Posts tagged right
Brooks: Buffs Rely On Tightened ‘D’ In Rout Of Utes
Feb 2nd
Colorado’s coach was more focused on what her team didn’t do than most anything Utah did – and fine-tuning her team was the right approach. Lappe’s Buffs clamped down defensively, made a few offensive tweaks and dispatched the Utes 61-45 at the Coors Events Center.
“It was good to get that win,” Lappe said. “I thought our players stepped up and did some good things on the defensive end and in rebounding.”
Winning for only the second time in their past eight games, the Buffs (13-8, 3-7) scored the afternoon’s first points and never trailed thereafter. CU led 33-16 at halftime, by as many as 20 points early in the second half, and allowed the Utes (10-11, 3-7) no closer than 13 for the rest of the game.
‘D’ was key for the Buffs, who had shot below 40 percent from the field in nine of their previous 11 games. While Sunday’s shooting percentage didn’t climb above 40 (35.8), CU held Utah to a frigid 25.9 percent – well below the 38.8 the Utes shot in Wednesday night’s 58-55 win.
In that game, CU’s Arielle Roberson and Jen Reese combined for only nine points. By halftime Sunday, Roberson-Reese had 16 between them – Roberson with 9, Reese with 7. Reese didn’t score in the second half, but Roberson doubled her first-half productivity and finished as the game’s high scorer (18).
Roberson said Lappe’s characterization of the Buffs now as “underdogs” made them “all come out and be more aggressive . . . we threw the first punch and were more aggressive.”
Defensively, said Roberson, the Buffs “boxed out a lot better, got a lot of defensive rebounds. We were better on our fouls, so I think (Lappe) was very pleased about that. We were scrappy, we were in passing lanes, and that set the tone for our offense.”
Brittany Wilson added 10 points for CU, seven of them in the second half. Freshmen Haley Smith contributed eight points and eight rebounds, matching Roberson’s board total. Lappe said Smith “played tremendous. I liked her demeanor . . . she was aggressive and that gave us a lot of energy and helped our overall intensity.”
Smith, a 6-0 wing from Sammamish, Wash., called Sunday’s win “a good bounce-back game for us . . . I think our mentality is changing.”
Sophomore Jamee Swan, who had scored 15 points and collected eight rebounds in Wednesday night’s loss, was held out of Sunday’s first for violating a team rule. She played 5 minutes, totaling one point and two rebounds.
Utah had one player in double figures – guard Danielle Rodriguez with 11. Forward Michelle Plouffe, the Utes’ high scorer (14) in Wednesday’s game, went 1-for-10 from the field Sunday and finished with 7 points. Cheyenne Wilson, who had 11 points against the Buffs in the earlier meeting, managed nine in the rematch.
Lappe credited Roberson, Reese and Rachel Hargis for their defensive work on Plouffe and for turning Sunday’s game in a guards duel.
“We match up well with her (but) you always have to know where (Plouffe) is,” Lappe said, noting that Hargis did “a great job” in spelling Roberson, which allowed Roberson to stay fresh on the offensive end.
The Buffs raced to a 33-16 halftime lead, finally ending a long 3-point drought and getting an impressive first-half finish from freshman Zoe Beard-Fails.
After missing the last 13 trey attempts – a span of 88:33 or two-plus games – CU got a 3-pointer from Reese to take a 5-2 lead that was never relinquished. Roberson closed the Buffs’ first-half scoring with a straightaway triple from the top of the key.
CU finished the half 2-of-6 from beyond the arc and got one of its top 3-point shooters – junior guard Lexy Kresl – back on the court. Kresl, out for the previous three games with a lower leg injury, played 4 first-half minutes but did not attempt a shot. But with 6:45 to play in the game, she knocked down a critical trey to send CU ahead 50-31. The Buffs finished 3-of-11 from behind the arc.
Lappe said Kresl wasn’t necessarily ahead of schedule in her comeback, noting that she will be brought along slowly and monitored for this week’s games. The Buffs visit the Pacific Northwest this week, playing at Oregon State on Friday (9 p.m. MT) and at Oregon on Sunday (3 p.m. MT).
