Frida Formann knows itap a cliché to say a team can only control the controllables.
Itap cliché, however, because itap true and itap the focus of the Colorado women’s basketball team as it heads into a critical weekend trip to Los Angeles. The 11th-ranked Buffaloes visit No. 7 USC on Friday (8 p.m., Pac-12 Network). Thatap followed by an equally important matchup at No. 12 UCLA on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN2).
“The game is gonna be big and important and all that no matter what you do,” said Formann, a senior guard for the Buffs. “There’s things that you can control and itap a cliché, but thatap what helps. You can control how you practice and your approach and all that stuff. So thatap what we’re gonna have to do, I think.”
The Buffs are riding their first two-game losing streak of the season and although both losses – against current No. 9 Oregon State and No. 18 Utah – came by only a combined seven points, they were damaging to CU’s league title hopes.
Going into this weekend, the Buffs are two games behind league-leading Stanford and are now fighting to stay in the top four of the Pac-12 standings and earn a first-round bye for the Pac-12 tournament.
“I mean, we have to (embrace the challenge),” Buffs head coach JR Payne said. “Thatap the only option is trying to figure things out and figure out, again, what we’re doing well, what we’re not doing well, how do we capitalize on our strengths, how do we minimize our weaknesses? I’m a pretty black-and-white person anyway, you know, so thatap my approach to most things.
“Itap making sure that we’re all together in this and how we’re processing and climbing our way back to playing great basketball.”
CU didn’t play enough great basketball in either of the last two games. After falling behind by 25 points against OSU, the Buffs rallied late to claw back into the game. They fell behind by 18 against Utah and rallied to take the lead twice in the final 30 seconds before losing at the buzzer.
The starts to both games were baffling to Payne because she knows her veteran team was aware of the importance of both games. After two days off following the Utah loss, the Buffs have refocused this week.
“Itap a tough time of the season,” Formann said. “Itap so intense, but I think we’ve had trouble trying to, like, transfer that – knowing how intense it is, knowing how urgent everything needs to be, and then transferring it to the court and how we start games and how we play and practice. I think thatap what we need to do now.
“Itap do or die for us in pretty much every game and thatap fine. Thatap the pressure that comes with being in this position, which is good, but you just kind of have to embrace it. … Then you have to maybe be harder on each other in practice or you have to maybe just dial up the intensity and if that means that you may yell at each other in practice, then that happens, but then we can move on because I think thatap what we need to do. We’ve played really well with our backs against the wall (the last) two games now but we can’t wait until that happens.”
The silver lining to the slump is thatap itap not happening in March and the Buffs are good enough to fix it.
“It makes you have really honest conversations with each other,” Formann said. “Because when you win, yeah someone might have done something (wrong), but you won. But when you’re in this place, I think you’re just more honest with each other because it is like, ‘All right, well, we need to figure it out.’”
It starts Friday against USC and Payne said the Buffs can’t lose sight of the fact that they’ve been one of the best teams in the country all season.
“Just make sure we recognize that we’ve earned where we are,” Payne said. “We actually had to really earn it. We didn’t come into the season and they said, ‘Oh, they’re gonna be really good, letap put them in the top 10.’ We started barely in the top 25 and earned the rankings every week since then.
“So, really trying to make sure that we understand that and believe that in ourselves and each other to know that we should be competing at a high level, but itap all on us.”
No. 11 CU Buffs women’s basketball at No. 7 USC Trojans
TIPOFF: Friday, 8 p.m. MT, Galen Center, Los Angeles
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 20-5 (10-4 Pac-12); USC 20-4 (10-4 Pac-12)
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 8th season (139-98; 240-211 career). USC — Lindsay Gottlieb, 3rd season (51-30; 286-158 career).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — G Frida Formann, 5-11, Sr. (13.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.2 spg, .456 FG%, .430 3PT%, .926 FT%); C Quay Miller, 6-3, Sr. (9.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, .338 3PT%); G Maddie Nolan, 5-11, Sr. (5.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .415 3PT%); G Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.1 spg, .458 FG%); C Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3, Jr. (14.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, .576 FG%); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, Jr. (5.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.7 spg, .482 FG%). USC — G Taylor Bigby, 6-1, So. (5.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg, .378 3PT%); G/F McKenzie Forbes, 6-0, Sr. (13.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, .364 3PT%); C/F Rayah Marshall, 6-4, Jr. (9.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg, .472 FG%); G Kayla Padilla, 5-9, Sr. (7.7 ppg, 2.8 apg, .443 3PT%); G JuJu Watkins, 6-2, Fr. (27.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.6 spg, 1.7 bpg, .854 FT%).
NOTES: CU has lost two in a row for just the second time in the last two years. The Buffs haven’t lost three straight since a four-game skid in January of 2022. … CU beat USC 63-59 on Jan. 21 in Boulder and is aiming to sweep the regular season set from the Trojans for the second time in three seasons. … USC leads the all-time series 16-12, including 9-3 in Los Angeles. … USC is 13-1 at home, the only loss coming against Washington on Jan. 28. The Trojans are 6-0 since that loss, including four road wins. … The Buffs are 4-5 against top 25 opponents this season, while USC is 4-3. … In the last 16 years, the Buffs are 1-55 on the road against AP Top 25 opponents and they haven’t defeated a ranked opponent in a conference road game since Jan. 7, 2004 (59 straight losses since then). … CU and USC come into the weekend in a three-way tie with Oregon State for second place in the Pac-12. … Watkins is second in the country in scoring average. She’s also top-11 in the Pac-12 in rebounding, assists, steals and blocks. … Sherrod, the Pac-12’s active leader in career assists, needs nine to reach 600 for her career.
