Colorado bringing confidence to Vegas
Buffs to face Washington in first round of Pac-12 tourney
Before practice on Monday, Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne looked across the court to see senior Mya Hollingshed talking to her teammates in a huddle.
“I couldn’t hear her on the other side of the gym, but when they came in I said, ‘I don’t know what Mya said, but I’m sure it was spot on, so do what she said and let’s have a great practice.’
“That kind of speaks to the fact that I have a tremendous amount of trust in our upperclassmen and they are prepared and they will make sure as a group that we’re all prepared.”
Payne, Hollingshed and the rest of the Buffaloes (10-9, 8-8 Pac-12) are carr ying confidence into the Pac-12 Tournament, which begins Wednesday night at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Seeded sixth, the Buf fs will face 11thseeded Washington (6-13, 3-13) in the opening round at 9 p.m. MT.
CU has won four consecutive games and has its highest seed for this event since going in at No. 4 in 2013.
“I definitely think we’re more equipped to make a deeper run than we ever have been,” Payne said.
They are equipped to stick round for a few days for several reasons, including Hollingshed, who averages 16.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and was named first-team All-pac-12.
The Buffs are also balanced in their attack and loaded with maturity and leadership.
“We’re all really excited,” junior Aubrey Knight said. “We’re given an opportunity here to do really well in this tournament and we all kind of have the mindset of we’re coming in to win this tournament, which I think is a little bit different than the mindset we’ve had in
past years.
“I think that we’re all coming into this with like a fresh mindset of we need to show ever yone what team that we are right now because we’re different than what we were at the beginning of the season. I think that we’re all really excited for that and kind of coming in as a higher seed is a dif ferent opportunity.”
CU was the No. 10 seed last year and No. 12 in 2019, losing in the first round both times.
This season, however, the Buffs are enjoying more success than in any year since 2013, and that has put them in position to get in the conversation for the NCAA Tournament.
As of Tuesday, they were No. 50 in the NET rankings. Winning two or three games in Las Vegas could significantly boost that number and get them into the NCAA tourney.
“I think that we are definitely in a position to do really well, and we all really want to do well and we kind of know what’s at risk here of going into the NCAA Tournament,” Knight said. “That’s kind of ever yone’s goal for this year and coming into this tournament.”
Payne realizes what is at stake for her team, but knows the only way to pile up wins in Vegas this week is to get the first one against the Huskies.
“We’ll just focus on Washington and go from there,” Payne said. “But, honestly we need to win games. We need to win ever y game that we can play. I think if we do that, then we give ourselves a great chance. … We just want to play as long as we can here in Vegas and in order to do that, we’ve got to win games.”
CU has won games, especially lately, by coming together as a group. In addition to Hollingshed, the Buffs routinely get significant contribution from Sila Finau, Frida Formann, Tay Jones, Knight, Peanut Tuitele, Charlotte Whittaker and others.
It’s more than points, rebounds and assists that have helped the Buf fs succeed, though.
“This is a closer knit group than I’ve coached in a long time,” Knight said. “They’re ver y selfless, they’re ver y excited for each other. There’s no egos. People are genuinely happy for each other when others are successful.”