Colorado Completes Northwest Swing At WSU Sunday
THE GAME: The University of Colorado continues its weekend swing through the Pacific Northwest by facing Washington State University on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m. MST, at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash.
BROADCAST: Sunday's game is scheduled to air live on the Pac-12 Mountain and Washington Networks. Greg Heister will have the play-by-play with Cindy Brunson with the color commentary. Sunday's game will air live on KKZN 760 AM. Cory Lopez will have the call with Carol Callan of USA Basketball providing the color commentary.
OPENING TIP: Ball control will be key for Colorado. The Buffaloes have turned the ball over nearly 18 times per game, although they have been able to dip that number to under 16 in Pac-12 games. Washington State is the top turnover causing team in the Pac-12, forcing nearly 20 a game with 10.6 steals per contest.
ABOUT THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 9-9 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-12 after dropping a hard-fought 85-82 contest at Washington on Jan. 23. The Buffaloes have won two of their last three after sweeping their season series with Utah last week. The Buffaloes claimed a 77-72 overtime win at the Coors Events Center on Jan. 14 before cruising to a 73-54 triumph in the rematch in Salt Lake City on Jan. 18. Colorado's 19-point win over Utah marked their largest conference road margin of victory since defeating Kansas 70-51, exactly 12 years earlier on Jan. 18, 2003. Current head coach Linda Lappe was a senior on that 2003 squad.
Colorado is averaging 72.8 points per game on 43.4 percent shooting. After putting up just 57.8 points an outing over a four game span dating back to Long Beach State, Colorado's offense has rebounded to the tune of 79.0 points over the last three. Colorado is coming off its sixth 80-point game after putting up 82 at Washington, the most for the Buffaloes in a conference road game since an 84-60 win at Nebraska on Feb. 26, 2002. Colorado's 84 points against UCLA are the most against a conference opponent since putting up a similar number against Oregon on Feb. 10, 2013.
Defensively, Colorado has allowed 70.4 points per game on 38.5 percent from the field. The Buffaloes had their best performance of the Pac-12 season in the road win at Utah, limiting the Utes to just 54 points after giving up 76 per game over the first five. Colorado is second in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (.732), rebounding (43.8 rpg), defensive rebounds (30.1 drpg) and blocked shots (5.1 bpg), while ranking third in rebounding margin (+6.3), offensive rebounds (13.7 orpg) and 3-point percentage (.391) and fourth in 3-point defense (.287) and assists (16.2 apg).
Senior Jen Reese leads Colorado in scoring (13.9 ppg) and field goal percentage (.480) while ranking second in free throw percentage (.848) and rebounding (7.3 rpg). She scored a career and team season-high 30 points in the loss to UCLA which put her over the 1,000-point mark in her career. She made 14-of-19 from the field and also dished out five assists, all career-highs. The 30 points are the most by a CU player since Chucky Jeffery had 30 against Idaho on Dec. 4, 2011. Reese is hitting 55.9 percent during Pac-12 games (33-of-59).
Reese has scored in double figures in 13 of 18 games and has three double-doubles. She has four games of 20 or more points this season. On the Pac-12 leaderboard, Reese is sixth in free throw percentage, ninth in overall rebounding, 10th in defensive boards (5.3 drpg), 11th in scoring and 14th in field goal percentage.
Junior forward Jamee Swan tops Colorado in rebounding (7.7 rpg), blocked shots (1.9 bpg) and free throws made and attempted (61-of-87) while ranking second in scoring (13.4 ppg) and steals (17). Swan registered her team-best fourth double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds at Washington. In that game she also recorded a career-best six assists and tied a personal best with nine field goals made. It was also her sixth career 20-point effort and fourth this season.
In the Pac-12 Swan ranks second in blocks, seventh in offensive rebounds (2.9 orpg), eighth in overall rebounding, 13th in scoring, 14th in defensive rebounds (4.8 drpg), and 15th in field goal percentage (.478).
