Throughout this season, Kindyll Wetta has been a key player off the bench for the Colorado women’s basketball team and she made her mark around the Pac-12 with tenacious defense and stellar passing.
Last week at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas, the 5-foot-9 freshman from Valor Christian High School took her game up a notch and discovered some scoring punch in helping the Buffaloes (22-8) reach the semifinals.
“I’ve kind of just been trying to figure it out just as the entire season has gone,” Wetta said after the Buffs’ 71-45 loss to eventual tournament champion Stanford. “Definitely, now I’ve just got it. I know what I’m supposed to be doing offensively, as well as defensively and hopefully we can keep it going.”
As the Buffs look ahead to a likely trip to the NCAA Tournament, they’ll need Wetta to keep it going.
Wetta has not been a primary scorer for the Buffs this season. In fact, she averaged just 4.0 points per game during the regular season.
During the three games in Las Vegas, however, she averaged 8.7 points, including tying her season high with 12 against Stanford. That was the first time this season she has led CU in scoring.
Her single-game high for field goal attempts in the regular season was six, but she topped that mark in all three games in Vegas (10, eight and 10).
Wetta’s scoring was much needed for a team that lost guard Tameiya Sadler to an undisclosed injury in the first round and guard Sila Finau to a sprained ankle in the third game.
“Obviously, I’m always willing to step up when I need to and with Tameiya out, I know that I needed to do that,” Wetta said. “I’ll do whatever the coaches ask me, whether thatap playing more minutes, less minutes, a different position. So I’m always there to rise for the challenge.”
Wetta has proven to be a big-game player in the past. As a senior at Valor Christian last year, she scored her season high (17) in the state championship game. She also had 12 assists, nine rebounds and five steals in the 67-42 win against Regis Jesuit.
In addition to her scoring, Wetta had a season-high eight rebounds in Thursday’s upset of then-No. 14 Arizona and averaged 5.3 for the tournament — well above the 2.8 per game she posted in the regular season.
This season in the Pac-12, several dynamic freshmen have had impressive seasons.
Jenna Johnson and Gianna Kneepkens led Utah to the Pac-12 Tournament final. California’s Jayda Curry led the conference in scoring, and Rayah Marshall was the only freshman in the conference to rank top 20 in scoring and rebounding (she finished tied for third in rebounds per game).
Kneepkens was voted freshman of the year by coaches and Curry got the nod from the media.
While Wetta didn’t put up the same type of numbers as that crew, CU head coach JR Payne is proud to have Wetta on her side.
Wetta is the only player in the 11-year history of the Pac-12 to earn first-team All-Defensive and first-team All-Freshman honors in the same season. She’s currently second in the Pac-12 in steals per game (2.1), 16th in assists (2.8) and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0).
“I think Kindyll is one of the best freshmen in the country, point blank. Period,” Payne said. “I think she can change the game for us, offensively and defensively.
“She was incredible (in the Pac-12 Tournament) and had to play a ton of minutes on tired legs, just like everyone else is tired. But Kindyll is the ultimate ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win.’ I thought she did that (against Stanford) with just the relentless pursuit of toughness and grit and doing what she could to help us win.”
Notes
After Friday’s loss to Stanford, the Buffs have taken several days off to rest. CU is expected to receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament and its next game would be March 18 or 19. … CU remains at No. 29 in the NET rankings, a tool used in setting the 68-team NCAA Tournament field. … The Buffs earned 12 points in the AP Top 25 poll released Monday. The Buffs were outside the Top 25, but were fourth among the others receiving votes.
