Fast break
Why the Buffs won: Rebounding. Plain and simple, that was the difference, as the Buffs were plus-21 on the boards, which contributed to a 13-3 advantage in second-chance points and limited possessions for Kansas.
Three stars:
1. CU’s Sara-Rose Smith: Pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds, while also scoring eight points and dishing out a pair of assists.
2. CU’s Jade Masogayo: Fought through some foul trouble to score a team-high 20 points, while also posting a pair of assists.
3. Kansas’ Elle Evans: She kept the Jayhawks in the game much of the afternoon, scoring 28 points and tying her career high with seven 3-pointers (on 12 attempts).
Up next: CU will visit No. 17 West Virginia on Wednesday (5 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
As a fifth-year senior, Sara-Rose Smith knows exactly what type of player she can be for the Colorado women’s basketball team.
She also knows when she’s not playing to her potential.
Fueled by a recent slump, Smith was sensational on Saturday in helping the Buffs to an 84-76 win against Kansas at the CU Events Center.
Playing in front of the largest crowd of the season, at 4,562, Smith pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds – tied for the fourth-best total in program history – and scored eight points to lead the Buffs (12-4, 3-2 Big 12).
“I think I said to a couple of the assistant coaches, I said, ‘Man, I really just need to go out there and be a dog today,’” Smith said. “That’s what I wanted to do.”
In knocking off the Jayhawks (11-5, 1-4), the Buffs had four players score in double figures, led by Jade Masogayo’s 20 points. Lior Garzon had 15 points, Frida Formann 13 and Nyamer Diew 11 as the Buffs shot 54.1% from the floor.
It was the rebounding, however, that made the difference. Smith out-rebounded KU by herself, 19-18, as CU finished with a 39-18 advantage on the glass.
“No. 1 key,” KU head coach Brandon Schneider said. “I thought that we made mistakes. We screwed up a lot of switches that Colorado you can tell is much more experienced and veteran than us, and they took advantage of every mistake, as good teams do. But it was the rebounding. At the end of the day, we probably could have survived some of those errors but when you get dominated on the glass, not only by a team, but obviously by one player, I give a lot of credit for her for playing with that kind of mentality.”
Smith hasn’t had that mentality in recent games. She had two points and three rebounds on Wednesday against Central Florida and two points and one rebound a week ago in a loss at Baylor. In fact, in four Big 12 games before Saturday, had a total of just six points and 14 boards.
“We kind of challenged her earlier in the week to get after it, and clearly she took it personally,” CU head coach JR Payne said.
Smith’s previous career high was 15 rebounds, on Dec. 4, 2022, when she played for Missouri. On Saturday, she set a CU record for rebounds in a quarter (10) and made a run at the school record of 22 for a game (Lisa Van Goor vs. Weber State on Feb. 25, 1981).
“I was like, ‘Challenge accepted. I can’t be doing this anymore,’” Smith said. “I said to (associate head coach Toriano Towns), I cannot do these two-point, one-rebound games. That is not me. That’s not who I want to be, and that’s not my role on this team. So getting up extra possessions and stuff like that for my team, I’m really happy that I was able to pull that out today.”
While Smith was cleaning up the glass, the Buffs put together another quality game offensively. It was the second consecutive game over 80 points.
“I think definitely playing at home helps a lot, just because everybody’s on your side,” said point guard Kindyll Wetta, who had eight assists. “That will be good momentum going into another away trip, so we’ll see (if it continues). But, I mean, it feels good.”
CU led by as many as 18 points and weathered every Kansas run in improving to 3-0 in Big 12 home games.
“Really proud of so many great individual performances in the box score, but also just collectively as a team,” Payne said. “We were all pretty focused on having an aggressive, organized third quarter after the last game when we weren’t as great in the third. Then also just being able to respond collectively when things aren’t necessarily going our way is really, really important, because this is such a good conference that you’re not just going to come out and roll anybody.
“There’s always going to be runs that are made against you and we have to be able to respond, which I thought we did. So, just proud of our game today.”
Notable
KU star S’Mya Nichols left the game in the fourth quarter after a hard fall. Schneider said Nichols, who finished with 15 points and six assists, injured her back and “we think it’s muscular.” He said KU was hoping Nichols would be well enough to travel back to Lawrence with the team. … Formann had a career-high eight rebounds and moved into 14th place on CU’s career scoring list (1,493 points). … Smith topped the 500-rebound mark for her career (518). … Wetta passed Laurie Welch (1978-82) for eighth on CU’s career list for assists, with 415. … CU improved to 34-36 all-time against KU and snapped a six-game losing streak in the series. It was the Buffs’ first win against the Jayhawks since Feb. 18, 2009, in Boulder.
Colorado 84, Kansas 76
KANSAS (11-5, 1-4 Big 12)
Conesa 2-9 2-2 6, Nichols 3-4 8-9 15, Evans 10-19 1-2 28, Copeland 2-3 1-2 6, Williams 7-10 3-4 17, Osma 2-5 0-0 4, Harshaw 0-3 0-0 0, Eltayeb 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 15-19 76.
COLORADO (12-4, 3-2 Big 12)
Formann 5-8 0-0 13, Smith 3-8 2-4 8, Garzon 5-9 2-2 15, Masogayo 9-14 2-2 20, Wetta 2-6 2-2 6, Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Sanders 3-3 0-0 7, Nworie 0-0 0-0 0, Diew 4-6 1-2 11, Teder 0-0 0-0 0, Oliver 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 33-61 9-12 84.
Kansas 15 20 20 21 – 76
Colorado 21 20 27 16 – 84
3-point goals – Kansas 9-24 (Evans 7-12, Copeland 1-1, Nichols 1-1, Conesa 0-4, Osma 0-3, Harshaw 0-3), Colorado 9-15 (Garzon 3-6, Formann 3-5, Diew 2-2, Sanders 1-1, Smith 0-1). Rebounds – Kansas 18 (Osma 4), Colorado 39 (Smith 19). Assists – Kansas 16 (Nichols 6), Colorado 21 (Wetta 8). Steals – Kansas 9 (Conesa 4), Colorado 5 (Sanders 3). Turnovers – Kansas 11, Colorado 18. Total fouls – Kansas 17, Colorado 23. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 4,562.
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