Throughout her four seasons at Colorado, Jaylyn Sherrod has never developed a love for the snow.
She does, however, have an appreciation for being home in Boulder after the Buffaloes have spent so much time on the road in recent weeks.
“I’m just glad to sleep in my bed and be able to go home and cook a meal,” said the Buffs’ senior point guard, who is from Birmingham, Ala.
Returning home for the first time in three weeks isn’t the only reason the Buffs (12-3, 2-1 Pac-12) are more comfortable going into a rematch with No. 8 Utah (14-0, 3-0) on Friday at the CU Events Center (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
Although the Buffs had a four-game winning streak going into Salt Lake City on Dec. 14, they had practiced all week without Sherrod, who was nursing an injury, and dealt with a road trip during finals week. The result wasn’t pretty, with the Utes rolling 85-58.
Once again, CU has a four-game winning streak, but it’s a different group than it was last month.
“We’re a lot more organized,” head coach JR Payne said. “It was such a discombobulated looking effort (in the first game at Utah), that it’s almost kind of hard to take anything from it that’s real valuable. I think that we definitely are a better basketball team, offensively, defensively, as far as coverages and organization of who’s supposed to be doing what. It just wasn’t a great game for us.”
Utah is ranked among the top 10 for the first time in program history and has one of the deepest teams in the Pac-12, with scoring weapons all over the court. The Buffs, however, feel they’ve rediscovered their groove, and it showed in an impressive sweep of the Washington schools last weekend.
“I think this past weekend was really a good challenge for us,” Sherrod said. “We came out pretty good and teams in the Pac-12 never go away. Having to battle that adversity, and also being on the road, too, just helped us learn how to fight through adversity and learn how to deal with different battles you get in between games; learn how to deal with other teams going on runs, but still being able to execute what we need to do.”
Utah also swept the Washington schools last weekend, but wasn’t as dominant as it had been in previous games. CU was plus-19 in score differential last weekend, while Utah was plus-13. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Buffs were better than Utah, but the weekend was an example of CU being tough to beat when it plays its game.
“I think we just have to execute our stuff,” Sherrod said. “We talk about it every game. At the end of the day, it’s about us. They’re gonna do what they do, but we have to be able to execute our game plan. I think that’s the major focus offensively and defensively.”
Payne and the Buffs have a high level of respect for the Utes and know how good they are, but they also don’t focus on the Utes’ results or national ranking.
“I think that we’ve spent a lot this week really trying to make sure that we are really locked in to our game plan,” Payne said. “Of course it relates to Utah because that’s who we’re playing, but it’s more so about who are we; what are we going to try to do?
“We know that we’re pretty good, too. I think we know that we can compete and beat anybody in our league and we’ve shown in years past that we can do that. We just need to take care of ourselves better than we did (in Salt Lake City).”
CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. No. 8 Utah Utes
TIPOFF: Friday, 7 p.m., at CU Events Center in Boulder
TV/RADIO: TV — Pac-12 Network. Radio — KHOW 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 12-3, 2-1 Pac-12; Utah 14-0, 3-0 Pac-12
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 7th season (106-88; 207-200 career); Utah – Lynne Roberts, 8th season (126-99; 347-274 career).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — G Frida Formann, 5-11, Jr. (11.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.6 apg); G Tayanna Jones, 6-1, Sr. (8.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg); C Quay Miller, 6-3, Sr. (14.2 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.3 apg, 2.0 spg); G Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7, Sr. (9.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 5.5 apg, 2.3 spg); C Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3, So. (11.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, So. (6.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.7 spg). Utah — F Jenna Johnson, 6-2, So. (11.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.4 apg); G Gianna Kneepkens, 5-11, So. (14.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.2 spg); G Kennady McQueen, 5-10, So. (11.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.1 apg); G Issy Palmer, 5-9, Jr. (8.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.5 apg); F Alissa Pili, 6-2, Jr. (19.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.2 spg).
NOTES: CU returns home for the first time since Dec. 16 and brings a four-game winning streak into the game, including a sweep of Washington and Washington State last weekend. … The Buffs are 8-1 in their last nine games, the only loss coming against the Utes, 85-58, on Dec. 14 in Salt Lake City. … Utah holds a slight edge, 21-20, in the all-time series. CU is 10-8 against the Utes at home, but Utah has won four of the last five in Boulder. … For much of the season the Utes have led the country in scoring. They still rank third, at 88.7 points per game, despite scoring just 66.0 per game in a sweep of the Washington schools last weekend. … The Buffs are 0-2 against ranked opponents this season. … In its history, the Buffs are 13-68 against teams ranked in the top eight of the Associated Press poll. The Buffs’ last win against a top-8 team was an upset of then-No. 1 Stanford on Jan. 17, 2021, in Boulder.
