1 Pac-12), who was picked to finish 11th in both preseason conference polls, comes into Boulder as a reinvented team. The Golden Bears are off to their best start since the 2016-17 season and are receiving votes in the AP poll for the first time this season.
"They're a totally different team," Payne noted. "They have some veterans that are really good, but the players that are really scoring and impacting the box score are new and really talented. They do some things that we have not done particularly well with this year as far as shooting the 3 and playing a lot of different people at different positions. It's a really tough matchup. I think they are a very dangerous team."
Colorado is 14-12 all-time against Cal and has won the last seven meetings. The Buffs are 8-2 against the Golden Bears with Coach Payne at the helm.
No. 8 Stanford (14-1, 3-0 Pac-12) caps the weekend at the CU Events Center on Sunday. It will be the first top-10 matchup at the CU Events Center since the No. 8 Buffs took on No. 1 Tennessee on Dec. 17, 1994.
"It does not even have to be said [about not overlooking Cal]," Payne said about the team's mindset. "To be honest, I have not watched one possession of Stanford except for the Cal game, because I was preparing to scout for Cal. We haven't talked about Stanford. They [the team] know them and they know we're playing them Sunday, but we've made Cal a huge priority because Cal is very good. Even with all these veterans [on CU] I told them, 'You don't know this Cal team. You know last year's Cal team. You might even know UCLA better because they're the same team. This team is different.' I think that got their attention really early and that let us lock in and focus"
The Cardinal have won five straight since suffering their lone loss of the season at Gonzaga on Dec. 3. Head coach Tara VanDerveer is closing on becoming the all-time winningest coach, men's or women's, in college basketball history. She is three wins shy of passing Mike Krzyzewski (1,202).
Jenny Cavnar and former Buff Kami Carmann Snyder will have both the calls for the Pac-12 Network this weekend. Cory Lopez and Carol Callan will start with pregame coverage 30 minutes before tip-off on the Colorado Radio Network.
Friday's game is the team's Inclusion Game. Sunday fans can head to section 14 to get a photo with the NCAA Championship Trophy. The team will also be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day and fans will receive a free shirt while supplies last.
The Buffs (13-1) went on the road last week and picked up its first sweep of Arizona and Arizona State since the 2012-13 season. CU, winners of its last eight games, has its longest winning streak since its 13-0 start to the 2021-22 season. The team's 3-0 start to the Pac-12 season is the first unbeaten stretch through three games in conference play since 1996-97.
With a win on Friday, the team would have its first 4-0 conference start since going a perfect 14-0 in the 1994-95 Big Eight season.
"Last year Jaylyn [Sherrod] and I had a joke after a lot of league games doing those first, 'Well we have never done that before,' and two days later, 'Well never done that before,'" head coach JR Payne exclaimed. "We said the same thing in Arizona. Never done that [sweep] before. It's great. We just want to play great. We feel like if we do our job, play together, play as well as we can play, then we have a chance against anybody."
California (12-3, 2-1 Pac-12), who was picked to finish 11th in both preseason conference polls, comes into Boulder as a reinvented team. The Golden Bears are off to their best start since the 2016-17 season and are receiving votes in the AP poll for the first time this season.
"They're a totally different team," Payne noted. "They have some veterans that are really good, but the players that are really scoring and impacting the box score are new and really talented. They do some things that we have not done particularly well with this year as far as shooting the 3 and playing a lot of different people at different positions. It's a really tough matchup. I think they are a very dangerous team."
Colorado is 14-12 all-time against Cal and has won the last seven meetings. The Buffs are 8-2 against the Golden Bears with Coach Payne at the helm.
No. 8 Stanford (14-1, 3-0 Pac-12) caps the weekend at the CU Events Center on Sunday. It will be the first top-10 matchup at the CU Events Center since the No. 8 Buffs took on No. 1 Tennessee on Dec. 17, 1994.
"It does not even have to be said [about not overlooking Cal]," Payne said about the team's mindset. "To be honest, I have not watched one possession of Stanford except for the Cal game, because I was preparing to scout for Cal. We haven't talked about Stanford. They [the team] know them and they know we're playing them Sunday, but we've made Cal a huge priority because Cal is very good. Even with all these veterans [on CU] I told them, 'You don't know this Cal team. You know last year's Cal team. You might even know UCLA better because they're the same team. This team is different.' I think that got their attention really early and that let us lock in and focus"
The Cardinal have won five straight since suffering their lone loss of the season at Gonzaga on Dec. 3. Head coach Tara VanDerveer is closing on becoming the all-time winningest coach, men's or women's, in college basketball history. She is three wins shy of passing Mike Krzyzewski (1,202).
Jenny Cavnar and former Buff Kami Carmann Snyder will have both the calls for the Pac-12 Network this weekend. Cory Lopez and Carol Callan will start with pregame coverage 30 minutes before tip-off on the Colorado Radio Network.
Friday's game is the team's Inclusion Game. Sunday fans can head to section 14 to get a photo with the NCAA Championship Trophy. The team will also be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day and fans will receive a free shirt while supplies last.
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