Beard-Fails, who had scored six points in the previous nine Pac-12 games, matched that total in final 2:38 of Sunday’s first half. The 6-2 Beard-Fails, of Herndon, Va., followed a pair of free throws with two inside baskets as the Buffs stretched their advantage to 30-16.
Half a minute later, Roberson drained her 3-pointer, giving CU its 17-point lead at the break. The Buffs owned a healthy 27-12 rebounding edge after the first 20 minutes (51-35 for the game), but they committed 11 turnovers (17 for the game) which the Utes converted into 11 first-half points – the key number in keeping Utah as close as it was after one half. The plus-15 board advantage was the Buffs’ biggest in a half this season.
CU shot 42.9 percent in the opening half and went into the second half wanting that stat to hold up. It didn’t, but the Buffs compensated on the defensive end. They kept their intensity up to open the final 20 minutes, opened a pair of 20-point leads and kept the Utes playing catch up for the remainder of the game.
Utah coach Anthony Levrets applauded CU for adjusting after Wednesday’s game: “When they played big the first time, we had our two guards guarding Arielle on the perimeter, and then that allowed Plouffe to guard Reese.
“When they went back small today, it was a really good move by them because then our ‘five’ man has to either guard Reese or Roberson –and neither one of them is ever a ‘five.’ Playing on the perimeter was really hard for our big girls. It was a great adjustment by Colorado and I give a lot of credit to them.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
WBB: Reese and Huggins HUGE in Pac 12 win
Jan 25th
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Desperately needing a win and an accompanying dose of confidence, the Colorado Buffaloes grabbed both Friday night at the Coors Events Center.
Powered by the solid mid-range shooting of Jen Reese and reserve Lauren Huggins’ rediscovered long-ball accuracy, CU disposed of Arizona 68-47 to snap a four-game Pac-12 Conference losing streak.
“It’s great to be back on the winning track,” CU coach Linda Lappe said. “You take the game or be taken . . . tonight we took the game and we have to continue to do that.”
Sunday would be an opportune time to continue. The Buffs are back at the Events Center at 1 p.m. to play No. 14 Arizona State on State Farm Day. Also, CU will recognize the 40th season of the women’s basketball program with a reunion featuring former staff and players.
With Friday night’s win, the Buffs (12-6, 2-5) improved to 11-3 all-time against the Wildcats (4-14, 0-7) and remained unbeaten against them in five meetings since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. CU’s record against Arizona in Boulder is now 7-1.
Reese, a junior from Clackamas, Ore., tied her career high with 22 points, hitting a career-best eight field goals in 13 attempts. Huggins, a redshirt freshman from Littleton, tied her career high by hitting five of her nine 3-point attempts for 15 points – one below her season and career highs. Huggins had been 2-of-16 from beyond the arc in the previous six Pac-12 games.
For Huggins, regaining focus and her long-distance shooting touch started with early week meetings involving her teammates and Lappe. Huggins said her teammates expressing their belief in her got her back on track: “My teammates said, ‘Shoot the ball, kid, that’s what you need to do.’ Just hearing that from my teammates gave me confidence . . .”
Lappe said players – maybe more so with shooters – often “forget their roles” during the course of a season. Lappe told Huggins “to keep it simple . . . don’t put the ball on the floor, be ready to catch it, slow down your mind and be a shooter.”
Huggins, who scored a career-high 16 points in November against Alcorn State, obviously did what her coach wanted. But Lappe saw another facet of Huggins’ game that was equally locked in – her defense, which Lappe said usually ignites Huggins at the other end. “I thought her defense was solid – the best it’s been,” Lappe said.
“Solid” also has been Reese’s calling card. “She’s a really special player,” Lappe said, comparing her to former NBA star Larry Bird in that while both might be missing the “wow” factor in their jumping ability and overall athleticism, both can be quietly spectacular in their results.
