BUFFS SLIP TO NO. 6 IN LATEST AP TOP 25
For the first time in 2024, the Colorado women’s basketball team has fallen out of the top five.
Following a weekend split in Oregon, the Buffaloes slipped three spots to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll that was released on Monday.
CU, which had been in the top five the previous four weeks, lost at then-no. 25 Oregon State 6862 on Friday before knocking off unranked Oregon on Sunday 61-48.
This is the 12th consecutive week that the Buffs (17-3, 7-2 Pac-12) have been in the top 10, the fourth-longest streak in program history.
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1, collecting all 35 first-place votes, while Kansas State jumped two spots to No. 2, matching the highest ranking in program history. No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 North Carolina State all moved up two spots from last week.
Just behind CU, at No. 7, is UCLA, which dropped five spots after going 1-2 this past week, including a loss at home to unranked Washington State on Sunday. The Bruins had been in the top five all season before this week.
Rounding out the top 10 is Ohio State at No. 8, followed by LSU and Indiana.
Once again, six Pac-12 teams are ranked, with Stanford, CU and UCLA leading the way.
USC fell four spots to No. 15 after losing at home to unranked Washington on Sunday. Oregon State made the biggest move of the week, jumping seven spots to No. 18 after upsetting CU and routing then-no. 16 Utah 91-66 on Sunday. Despite beginning the week with an upset of UCLA, Utah fell four spots to No. 20 after its loss at OSU.
Washington State and Washington received votes, as well. CU will visit Washington State on Friday and Washington on Sunday.
Shooting slump
The Buffs went into last weekend as the second-best shooting team in the Pac-12 and one of the best in the nation, hitting shots at a .481 clip.
During the two-game trip, however, the Buffs went 46-of126 (.365). Against Oregon State, the Buffs had a season-low for shot attempts and went 19-of-48 (.396). At Oregon, the Buffs went 27-of-78 (.346).
The only other game this season that was below .417 was a
loss to NC State on Nov. 26 (.328).
To be fair, OSU leads the Pac-12 and ranks eighth nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.345), and Oregon held high-powered Utah to only 58 points on Friday.
The positive for CU head coach JR Payne is that her team got good looks, but just uncharacteristically missed more than usual.
“You want to make every shot of course, but that’s unrealistic,”
she said. “As long as we’re getting and taking good shots, good high percentage shots for us, where the ball has moved, we’ve made them have to defend, that’s great for us.”
Stepping up
Although Sunday’s win at Oregon was a quiet game for some of CU’S stars, veterans Tameiya Sadler and Charlotte Whittaker were great off the bench.
Sadler had seven points and six assists — the most she’s had in three years as a Buff (previous best was four). Whittaker had eight points, her second-best total
of the season and the most she’s had in a conference game since Jan. 1, 2021, at Washington.
“I knew those two would be important (against Oregon) because we did a lot of zone work early in the week, kind of trying to figure out who’s comfortable and confident with the ambiguity of a zone, and both Tameiya and Charlotte were very good early in the week,” Payne said. “They showed confidence and aggressiveness and ability to move in and out of spaces at the right time and place. We knew that they would be important today. Really
great to see them have that type of success.”
Notable
In the first 16 games, the Buffs averaged 81.4 points and were held below 70 just once (in the loss to NC State). They are now on a four-game streak of scoring below 70, averaging 63.5 points in the current stretch. … CU remains at No. 17 in the NET rankings. Eight other Pac-12 teams are in the top 50: 2. Stanford; 6. Utah; 7. UCLA; 18. USC; 19. Oregon State; 21. Washington State; 40. Washington; 45. Arizona. In addition, California is at 65, Oregon at 88 and Arizona State at 117. … Stanford’s Cameron Brink was named the Pac12 player of the week for the fourth time this season, while Oregon State’s
Donovyn Hunter was the freshman of the week. It’s the first time this year that USC’S Juju Watkins played and didn’t earn freshman of the week honors.