Colorado’s Upset Win Vs. Iowa State Suddenly Makes The Buffaloes A Team To Watch

They contained nan sport's astir ascendant unit successful decades, recovered 24 points from a chair subordinate and pushed astir 1 of nan nation's burliest teams. But it was conscionable different Wednesday for Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball.

Coach JR Payne's squad has ne'er been benignant to its houseguests, particularly nan elite. It notched nan latest successful a drawstring of location upsets complete nan No. 19 Iowa State Cyclones, 68-62. It was a triumph suggestive of nan program's past but invaluable for its future.

Colorado Shocks No. 19 Iowa State

Coming disconnected 2 consecutive losses, a Buffs triumph was improbable but captious for their NCAA Tournament chances. They hung pinch Iowa State from ligament to wire, holding nan country's sixth-most businesslike discourtesy entering Wednesday to 39 percent shooting winning nan rebound conflict 46-33.

The Cyclones arrived successful Boulder hopeless for a win, having dropped successful nan rankings owed to 3 consecutive Big 12 losses. After not losing a non-league game, convention foes created a blueprint to slow them down. To make matters worse, their second-leading scorer and apical rebounder, Addy Brown, suffered an wounded that kept her retired of Wednesday's game.

Colorado took afloat advantage. Junior defender Desiree Wooten scored a season-high 24 from nan bench, nan first capacity of 20-plus points by a Buff this season. She laced 3 3-pointers and weaved done ISU's area defense for accordant buckets.

The Buffaloes had been successful each crippled they'd played this play but typically struggled late, pinch mediocre clutch discourtesy costing them wins against Baylor and Oklahoma State. Wooten's brilliance helped Colorado done a tight conflict until nan fourth, but ultimately, to propulsion distant by 8 pinch 46 seconds left.

"We conscionable came disconnected 2 reliable losses that came down to small things," Wooten said. "We executed each nan small things successful that 4th fourth stretch."

But while Wooten's occurrence precocious wasn't a immense surprise, arsenic she's nan Buffs' starring scorer, improbable heroes came up big. Sophomore guardant Tabitha Betson, who re-joined nan squad midseason aft leaving past summer, buried back-to-back 3s successful nan last minutes.

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On nan different end, Colorado made Iowa State prima Audi Crooks look much for illustration a Camry. The center, averaging 28 points entering nan game, scored a season-low of 17. The Buffaloes' swarming traps and Boulder's precocious altitude troubled her, pinch conscionable 13 points until meaningless last-second layups.

She grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, and her gravity allowed her teammates to put ISU up early done 3-point opportunities (42 percent), but nan Buffs stood Crooks up and ne'er allowed her signature dominance.

"Any coach would beryllium truthful proud of [our] growth, from 1 play to nan adjacent weekend. These are each heavyweight fights, these are each battles," Payne said. "So galore different group at different times of nan crippled stepped up and made immense winning plays connected some sides of nan floor."

JR Payne's Giant Slayers

Colorado's triumph complete Iowa State was nan program's 16th complete an AP-ranked squad since 2019. In nan erstwhile 17 seasons, nan Buffs had conscionable 13. Payne has transformed their civilization to defense-first and team-centric since her hiring successful 2016, 1 that tin support them successful games pinch nan nation's best.

"It's portion of our culture. It's portion of nan coaches' culture. Every azygous year, they drill it into us," Betson said. "We tin ever autumn backmost connected nan truth that defensively, we're gonna put our champion ft forward."

That peaked conscionable a fewer years ago, pinch 3 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances betwixt 2022 and 2024. Colorado is now looking to get backmost to March Madness, sitting connected a 12-6 grounds (3-3 Big 12). The Buffaloes' upset of Iowa State was their first complete a Quad 1 squad this play and first since beating No. 20 West Virginia and No. 10 Kansas State past January.