Lappe liked Reese’s offensive aggression against Arizona: “Even when she missed a couple, she took the next (shot) without thinking . . . it was good to see her settle in and not stop when she hit four or five.”
Reese credited her teammates for finding her “with great passes . . . and my shot felt good.”
Reese and Huggins got scoring assistance from Brittany Wilson, who added 12 points and was the only other CU player to reach double figures. Arizona’s Candace Warthen led her team with 14 points.
CU’s guard position suffered another hit with the loss of junior Lexy Kresl. Joining junior Jasmine Sborov (fractured foot) on the injury list, Kresl has a stress fracture in her lower right leg and could be out for a month or more, as could Sborov.
That duo comprised CU’s starting backcourt for the season’s first 15 games. Now, said Lappe, the Buffs must get “creative” with backcourt personnel and have reserves rise to the occasion. “Any time you have a player go down who’s played significant minutes, it hurts,” Lappe said, specifying that the Wilson twins – Brittany and Ashley – will share more minutes at point guard.
After a 14-2 run, the Buffs led by as many as 12 points (20-8) in Friday night’s first half and were up 29-22 at intermission. The Wildcats’ last first-half lead was 6-4 – and it would be their last of the night.
Reese supplied most of CU’s early offense, scoring eight of the first 11 points on two field goals and four free throws. She finished the half with 12 points and was the only Buffs player in double figures. During its 14-2 run, CU got a pair of 3-pointers from Huggins – and more were coming.
The Buffs were outrebounded 23-17 in the first half, but capitalized on a dozen Wildcats turnovers while committing only four. CU ended the night with a 33-32 board edge and pressured Arizona into 20 turnovers. Both teams shot 33.3 percent from the field in the opening half, but the Buffs finished the night at 50 percent (24-of-48) while keeping the Wildcats at 34.6 percent.
“I liked how we responded in the second half,” Lappe said. “We came in and were the aggressors. We got everybody involved (and) it was nice to hit shots and get stops. We finished well; we’ve been working on that.”
A fast second-half start would greatly benefit the Buffs – and they came close enough. After Arizona got the first four points of the half, CU scored the next seven and restored a double-digit lead (36-26) with just over 16 minutes remaining.
Reese factored in that run, too, hitting a pair of free throws. Then it was Huggins’ turn to supply the offense. After Arizona’s Kama Griffits hit a 3-pointer, Huggins answered with a pair to push the Buffs ahead 42-31 with 14:12 to play.
When CU pushed ahead by 23 (60-37) on back-to-back treys by Huggins and Brittany Wilson with 7:20 left, all that was undecided was the winning margin.
“It was very important to get the win so we could get back on track,” Reese said. She attributed the much-needed redirection to the Buffs’ rediscovering their “mental toughness” and making “hustle plays . . . us focusing and getting back to our toughness as a team. I felt like we did that tonight.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Buffs demonic on defense, rebound from UCLA home loss
Jan 19th
BOULDER – Any lingering memories of the Colorado Buffaloes’ painful loss on Thursday night to UCLA – their first home defeat of the 2013-14 season – were quickly blocked out on Saturday.
Literally, forcefully, fervently.
Swatting away seven first-half shots and setting a pedal-to-the-metal pace that produced an early 20-2 lead, No. 21 CU slapped Southern California 83-62 at the Coors Events Center.
“This was just what the doctor ordered for this team . . . this was the kind of game we needed,” CU coach Tad Boyle said, noting the timing of the win couldn’t have been better after the 69-56 loss to UCLA and knee injuries last weekend that ended point guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s junior season and shelved freshman wing Tre’Shaun Fletcher for 6-8 weeks. Both players will undergo surgery.
Continued Boyle: “I’m really proud of our guys, from the end of the bench to the guys on the floor, for the way they responded. We talked about it at halftime; the frustrating thing about the UCLA game was second-chance points (20) and points off turnovers (20 off of 17 CU errors). We had four turnovers at halftime (12 total) and they had two offensive rebounds.
