Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Mauff at jacob.mauff@colorado.edu.
The University of Colorado women’s basketball team has a big challenge this week as the Buffs travel to Seattle for the Pac-12 tournament. Games start on Thursday, with Colorado taking on the Washington Huskies at 9:30 p.m. MST.
The Buffaloes are the 12th seed after an extremely lackluster season. In 29 games, the team struggled constantly, winning only seven games. Of those wins, only two came in conference play, and both were home games.
The first of those wins, against the University of Southern California on Jan. 31, saw the Trojans come to Boulder and play valiantly. It was a close game that had fans on the edge of their seats, with the home team eking out a 66-63 win. USC had a rough night, shooting 38.6 percent from the field.
That result may be a bit misleading, however. The Women of Troy were without two of their top playmakers. Redshirt junior guard Jordan Adams and senior guard Brianna Barrett did not play against the Buffs. Adams averaged 12.8 points in the games she appeared in, which was second best on the team, and Barrett led the team in assists.
These certainly aren’t the most uplifting facts to look at when preparing for a big game, but there may be some reason to hope.
Colorado’s final conference win against California on Feb. 21 was one of the most convincing wins a team can have. CU won by 21 points behind a pair of double-doubles. In her last game at Coors Event Center, senior center Jamee Swan played her heart out. She had 18 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and four blocks — not a stat line to forget.
Swan shot 6-16 from the field, but the team still shot 47.8 percent, led by an impressive offensive performance from junior forward Haley Smith. She sunk 11 of her 18 shots on her way to a team-high 24 points.
That magic was far from present against Washington. In the last game before the Pac-12 tournament, Colorado shot a horrid 30.6 percent from the field, going 5-of-19 from beyond the arch. Only one Buff, Smith, scored in double digits. Swan only made two of her 13 shots.
Colorado started slowly, managing only 16 first-half points. A strong push out of the gate in the second half saw the Buffs score 22 points in the third quarter, but the team also gave up 26 points in that time.
Junior guard Kelsey Plum is the head of the Huskies. This year, she was voted to her third consecutive All Pac-12 Conference team, after averaging 26.5 points per game this season. Plum also led the Huskies with 110 assists on the year.
Colorado’s biggest weakness is often smart post players. Opposing teams are often able to get surefire shots closer to the basket due to ineffective defense from the Buffs. It’s a testament to Plum’s skill that she led Washington in scoring in the last game of the season against the Buffs. She collected 18 points, but only went 6-of-23 from the field.
The Buffs will also have to look out for senior forward Talia Watson. She earned an All-Pac-12 honorable mention this season, and also is Washington’s all-time leader in blocks, with 149. She averages 15.6 points per game and along with Plum is a major three-point threat that the Buffs will have to contain.
One final thorn in the Buffs’ side will likely be junior forward-center Chantel Osahor. At six-foot-two, which is somewhat short for a player dabbling in the center position, Osahor nabbed an average of 10.4 rebounds per game, which led all Washington players. She also contributed a solid amount on offense, averaging 9.9 points per game.
In addition to managing her impressive supporting cast, containing Plum is going to be job one when Colorado looks for the win late Thursday night, and the Buffs seem to have at least somewhat of an idea of how to do that. Both times the teams have faced each other, Plum scored 18 points, a decent margin below her usual points-per-game average.
If Colorado is able to pull off the upset, they will advance and play the fourth-seeded Stanford Cardinal on Friday. Just remember, upsets like this are possible.
