WATCH: Harrison Simeon recaps CU's demolition of Oregon on Friday night.
BOULDER – A CU Events Center crowd that had missed watching the fourth-ranked Colorado women's basketball team following a two-week road trip had a fantastic show put on for them Friday night, with historic ball movement helping to dismantle the Oregon Ducks (11-13, 2-9) by a score of 90-57.
The victory was already the twentieth of CU's season, moving their record to 20-3 and 10-2 in conference play. The Ducks, meanwhile, have now lost six consecutive games.
A season-high of 32 assists were dished out by the Buffs, with a school record-setting 19 of them coming in the first half. The squad's most helpers since 1994, transposed to 36 field goal makes and just four turnovers through three quarters, had the black and gold offense humming from buzzer to buzzer. Four of Colorado's five regularly playing guards were at least halfway to double-digit assists.
"Everyone's just buying into that idea of 'just share the ball until we find the best team shot that we can get,'" noted head coach JR Payne. "No one was forcing anything tonight."
Shooting guard Maddie Nolan had the single-most electrifying performance of the evening, as well as her best since arriving at CU. The grad student led the team with a season-high 19 points and six assists with five 3-point makes. She caught fire to close the first half, with 14 points in the second quarter and back-to-back-to-back 3s that truly helped the Buffaloes pull away.
The Michigan transfer also continued to impress within the flow of the offense and on the boards, tallying four more rebounds and now averaging 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists on 10-for-15 (66.7%) shooting in her last two contests.
"I pride myself on every game. I know I'm not going to [always] score 19, and some games I won't score at all," said Nolan. "So just trying to do the little things, because I know our team is so talented that anyone can go off any given night."
The contest started out much differently than the 61-48 slugfest the last time these two teams faced off on January 28, as a 5-for-5 start from distance kept the Ducks close behind after one quarter. However, CU disrupted a strong early focus on junior center Phillipina Kyei and picked apart Oregon's zone-heavy defense with sharp mid-range shooting throughout the first half.
"Being able to hit those shots early definitely opened things up and helped us feel confident," Payne explained. "We just kept moving [the ball], and those were the shots we were getting, so those were the shots we were taking."
The Buffs then shot a blazing-hot 9-for-14 from beyond the arc in the second and third quarters, quickly leaving the Ducks in the dust. Notably, Nolan combined with Frida Formann for five 3s in a row between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, flipping a nine-point lead into a 22-point advantage in roughly two minutes of game time.
Colorado dominated nearly every statistical category as the game wore on, outscoring the Ducks 40-14 in the paint, 24-1 on the fast break, and crashing the glass to win the rebound battle 46-31. Four other Buffaloes followed Nolan's 19 to score in double figures, leading to a 90-point total that CU has not reached since the start of conference play.
"Everyone's helping each other [to] be better, and I think that's why we're experiencing so much success this season," noted graduate forward Quay Miller, who notched her ninth double-double of the season on Friday with 12 points and 11 rebounds. "Everyone's really just locked in on being better for each other, not for individuality, and I think that's probably our biggest message before every game."
The Buffs now shift their focus to Sunday, where they stay at home for a rematch against No. 17 Oregon State (19-3, 8-3), who handed CU their most recent loss on January 26.
"It left a sour taste in our mouth," said Nolan. "It's a great opportunity for our team to show what we can work on from that game, what we saw, and to start improvement from that time to now."
Sunday's tipoff at the CUEC against the Beavers is set for noon MT.
Cover photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports
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