Buffs’ run ends in Sweet 16 against top-seed Iowa
Colorado broke plenty of new ground under JR Payne this season.
They started the season 20-3 and reached as high as No. 3 in the AP Poll. They have been ranked in the top 25 every single week of the season, all while navigating maybe the most formidable iteration of the Pac-12 ever. All of those things marked new ground in the JR Payne era at CU. But the ending looked eerily similar.
Deja vu struck in the Sweet 16 for the Buffs, as they were eliminated by Caitlin Clark and No. 1-seed Iowa, 89-68, Saturday in Albany a year after the Hawkeyes took down the Buffs in the Sweet 16 in Seattle.
“It is tough. You never want to go out like that,” Jaylyn Sherrod said after her final college game. “But there was some things that we can all look back at it now and say there was some things we could have done better. But at the end of the day, I'm proud of this team, proud of how we came out. No quit whatsoever in this ballclub. There's always things to be critical of after a loss, but it is what it is.”
In last year’s game, the Buffs hung around for a majority of the game and even took a lead into the half. Clark was ready to ensure that Iowa wouldn’t have to play under similar stress Saturday. The Iowa star was masterful right from the opening tip, controlling every possession while the Buffs scrambled to keep up on the other end.
Colorado (24-10) actually jumped out to a lead on the first possession of the game, on a free throw by Aaronette Vonleh, but it would be the last advantage they would see all afternoon. In the first two minutes, Clark scored a pair of buckets and assisted on another to Kate Martin, helping Iowa jump out to a 9-3 lead.
The Hawkeyes (32-4) continued to play at their rapid pace throughout the first quarter, and the Buffs were happy to run with them. Colorado used that tempo to get some easy looks of its own as well, even cutting the Iowa lead down to just three near the end of the quarter, but Clark had the answer once again. She found Martin for a 3-pointer in the corner, and then finished the quarter with a wicked bounce pass to Hannah Stuelke for a layup to give the Hawkeyes a 22-14 lead after one.
“It's one thing to guard a great scorer, it's another thing to guard the leading assist getter in America as well,” Payne said. “That's what I think makes her so deadly is not just the scoring, which in and of itself is pretty incredible, but it's the ability to — if you can stunt that or stilt that a little bit — she's going to find the person that's open.”
Martin and Stuelke continued to apply the pressure to start the second, each scoring baskets to begin the quarter to extend the run to 10-0 and the lead to 13. Bri McLeod, in for the foul-ridden Vonleh and Quay Miller, stopped the bleeding with a bucket, but the Buffs were behind the 8-ball at that point.
Colorado finally got some shots to fall in the second, as Kindyll Wetta broke the seal with a 3-pointer and Frida Formann followed with two of her own, but it was the defensive end where the Buffs continued to struggle. Iowa repeatedly got transition layups, and Clark and Stuelke combined for 16 second-quarter points to maintain the lead, taking a 48-35 advantage into the half.
Coming out of the break, Iowa continued to start quarters hot. In the third, it was a three-point play from Sydney Affolter and another 3 from Martin to quickly extend the lead to 19. The Buffs battled hard to cut it back down to 13 at the halfway point in the quarter, but the Hawkeyes once again closed the frame with a flurry. Back-to-back 3s by Clark fueled a 10-2 run that gave Iowa a 68-47 lead heading to the fourth.
In a season full of great resilience, the Buffs were out of punches to throw against this Iowa squad. Gabbie Marshall started the quarter with a pair of 3s, and the 24-point Iowa lead was too much for Colorado to overcome in just one quarter. Maddie Nolan finally got going with three 3-pointers, but it was too little, too late and the Hawkeyes advanced.
“Yeah, helpless might be the right word, only because we were trying so many different things and nothing really seemed to stem the tide,” Payne said. “But as we all saw, our team is built on toughness and grit, never quit, never stop. We competed the whole night. But yeah, they were just better than us today. I think we're a really great team. I think we could have won. We believed that we would win the game. But they were better than us today.”
Clark finished the day with 29 points, six rebounds and 15 assists while turning the ball over just two times in a surgical performance, shredding the Buffs’ defense at every turn. All five Iowa starters scored in double-figures, as Affolter added 15, Martin and Marshall scored 14 each and Stuelke recorded 11 and 10 rebounds. As a team, the Hawkeyes shot 54% from the field and out-rebounded the Buffs by nine, a reversal from last year’s meeting.
Vonleh led the Buffs with 13, but missed much of the second quarter due to foul trouble while the game got away. Nolan’s big fourth quarter helped her get into double-figures with 12 points, and Formann reached 12 as well. The Buffs didn’t have it going from the perimeter, making just eight of their 29 3-pointers and shooting just 3 for 14 in the first half. The Buffs also struggled from the free-throw line, shooting just 6 for 14 for the game.