DURHAM, N.C. — Securing the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 20 years required some celebration.
“We definitely spent a good amount of time after the game, just enjoying that feeling and living in the moment,” Colorado’s Aaronette Vonleh said about an 82-60 win against Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
By Sunday, that moment was gone and it was onto the next.
The sixth-seeded and 21st-ranked Buffaloes will face third-seeded and 13th-ranked Duke on Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the second round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
Monday’s winner will advance to the Sweet 16 and CU (24-8) wasted no time in preparing for the Blue Devils (26-6).
CU assistants spent part of last week putting together a scouting report of Duke and then the staff and players had a chance to watch the Blue Devils’ 89-49 rout of Iona on Saturday.
“The scout was done and then (Saturday) night you watch the game and sort of verify, ‘OK, what we saw on film is the same thing as they’re doing now,’” CU head coach JR Payne said. “The hard thing about Duke is that they run a lot of stuff and they play a lot of players, so it’s a lot of information to try to ingest in 24 to 48 hours. That’s the biggest thing is making sure that we’re trying to learn as much as we need to learn.
“We won’t know them as well as we would know UCLA or Stanford or someone that we’ve seen for many years, but we’ll know them well enough to know what they want to get out of certain things and what we will try to do to slow them down.”
The quick turnaround will be a challenge for the Buffs, but it’s a similar challenge for Duke, which is seeking its 18th Sweet 16 in the past 26 years.
“The coaches were up all night getting us ready for it, so just listening to them and what they have planned for us to do as far as the scout goes,” Duke’s Celeste Taylor said. “But then we have to go out there, and we have to execute offensively and defensively.
“I’m very excited. They’re a really good team. They shot it really well from the three (against Middle Tennessee). It’s all about what we can do. I’m really excited to see, and I think it’s going to be a good one.”
CU hit a season-high 13 3-pointers in beating MTSU and will aim to keep that going Monday, but that won’t be easy against Duke. The Blue Devils have the nation’s second-best scoring defense, allowing only 50.7 points per game, and their opponents hit just 28.1% from 3-point range.
“It’s given us a lot of confidence for the next game,” CU’s Kindyll Wetta said of the Buffs’ 3-point shooting in the first round. “We shoot like that in practice, too, so we know that that’s something that we’re capable of. We obviously don’t shoot that great every single game, but we can and if we see that the shots are kind of falling next game then we’ll know that we have that again.”
Before getting open to knock down 3s, CU has to get through Duke’s relentless press defense. The Blue Devils will press for 40 minutes and they force a lot of turnovers (18.3 per game).
“We see a lot of pressure in the Pac-12 and so we’re not necessarily concerned about it, and we have some great ball handlers on the team,” Wetta said. “But we welcome it. We’re ready to be pressed and pressured and take on that challenge.”
It’s a challenge that, in a lot of ways, will be new for the Buffs. CU hasn’t been in this position in 20 years. And, the Buffs are trying to do something they’ve never done by winning a round of 32 game on the road. CU has reached the Sweet 16 six times in program history, but each time got there by winning in Boulder.
This CU team, however, has remained even-keeled throughout each new challenge and Payne expects that to continue.
“I think our team is a very mature group,” Payne said. “Whatever is sort of needed in the moment, our upperclassmen do a great job of setting that tone and I definitely think today’s been a great day so far. We’ve already just been watching film and had a good practice and now we’ll rest a little bit. I think we’re all kind of tired from the late night (Saturday) and definitely we’ll be locked in for tomorrow.”
No. 21 CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. No. 13 Duke Blue Devils
TIPOFF: Monday, 7 p.m. MT, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.
TV/RADIO: TV — ESPNU. Radio — KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM.
RECORDS: Colorado 24-8; Duke 26-6.
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 7th season (118-92; 219-205 career); Duke — Kara Lawson, 3rd season (46-20).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — G Frida Formann, 5-11, Jr. (11.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, 39.5% 3-point, 90.4% FT); C Quay Miller, 6-3, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.5 spg); G Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7, Sr. (11.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.0 apg, 2.4 spg); C Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3, So. (12.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 58.7% FG); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, So. (5.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.7 spg). Duke — G/F Elizabeth Balogun, 6-1, Sr. (10.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 47.3% 3-point); C Kennedy Brown, 6-6, Jr. (6.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg); G Shayeann Day-Wilson, 5-6, So. (8.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.6 apg); G Reigan Richardson, 5-11, So. (6.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg); G Celeste Taylor, 5-11, Sr. (11.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.9 spg).
NOTES: The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. That game would be Friday in Seattle against No. 2 seed and third-ranked Iowa. … CU is seeded sixth in the Seattle 4 region, while Duke is seeded third. In its history, CU is 3-6 as a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament. … The Buffs are 6-3 in the round of 32, but 0-2 away from Boulder (6-1 in Boulder). .. CU has been to the Sweet 16 six times, most recently in 2003. Duke has been there 17 times, all since 1998. The Blue Devils’ last Sweet 16 came in 2018. … Duke has the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense (50.7 per game), but ranks 198th in scoring offense (63.9 per game). … CU is 47th in scoring defense (58.7) and 98th in offense (69.2). … CU and Duke have met once before, with the Buffs taking a 78-64 victory in Durham on Jan. 8, 1980. … In her last four games, Formann has made 12-of-26 (46.2%) of her 3-pointers. … CU has lost 53 consecutive true road games against Associated Press Top 25 teams since a 62-51 upset at No. 20 Vanderbilt on Dec. 9, 2007.