Senior guard Lexy Kresl is averaging 11.9 points and 5.2 rebounds while leading the Buffaloes at 4.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Kresl leads Colorado in Pac-12 play at 13.4 points per game an average that has exploded to 20 per contest over the past four. She has led the Buffaloes in scoring the last three games including 23 points on 5-of-10 from downtown at Washington. Kresl scored a career-high 26 points in the overtime win over Utah hitting 6-of-8 from the field and setting personal bests with 11-of-16 from the foul line. She leads Colorado in 3-pointers with 34 and has made 14 of her last 23 spanning the last four games.
On the Pac-12 charts Kresl ranks fourth in 3-pointers made (2.1 3mpg), fifth in assists, eighth in 3-point percentage (.410), 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3), 14th in free throw percentage (.766) and 22nd in scoring.
Sophomore guard Haley Smith leads the team in free throw percentage (.884) while ranking third in rebounding (6.3 rpg) and field goal percentage (.477) and fourth in scoring (10.7 ppg). She has averaged 12.8 points over the last four games and in that span has made 20 straight free throws including a monster 11-for-11 effort in the home win over Utah that ties for the fourth best single-game performance in team history. Smith scored a personal Pac-12 high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting against UCLA. She recorded her first career double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds against San Jose State; both numbers marking personal bests. She hit 10-of-14 from the field during her career-best day against the Spartans.
On the Pac-12 leaderboard Smith ranks second in free throw percentage, 19th in rebounding and 30th in scoring.
Senior guard Jasmine Sborov is averaging 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds and ranks second on the team in assists with 48. Sborov had a career and team season-high four steals at Washington to go along with six points, five rebounds and five assists. She scored in double figures for the fourth time this season with 10 points against USC on 5-of-10 from the field. Her 10 points marked just her third Pac-12 game scoring in double-digits and just one off her league best of 11 set at UCLA last season. Her five field goals made were a Pac-12 best. Against Iowa, Sborov led Colorado with career-highs in points (17) and rebounds (12) for her second career double-double. Sborov also dished out a career-high nine assists against San Jose State.
Sophomore wing Lauren Huggins is second on the team with 27 3-pointers and has hit 37.5 percent from long range ranking 14th in the Pac-12. She made 3-of-6 in the road win at Utah after making just 3-of-20 over the previous seven contests.
Sophomore forward Zoe Beard-Fails earned a starting role for the Buffaloes front court for a recent five-game stretch. Overall on the season she has averaged 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds. Beard-Fails had nine points, five rebounds and tied a career-best with three assists at Washington. Against Long Beach State she had career highs in points (14), rebounds (8) and field goals made and attempted (7-of-13).
Colorado's freshmen have steadily increased their productivity as the Pac-12 season gets into full swing. Wing Alina Hartmann scored a career-best eight points in the win at Utah, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. Brecca Thomas is averaging 4.7 points during Pac-12 play, hitting 48 percent from the field including 60 percent (6-of-10) from 3-point range during that span. Zoe Correal logged double-digit minutes in both wins over Utah pitching in 2.0 points and 2.5 rebounds. She had a personal best six points on 3-of-6 shooting at Stanford.
ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE: Washington State is 12-6 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-12 after defeating Utah 63-54 on Jan. 23. The Cougars have won their last two after a four game skid. Those four losses have come to the top four teams in the Pac-12 standings, with a combined league mark of 25-3. Washington State averages 73.1 points on 40 percent shooting and 73 percent from the foul line. Defensively, the Cougars allow 65.5 points per game and allow 41 percent from the field which ranks 11th in the Pac-12. WSU gives up the most rebounds in the league at 41.3 per game and has the lowest rebounding margin (-2.4) in the conference. The Cougars counter that by creating the most turnovers among league competitors at nearly 22 per game while ranking second in steals at just under 11 an outing.
