The Colorado Buffaloes (8-2) defeated the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds (1-9) by a score of 76-59 on Saturday at the CU Events Center.
The Buffs improved to 8-2 in their second-to-last non-conference game despite the absence of their top two point guards, Kindyll Wetta and Kennedy Sanders. Southern Utah, a smaller team than the Buffs, played small ball, which led to an outstanding rebounding performance from Colorado.
The Buffs grabbed 39 total rebounds (17 offensive) compared to the Thunderbirds' 20. Forwards Lior Garzon and Johanna Teder stepped up in place of the injured guards, with Garzon delivering her third 20-point game of the season and Teder tallying a career-high seven assists.
JoJo Nworie also played her first minutes as a Buff after missing back-to-back seasons at Texas Tech with season-ending injuries. Head coach JR Payne expressed how proud she was of the team’s performance Saturday.
“It’s a difficult thing to play without the players that have been playing the point guard position. These guys [Teder and Garzon] did great stepping in at that position,” Payne said. “JoJo [Nworie] played who hasn't played in two years. She came in, hit a three, and blocked a couple of shots. That was really incredible to see. Just overall a good team effort. We still have things, obviously, to work on, but I’m proud of how we played tonight.”
Southern Utah kept it close in the early moments of the game, with the Buffs holding a narrow 13-10 lead five minutes in. In the first quarter, the Buffs dominated the paint with 16 points inside the key but allowed easy looks that resulted in baskets for SUU. They ended the quarter up by only four, despite shooting an impressive 10-16 from the field. Head Coach JR Payne explained the Buffs' defensive struggles and the adjustments they made to improve in the second quarter.
“I thought the rebounding improved pretty significantly and that's how we ended up plus 20 on the glass,” Payne said. “We were just really trying to keep them from opening up our hips and attacking our feet. We felt like they were moving the ball too clean on their offensive side of the floor and so we were trying to be a little more disruptive in passing lanes while keeping our men in front.”
The second quarter was much better for the Buffs, with Lior Garzon leading the charge by hitting three consecutive shots from beyond the arc, while Frida Formann added another. This gave the Buffs their biggest lead of the game, up to that point, of 12 with seven minutes left in the first half. The Buffs extended their lead to 16 going into the break, with Garzon and Formann combining for 29 of the team’s 47 first-half points. Garzon spoke about the confidence she’s been playing with offensively.
“I think my work ethic just gives me a lot of confidence,” Garzon said. “Yes I play with confidence, but it's not because I’m making shots, it's because of what I do before. My preparation is very good before games. So, I will always be confident if I make it or miss it because I know I put the work in to shoot those shots.”
In the second half, the scoring slowed for both teams, with the Buffs not scoring 20 points in either of the last two quarters. In the third quarter, turnovers were an issue, as the Buffs and Thunderbirds combined for 12 turnovers, with all five of the Buffs’ turnovers coming in the first five minutes out of the tunnel. The Buffs extended their lead to a game-high 20 points by the end of the third quarter, effectively sealing the victory. The fourth quarter was the only one the Buffs lost, 18-17, but it had no impact on the outcome as they secured a 17-point win.
Scoring was evenly distributed for the Buffs as they had three players in double digits: Garzon with 20, Formann with 15, and Jade Masogayo with 10. They also shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range.
“Our offense is structured to spread the ball and share the ball, I think that's why our assist numbers are so high,” Payne said of Colorado's offense. “We have unselfish players that are happy to share the ball. I think it’s incredible when you have players capable of going for 20 [points] or 28 like [Lior Garzon] had one night. We have many players that are capable of that, but we don’t rely on anyone for that. I think that’s the strength of our team… It could be Lior tonight for 20, it could be Johanna who had 14 a couple weeks ago, and Frida had 20, so I love that about our team. We don’t absolutely rely on anyone, and we’re happy to share the ball, and it shows up in the box score.”
The Buffs end their non-conference schedule with the Denver Pioneers on Tuesday and start their conference games with West Virginia on the 21st. Coach Payne explained what the team needs to tune up in preparation for Big 12 play.
“I think that two glaring areas we need to continue to improve are limiting our turnovers. So we need to take care of the ball more effectively, and just overall organization offensively. I thought it was better today than it has been.” Payne said. “We have to continue to improve just overall spacing and pace and basic stuff offensively. Defensively, we have to contain the ball better and rotate more effectively. I thought these guys today really opened up our hips, got to the rim, and our rotations were a little bit slow so they were getting easy drop-offs at the rim.”
The Buffs face off against Denver on Tuesday with tipoff set for 7 p.m. MT at the CU Events Center (ESPN +).
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