“Our team took what they had not done against UCLA and did a much better job. Obviously it’s one game, we have to move on. I said this after the UCLA game and I’ll say it again, ‘Don’t count this team out.’ These guys have toughness, they have grit, and we can win some games in this league. All you can ask for in life is an opportunity and we have a great one in front of us.”
That would be a Thursday night game at No. 1 Arizona, followed by a Saturday visit to Arizona State – a pair of desert spots where the Buffs went 0-2 last season to begin Pac-12 play. But needing a win Saturday to break a current two-game losing streak and maybe reestablish some of their swagger, the Buffs did both against the Trojans – obviously a right-place, right-time opponent.
Still, junior guard Askia Booker, one of four Buffs in double figures Saturday, kept the 21-point blowout in perspective. “We can’t get drunk off of this win,” he said. “USC is pretty low in the (Pac-12) standings and we’re about to go play the No. 1 team in the country. We have to stay locked in as a team.”
The Buffs (15-4 overall, 4-2 Pac-12) finished Saturday with a season-high 10 blocked shots – six shy of the school record – and held the Trojans (9-9, 0-5) to 36 percent shooting from the field while hitting 50.9 percent of their own shots.
CU outrebounded the visitors by 20 (43-23), with redshirt freshman Wesley Gordon collecting a game-high eight rebounds and accounting for five of the Buffs’ blocked shots. He also scored five points, made two assists, got one steal and hit two of his three shots from the field – including his first career 3-pointer.
“I loved the pace of the game,” said Boyle. “Our interior defense was good, blocking shots was good (and) getting off to a 20-2 lead was a confidence builder for our guys.”
Booker called the Buffs’ shot blocking “very important . . . blocked shots lead to transition baskets and that’s where we’re at our best. We’ve got big guys who run and finish.”
USC, said Booker, was noticeably frustrated with having its early shots contested and rejected: “Without a doubt . . . their No. 10 (Pe’Shon Howard) was looking around like, ‘I can’t get a layup up without it being knocked away.’ It’s really good when we’re all locked in and getting that kind of help from the weak side.”
That’s what Booker supplied on one of the more creative and crowd-pleasing first half blocks. Booker, pushing 6-2 in his sneakers, flew in and batted away a layup attempt by Trojans 7-footer D.J. Haley. It was only Booker’s second rejection of the season – and don’t bet on him forgetting it.
“I guess it was a pretty nice block and I’ll probably go watch that again,” Booker said. “It’s not that high; it’s just a good defensive play and we need stops like that whether it’s from me or Jaron (Hopkins) or Josh (Scott).”
CU also was nearly perfect from the free throw line, hitting 19 of 22 (86 percent) with Booker hitting all six of his attempts. He finished with 13 points on three-of-five shooting and had six of CU’s 15 assists.
“He has never had a game like this,” Boyle said. “He played within himself and was efficient. When he’s efficient we’re pretty darn good; I thought he was terrific.”
Booker was one of four Buffs in double figures, topped by Josh Scott’s 20. Xavier Johnson and Jaron Hopkins added 10 points each. J.T. Terrell and 7-2 center Omar Oraby led USC with 16 points apiece.
The Buffs led by as many 18 points in the first half and were up 17 (40-23) at intermission courtesy of a Booker buzzer beater. It came on a sweet step back shot by “Ski,” but it wasn’t indicative of the first-half storyline.
CU was demonic on defense with its shot-blocking spree and holding UCLA to two points for the game’s first 8:18. At the 11:48 mark, the Bruins were one of 12 from the field (8 percent) and the Buffs led 20-2, with the final five points of that bulge coming on two free throws by Booker after a technical foul on USC coach Andy Enfield and a 3-pointer by George King.
None of the Trojans escaped the Buffs’ first-half intensity – not even Enfield. The CU student section harassed him – good naturedly, of course – with a blown up mug shot of his wife, former model Amanda Marcum. But that probably wasn’t what incited the “T;” blame the Buffs for that. There was no discrepancy of personal fouls: USC was whistled for 16, CU for 15.