Washington State is led by the prolific backcourt of junior Lia Galdeira and senior Tia Presley who account for 53 percent of the team's scoring. The duo are separated by a single point on the season, with Presley taking over the team lead after a 17-point outing against Utah. She's second in the Pac-12 at 19.2 points per game just a fraction ahead of Galdeira who is in third. Presley tops the Cougars and ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in 3-pointers made (2.1 3mpg). Galdeira leads the Pac-12 in steals (3.3 spg) and is WSU's top active rebounder at 5.7 per game. Washington State lost its top rebounder (7.2 rpg) and third-leading scorer (8.6 ppg) in senior Shalie Dheensaw who injured a knee in the loss at Oregon State on Jan. 16. Freshman Louise Brown has stepped in for her, averaging 3.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Dawnyelle Awa paces the Cougars in assists (2.8 apg) and field goal percentage (.536)
June Daugherty is in her eighth year at Washington State with a record of 85-152. She is in her 26th year overall as a collegiate head coach with a record of 398-366.
THE SERIES: This will be just the seventh meeting between Colorado and Washington State, the least played series for the Buffaloes in their fourth year in the Pac-12. The series is tied at 3-3 after Washington State swept the two meetings in 2013-14. The Cougars won 70-60 on Jan. 17 in Pullman and took the rematch in Boulder a month later, 80-77. Colorado's lone win in three tries in Pullman came in the team's first year in the Pac-12, a 57-56 squeaker on Jan. 7, 2012.
Linda Lappe is 2-2 against Washington State as a head coach. June Daugherty is 2-4 against Colorado, 2-2 with Washington State and 0-2 while she was head coach at Washington.
CONNECTIONS: Sophomore guard/forward Haley Smith is a graduate of Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash., located east of Seattle.
SMITH PERFECT FROM FREE THROW LINE: Sophomore Haley Smith was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line in the home win over Utah. Both numbers represent career highs for Smith with the 11 free throws made tying for the team season high along with Jen Reese (11-of-13) and Lexy Kresl (11-of-16).
Smith's 11-for-11 outing also ties for Colorado's fourth best single game performance for free throws made with out a miss. She has made 20 straight free throws over the last four games and currently ranks second in the Pac-12 at 88.4 percent. She has made 21-of-22 in Pac-12 play (.955), the league's best mark during that span.
MOST FREE THROWS WITHOUT A MISS:
13-of-13, Gretchen DeWitte vs. Nebraska, Feb. 7, 1987
12-of-12, Jackie McFarland vs. Missouri, Mar. 5, 2008
12-of-12, Mandy Nightingale vs. Florida, Dec. 22, 2000
11-of-11, Haley Smith vs. Utah, Jan. 14, 2015
11-of-11, Shelley Sheetz vs. Kansas, Feb. 12, 1992.
REESE'S TOP FIELD GOAL NIGHT: Senior forward Jen Reese had a career night with 30 points against UCLA. She made 14-of-19 from the field and the 14 field goals made tie for the third-best single-game total in team history. Reese joins 10 others who have had 14 field goals in a game, most recently by CU's all-time leading scorer Brittany Spears against California in the first round of the 2011 Postseason WNIT.
MOST FIELD GOALS IN ONE GAME:
17, Tracy Tripp at Oklahoma State, Feb. 4, 1987
15, Jean Raikes vs. Temple Junior College, Nov. 20, 1976
14, Jen Reese vs. UCLA, Jan. 11, 2015
14, 10 others, most recently Brittany Spears vs. Cal, Mar. 21, 2011
BACK TO THE BOARDS: Colorado has outrebounded, or been even, with 15 of its 18 opponents this season by an average of 6.3 per game. The Buffaloes are second the Pac-12 in overall rebounds (43.8 rpg) and defensive rebounds (30.1 drpg) and ranked third in offensive boards (13.7 orpg).
