Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: From the opening minute, the Buffs battled foul trouble to key players and they could never overcome that, as it impacted their defense all night.
Three stars:
1. USC’s JuJu Watkins: The freshman phenom scored 42 points, including going 18-for-18 at the free throw line.
2. USC’s McKenzie Forbes: Finished with 24 points and seven assists and drained dagger 3-pointers throughout the night.
3. CU’s Jaylyn Sherrod: Before fouling out, she had 11 points, six assists and two steals to lead the Buffs.
Up next: CU continues its trip to Los Angeles by visiting No. 12 UCLA on Monday at 7 p.m. (ESPN2).
LOS ANGELES – In an effort to get off a great start defensively Friday, Colorado head coach JR Payne made a change to her lineup, giving defensive stopper Kindyll Wetta her first start of the season.
Just 51 seconds after the opening tip, however, Wetta went to the bench with her second foul.
“Definitely sort of a gut punch when your best defender is out 50 seconds into the game,” Payne said.
That set the tone for what would be night-long battle with foul trouble for the No. 11-ranked CU women’s basketball team. Aside from the foul issues, the Buffaloes played an exceptional game, but just couldn’t overcome the whistles in an 87-81 loss to No. 7 USC at the Galen Center.
It was the third consecutive loss for the Buffs (20-6, 10-5 Pac-12), who dropped to fifth place in the conference standings with three games to play in the regular season.
“We definitely needed and want to win, so I’m disappointed with that,” Payne said. “But I’m actually really proud of how we played. I thought we played really well. You have to be able to adjust a little bit quicker to how they’re calling games because the foul trouble clearly hurt us throughout the entire game. But I actually thought we played really good basketball offensively and at times defensively.”
However, USC’s fabulous freshman JuJu Watkins finished with 42 points, including 16 during a game-changing 27-10 run in the second half that buried the Buffs.
CU led 59-57 with 5 minutes, 18 seconds to play in the third, but didn’t hit a field goal during the next 6:12, as USC went on a 13-2 surge.
“I thought we got a little tight, to be honest,” Payne said of that stretch. “When we got tight, we actually still got some good looks at the rim or open shots, but I thought we got tight and just sort of tensed up a little bit. We were able to kind of settle back down, but by then it had gone from being up to maybe down six or so.”
CU had five players finish in double figures for points, led by center Aaronette Vonleh’s 18. And, the Buffs had their third-best field goal percentage of season (.571), including a remarkable 14-minute stretch where they went 16-of-17.
The defense, however, could never overcome the foul trouble.
Starting guards Wetta and Frida Formann and key backup guard Tameiya Sadler all had two fouls in the first quarter. Vonleh got her second midway through the second quarter.
Star point guard Jaylyn Sherrod got two quick fouls midway through the third, then got her fourth with 2:33 to play in the third, with CU trailing by two. She fouled out with 8:15 to play and CU down by 10.
Vonleh fouled out with 4:57 to go, while Formann and Wetta finished with four fouls.
That all added up to CU not being able to play its trademark aggressive style of defense. USC took advantage and finished the night with a .568 field goal percentage – the best by a CU opponent since Utah hit .569 on Dec. 14, 2022. The Buffs hadn’t allowed more than 78 points since last year’s Sweet 16 loss to Iowa.
“Itap really tough because it was all of them,” Payne said of the foul trouble. “It was Kindyll, it was Jaylyn, it was Tameiya, it was Frida, it was Netty. I think the only starter not in serious foul trouble for a good portion of the game was Quay (Miller), so that just makes it really tough because in order to guard these guys (for USC), you have to try to be disruptive and you have to try to run them off screens and things like that. When every single player feels like they’re in foul trouble, thatap difficult to do.”
Despite that, CU stayed with the Trojans most of the night. The Buffs trailed by only eight with 6 minutes left, but a 7-0 spurt gave USC its biggest lead 84-69, and essentially sealed the game.
Notable
This is CU’s first three-game losing streak since a four-game skid in January of 2022. … USC has won seven straight. … Watkins went 18-for-18 at the free throw line, tied for the most made free throws ever by a CU opponent (Washington’s Kelsey Plum made 18 on Jan. 19, 2014). … The Buffs had only 20 rebounds, one shy of the school-record low of 19. USC had just 22 boards, however. The 42 combined is the lowest ever for a CU game. The previous low was 48 against Washington on March 3, 2021. … CU’s field goal percentage was its highest in a loss since shooting .579 in a 90-84 loss to UCLA on Jan. 11, 2015.
No. 7 USC 87, No. 11 Colorado 81
COLORADO (20-6, 10-5 Pac-12)
Sherrod 3-3 4-6 11, Formann 1-7 2-2 4, Miller 4-7 2-2 12, Wetta 5-8 1-4 11, Vonleh 7-13 4-6 18, Sadler 2-3 3-4 9, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Nolan 4-6 1-2 11, McLeod 0-0 0-0 0, Whittaker 2-2 1-2 5. Totals 28-49 18-28 81.
USC (21-4, 11-4 Pac-12)
Watkins 10-19 18-18 42, Marshall 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 4-4 1-2 9, Forbes 7-13 5-5 24, Padilla 4-6 0-0 12, Bigby 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Akunwafo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-44 24-25 87.
Colorado 19 24 18 20 – 81
USC 22 25 20 20 – 87
3-point field goals – Colorado 7-13 (Miller 2-3, Nolan 2-3, Sadler 2-2, Sherrod 1-1, Formann 0-3, Wetta 0-1), USC 13-19 (Forbes 5-6, Watkins 4-7, Padilla 4-5, Bigby 0-1). Rebounds – Colorado 20 (Wetta 4), USC 22 (Davis, Akunwafo 5). Assists – Colorado 22 (Sherrod 6), USC 17 (Forbes 7). Steals – Colorado 8 (Wetta 3), USC 7 (Watkins 4). Turnovers – Colorado 16, USC 19. Total fouls – Colorado 24, USC 20. Fouled out – Sherrod, Vonleh, Marshall. Attendance – 5,762.
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