In making the move from Missouri to Colorado this past summer, Sara-Rose Smith knew she might have to sacrifice some playing time and statistics.
Two months into her first season with the fifth-ranked Buffaloes, itap been a small price to pay.
“You sort of sacrifice those five to seven minutes that I was averaging a little bit higher at Missouri,” she said. “I was totally OK with that because I knew that I was going to be a part of a winning program and a successful program. In saying that, it doesn’t change my work ethic once I finally hit the court. Yeah, I’m not putting up quite as many of the numbers as what I was last season, but I think thatap, again, just attributed to the fact that I am playing with a high level of players and teammates.”
The 6-foot-1 senior guard from Australia has been an extremely valuable piece of the puzzle for the Buffs (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12), who visit Arizona on Friday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
A role player at Missouri last year, Smith averaged 21.7 minutes, 6.7 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game for the Tigers. She helped them reach the Women’s NIT the past three years.
This year for the Buffs, she’s playing 16 minutes per game, while posting 4.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She’s also got the highest field goal percentage (.581) and 3-point percentage (.385) of her career.
Smith had her first double-double of the season (11 points, 12 rebounds) in Saturday’s win against then-No. 12 Utah, and she’s had significant contributions in wins against LSU, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Air Force and others.
While she had bigger numbers at Missouri, Smith feels her game is much better now as she plays with a CU team loaded with talented players, such as Jaylyn Sherrod, Aaronette Vonleh, Frida Formann, Quay Miller and others.
“When you’re just playing with such high level, great girls, itap just gonna bring you up,” she said. “They bring you up to the standard. They have a set of standards that they sort of had set in place before I got here and they just laid them out pretty bluntly to me, as soon as I got here – as soon as (Michigan transfer Maddie Nolan) and I got here. We’ve just sort of flowed into the culture that they have created.
“It just encourages me to be better, it encourages me to work harder every day and just have that determination to fill that spot that they were sort of missing. Bringing my best self every single day and doing the little things. Itap just really encouraged me to be a better player.”
The payoff, of course, comes in knowing she’s got a great shot to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. And, there’s reward when she has a monster game against a top-12 team.
“It feels pretty good,” she said. “It definitely feels pretty good.”