Colorado has five games with 50 or more rebounds, including the Long Beach State contest where the Buffaloes dominated the 49ers 50-26, the largest margin of the season and biggest since holding a plus-25 margin against Arizona (51-26) on Jan. 20, 2013. All five of Colorado's 50-plus rebounding games came over an eight-game span including a season-high 60 against San Jose State the program's most since pulling down 60 against Marquette in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament.
Colorado sports two of the top nine rebounders in the Pac-12, and is the only school with two in the top 10. Junior Jamee Swan is seventh at 7.7 per game while senior Jen Reese is ninth at 7.3 per contest.
KRESL'S DISH: Lexy Kresl recorded the fourth triple-double in team history by scoring 12 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists in the double overtime win over Colorado State on Nov. 29.
Her triple-double was the team's first since Chucky Jeffery recorded the second of her two triple-doubles at Oklahoma State on Mar. 25, 2012 during the Postseason WNIT. Sandy Bean achieved the program's first triple-double against Utah State on Feb. 16, 1979.
For Kresl, both the rebounds and assists figures were career-highs. It was actually her second "double" of the week. Kresl put together her first career double-double in the win over Denver with 10 points and 10 assists.
Nine of her assists in the Denver game came in the first 20 minutes, tying a school record for assists in one half originally set by Whitney Law against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 18, 2005.
Counting Colorado's prior three triple-doubles, Kresl's points-assists double-double was the 14th in team history and first since Jeffery's triple at OSU (12 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists).
WORKING OVERTIME: Colorado has played in four overtime games, the most in one season in team history. As of January 20, it's tied for the second-most in NCAA Division I for the 2014-15 campaign (DePaul, Norfolk State), trailing only Hofstra which has played in five. The NCAA I record for overtimes in one season is seven set by Wisconsin in 1998-99.
Colorado's 77-72 overtime win over Utah moved the Buffaloes to 3-1 on the season with the extra session and above .500 all-time at 24-23.
2014-15 OVERTIME GAMES
Nov. 17 vs. Western Kentucky (68-68) L, 78-79
Nov. 29 vs. Colorado State (64-64/74-74) W, 87-81
Dec. 5 vs. San Jose State (85-85) W, 97-89
Jan. 11 vs. Utah (63-63) W, 77-72
The Buffaloes had played three overtime games in one season on four other occasions, most recently in 1995-96. Colorado played in overtime in three of its first seven games marking the first time the Buffaloes had played three during the nonconference schedule. Overall it's the 14 time Colorado has played multiple overtime games in one season.
Colorado played back-to-back overtime games for the first time in team history with the San Jose State and CSU contests. The Buffaloes had two overtimes in a three-game span in February 1988.
The double overtime game with CSU was just the sixth in team history and first since an 84-77 setback to Iowa State on Jan. 13, 2008. Lexy Kresl set a school single game record by playing in 49 minutes against Colorado State. The Buffaloes are 3-3 overall in double overtime games.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Colorado has a record of 53-31 since the beginning of the 2012-13 season. Of those 31 losses, 14 have been to ranked teams and 13 of those ranked higher than Colorado at the time the game was played. The Buffaloes have won 50 of their last 67 games against unranked opponents.
The Buffaloes have been dominant in regular season nonconference games under Linda Lappe. Colorado is 48-9 in that stretch since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. The Buffaloes have won 41 of their last 46 regular season nonconference contests. The Buffaloes put together 33 straight nonconference wins from Dec. 30, 2010 through Dec. 12, 2013.
REESE'S PIECES: Senior forward Jen Reese is the 15th player in team history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.
She reached the 1,000-point milestone during her career-high 30-point effort against UCLA on Jan. 11 and is the 26th player to reach that mark. She is currently 26th on CU's career scoring list with 1,038 points, seven away from cracking the top 25.
Reese became the 21st player to reach 500 career rebounds during the Missouri State game. She is currently 15th on Colorado's all-time list with 596. Her four field goals against Washington moved her into 20th in all-time field goals made with 415.
