Colorado fends off Jayhawks, reaches Big 12 Quarterfinals

Junior guard Maeve McErlane attempts a jumper in a game against Kansas, Thursday, March 5. (Photo by Kekoa Brown/Sko Buffs Sports)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At the Buffs’ feet, the Big 12’s glass court only showed a bottomless pit of CU’s depth instead of LED displays.

Those Colorado Buffaloes (21-10, 12-7 Big 12) held off the Kansas Jayhawks (19-13, 8-11) 55-48 to clinch a quarterfinal berth in the Big 12 championship. 

Five Buffs got called for fouls in the first quarter, forcing them to go to the bench early and often.

Freshman forward Logyn Greer led the team in points with 10, while senior forward Jade Masagayo added seven. Both forwards brought down six boards apiece.

Junior guard Desiree Wooten had 10 points herself while adding a team-leading four assists. 

Nine different Buffaloes scored points in a well-rounded effort that had Colorado get back to its identity. The Buffs outrebounded Kansas 39-25 overall, and won the offensive boards 15-10.

Colorado did everything it needed defensively to stop the Jayhawks, limiting them to just 18 percent shooting. Kansas made its first 3-point attempt, but went 0-for-8 from deep over the next 35 minutes.

Kansas freshman forward Jaliyah Davis recorded her third career double-double against UCF in the first round. However, the Buffs’ defense limited the Big 12 Freshman of the Year to just five points on 13 percent shooting.

Junior KU guard S'Mya Nichols made her impact, scoring 14 points, but Colorado’s defense did enough to stunt the Jayhawks’ offense.

Five different Buffs found the scoresheet in the first quarter as both teams felt each other out. Both Masagayo and Walker picked up two fouls in the first frame. Kansas, after playing on Wednesday, looked much more conditioned to the new glass court as Colorado struggled to find its footing. 

Colorado looked to clean up the glass, going back to its bread-and-butter, hunting down rebounds. This resulted in seven more boards than Kansas in the first frame.

The Buffs’ depth was tested as Greer picked up her second foul less than halfway through the second frame.

No Buff found the basket twice until nearly halfway through the second quarter when forward Anaelle Dutat put down back-to-back layups before fellow forward Tabitha Betson drained a 3-pointer to put Colorado on a 7-0 run, ahead 22-14.

Colorado’s defense put a lid on the rim in the second quarter, holding Kansas to just 17 percent shooting in the frame as CU protected a 26-18 lead going into the half.

The Buffs out-rebounded the Jayhawks 22-8 and doubled them up on the offensive glass, 8-4. The Buffs still couldn’t capitalize on the boards, though, scoring no second-chance points in the first half.

Both teams went on some mini-runs, but Colorado pushed its lead to 10, ahead 36-26 at the under-five-minute media timeout.

A Greer 3-pointer helped push the Buffs’ lead up to as much as 12 points, but the Jayhawks cut the lead to just nine, 38-29, before the final frame.

After chaotic fourth quarters to end their regular season, the Buffs were able to coast through this one, matching each Jayhawk’s score with one of their own the entire way through. 

Kansas made a push towards the end, but Colorado hit on its free throws to ice the game, taking home the 55-48 win.

“I said to the team after, ‘That sure wasn't pretty,’” Colorado head coach JR Payne said. “But in March it doesn't have to be pretty as long as it goes in the win column.”

However, outrebounding Kansas by 14 certainly is pretty for the Buffs. This comes off the back of a relatively poor week of rebounding, which saw Colorado only outrebounded both BYU and Utah by three combined – a mark far shy of their +71 margin across all of February.

“We can't get out rebounded,” Greer said. “Especially [for] how good of a team we are.”

Colorado’s defense got to the Jayhawks’ Achilles heel, limiting their 3-point shooting to just 15 percent. 

“I think it was hard to get to spots,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said. “[The Buffaloes]…took away space [and] they did a good job getting to our shooters.”

Forty-three total fouls were called against the two teams, including 11 offensive fouls, the result of a very physical style of play.

“I thought it was a pretty dangerous two hours,” Schneider said. “I thought it was very, very physical…I felt like, you know, it was two teams just beating the sh*t out of each other.”

Colorado will play 3-seed Baylor (21-4, 13-5) on Friday at 7 p.m. MT in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals (ESPN+).