The CU Events Center was nowhere near full capacity on Tuesday morning, yet noise levels were still a factor in head coach JR Payne’s 150th win at CU.
The Colorado Buffaloes (7-2) defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (5-3) 91-79 in the annual field trip game on Tuesday in Boulder.
The stands were packed with children from schools all over Boulder who came to support the Buffs. Despite less than 20% attendance, it was hard to hear at times due to the screams and excitement from these young children.
“I could not even hear Kennedy when I was outletting the ball… it was ear bleeding,” CU freshman Grace Oliver said postgame.
The game got off to a quick start as Tennessee Tech led 11-8 within the first three minutes of the contest. In those minutes, the Golden Eagles went 3-for-3 from deep, while Frida Formann of the Buffs chased in two of her own.
The first quarter ended with Tabitha Betson nailing a 3 to cut the Tennessee Tech lead to four.
Colorado played a fantastic second quarter, scoring 31 points while holding the Golden Eagles to just 14. The Buffs shot over 70 percent from the field in the second quarter while cashing in five of seven 3-pointers.
The five made 3-pointers in the second quarter were one away from tying the record for most 3s made in a single quarter in CU women's basketball history.
Both teams were on fire from deep in the first half. Tennessee Tech made seven of 12 threes (58%) and the Buffs made eight of 14 (57%).
The dominant quarter from the Buffs gave them a 52-39 lead heading into the locker room.
The Buffs started the second half on an 8-2 run which put them up by 19 points. Later in the quarter, Colorado gained their biggest lead of the game (21 points).
Despite being down, the Golden Eagles showed some fight to start the fourth quarter. Tennessee Tech began the last 10 minutes with a 10-3 scoring run to cut the lead to six. A 3-pointer from forward Nyamer Diew and two quick buckets from guard Sara-Rose Smith put Colorado back up 13 with five minutes left.
Tennessee Tech was unable to come back in the final minutes, giving Colorado its seventh win of the season.
TTU guard Reghan Grimes finished as the games leading scorer with 26 points. Forwards Ayianna Johnson and Diew were the Buffs’ leading scorers with 15 points each.
Kindyll Wetta has been dishing out dimes all season and recorded another eight today. The senior guard is tied at 6th in the NCAA in total assists with 53.
Two big stories in the game were rebounding and points off the bench.
Tennessee Tech started four guards, and its tallest active player was forward Amelia Pfeiffer (6-foot-1) who only tallied 13 minutes. This was a problem for the Golden Eagles, as they were outrebounded by the Buffs 34-25.
The Golden Eagles only rotated eight players compared to Colorado’s 12, which gave the Buffs the advantage of having fresher legs on the court.
“Our depth is a huge asset for us… We have to keep leaning into that,” Payne said.
The deep rotation from Payne was a big reason for Colorado’s 54 points off the bench, which accounted for 59 percent of their total points.
Colorado played one of its most complete games of the season so far, gearing up right in time for conference play.
The Buffs will host the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (1-8) at the CU Events Center on Saturday at 1 pm on ESPN+.
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