The Colorado Buffaloes (12-4, 3-2 Big 12) defeated the Kansas Jayhawks (11-5, 1-4 Big 12) 84-76 on Saturday.
The Buffs' offensive momentum carried over from their win against Central Florida, as four players had double-digit scoring efforts, led by Jade Masogayo’s 20 points. However, the story of the night was Colorado’s rebounding efforts, as the Buffaloes out-rebounded the Jayhawks 39-18. Sara-Rose Smith out-rebounded KU by herself with an impressive 19 rebounds.
Frida Formann and Lior Garzon combined for six of the team's nine three-pointers, scoring 13 and 15 points, respectively. CU also capitalized off KU’s mistakes, scoring 22 points off of the Jayhawks’ 11 turnovers.
“I'm really proud of so many great individual performances in the box score, but also collectively as a team,” head coach JR Payne said. “Also just being able to respond when things aren't necessarily going our way is really important because this is such a good conference… [I'm] proud of our game today.”
The Buffs had a rocky start to the game, turning the ball over four times. However, Lior Garzon kept them in it, knocking down back-to-back triples to put the Buffs up by four within the first five minutes. To close out the first quarter, Nyamer Diew drove for a last-second layup, giving the Buffs a six-point lead at the end of the period. Diew contributed 11 of the Buffs’ 22 bench points in the game.
The second quarter was the only one in which the Buffs shot under 50% from the field, but they managed to maintain their lead heading into the break with a 5-0 run in the final 37 seconds by taking advantage of KU turnovers. Garzon hit a three-pointer and Kennedy Sanders went coast-to-coast for a layup to close out the half, giving the Buffs a 41-35 lead. Smith had 13 of her 19 rebounds at the break, while the Buffs tallied 23 first-half rebounds.
Coach Payne expressed the emphasis the team has on rebounding:
“We feel like rebounding can be an equalizer in any game… It's an area that a lot of it is just effort. It's not always the best leapers or the tallest player,” Payne said. “It's being focused and intentional about it which we did want specifically with Sara. We challenged her earlier in the week to get after it, and clearly, she took it personally.”
The third quarter was when the Buffs began to dominate. They opened with a 15-3 run, extending their lead to a game-high 18 points early in the period. The black and gold stuffed the stat sheet, with Masogayo scoring 10 points in the quarter and Formann sinking two of her three three-pointers. The team shot an outstanding 82% from the field, including 75% from beyond the arc.
Colorado’s momentum slowed down at the end of the quarter, but the Buffs still held a 13-point lead going into the fourth.
While it seemed like the rest of the game would be a formality, the Jayhawks clawed back early in the fourth quarter, cutting the Buffs' lead to six after a 7-0 run. Although the Buffs were outscored in the final period, the deficit wasn’t enough for the Jayhawks to complete a comeback, as the Buffs secured an eight-point victory.
The Buffs now go on the road to face the No. 17 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (13-3, 3-2 Big 12) on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. MT (ESPN +).
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