KRESL SOLID FROM ARC, LINE: Senior guard Lexy Kresl ranks seventh in career 3-pointers made at 158 and is fifth in attempts with 502. She has made 14-of-23 over her last four outings.
She has made a 3-pointer in 81 of 111 career games and has 42 contests with two or more buckets from long range. Kresl hit five at Washington, tying a season high and also marking her seventh career game with five or more 3-pointers.
Kresl has also been one of Colorado's most reliable free throw shooters over the past three seasons. Her career percentage of 82.1 (162-of-197) would rank sixth on the Buffs' all-time list (minimum of 100 attempts).
She hit 84.1 percent from the line in 2013-14 (69-of-82) ranking third in the Pac-12 Conference. Her mark was also good for 19th on Colorado's single-season list.
Kresl is also closing in on the 1,000 point mark, entering Sunday's game with 928.
HUGGINS SHOOTS UP LIST: With 20 3-pointers over the last 14 games, sophomore Lauren Huggins has put herself among the Buffaloes' career leaders. She is currently 17th in career 3-pointers made with 67 and 19th in attempts at 182.
SWAN'S SWATS: Junior forward Jamee Swan ranks second in the Pac-12 in blocked shots at 1.9 per game. She has 17 blocked shots over the last eight games (2.1 bpg) a number that includes a pair of career and team-season high five block efforts (Long Beach State, USC).
Swan has 98 career blocks ranking ninth CU's all-time list.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS: Colorado is 0-2 against ranked teams this season after dropping a 62-55 decision at No. 15/15 Stanford on Jan. 3. The Buffaloes have dropped their last 14 against ranked opponents. Colorado is 62-156 all-time against ranked opponents.
STRONG SCHEDULE: Colorado currently holds down the 27th toughest schedule in the nation (through games of Jan. 20) as its opponents have a combined record of 154-98 (.611). The Buffaloes are fifth in the Pac-12 trailing UCLA (2nd, .679), Arizona State (20th, .624), California (23rd, .622) and Washington (26th, .611).
Taking into account the records of future opposition, Colorado jumps to 19th as its cumulative opponent record is 226-129 (.637), trailing only UCLA in the Pac-12 (1st, .687).
Colorado opened a season with two teams that made the NCAA Tournament the previous year (North Dakota & Western Kentucky) for the first time since 2003-04 when the Buffaloes hosted Old Dominion and Notre Dame in the WBCA Classic. Only twice since then had the Buffaloes even played one team in their first two coming off a trip to the big dance, Loyola-Marymount in 2004-05 (Game 1) and Vanderbilt in 2006-07 (Game 2).
HOME AT THE CECC: Colorado is traditionally tough at home with a 401-139 all-time record at the Coors Events Center (.743). The Buffaloes have won 10 or more games in a season at the CEC in 25 of 36 years. The Buffaloes have enjoyed five undefeated seasons (1980-83, 1992-94) at the CEC.
Colorado is 7-4 at the Coors Events Center in 2014-15 and has won 25 of its last 36 and 36 of its last 50 at home.
BUFFS ON TV: Colorado women's basketball will be televised to a regional or national audience at least 13 times during the regular season, including 12 games on the Pac-12 Networks during league play. This marks the third consecutive year the Buffaloes will have double-digit regional or national television appearances.
Colorado made its television debut on ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain on Nov. 25, defeating Denver 77-49. Colorado's first eight Pac-12 games will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks as will five of the Buffaloes' nine home conference games. All remaining home games, and conference road games, that aren't televised will be scheduled to be streamed live through Colorado's Pac-12.com video portal. In addition, CU's game at Missouri on Friday, Dec. 12, aired on SEC Network +, the SEC's online video streaming option.
Entering this season, Colorado has tipped off on 127 national or regional telecasts since the fall of 2001, and 28 since the advent of the Pac-12 Networks in 2012.