Buffs Fall to No. 24 Louisville

BOULDER – Frida Formann's season-high 25 points were not enough for Colorado to overcome 25 turnovers in its battle with No. 24 Louisville at the CU Events Center on Saturday. The Buffaloes led by as many as eight in the contest, but the Cardinals prevailed by eight, 79-71.

Louisville (5-2) flipped the script on the Buffs on Saturday, using defensive pressure to create offense. The Cardinals scored 33 points off the CU turnovers, with Colorado getting just 13 points off Louisville's 18 turnovers.

The Buffs held a 57-56 lead in the fourth quarter, but a costly string of turnovers led to the Cardinals' game-changing 16-0 run.

"I'm really proud of just how hard we played and never gave up, never really wilted," head coach JR Payne commented after the game. "There were things we did on the floor that we didn't want to do, turning the ball over, giving up O-boards, things like that. But we never wilted, which is something that we've really been challenging our team to in the past week or so, just playing tougher, playing more stout, finishing plays, things like that. I'm actually really proud of a lot of things we did tonight. Going into the game, we said, 'It's going to be turnovers and O-boards,' and that's what it was. It was too many turnovers and [we] gave up too many O-boards. In the end, the things we knew could really hurt us ended up hurting us. But lots of good things to take from tonight's game."

Colorado (6-2) had three players score in double figures. Jade Masogayo came on strong with eight of her 12 points in the second half. Nyamer Diew registered her second double-digit game of the season, finishing with 10 points on the day. Formann, playing in just her fourth game of the season, hit a season-high eight field goals and went 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. Kindyll Wetta handed out 10 of CU's 17 assists.

"It's been tough, kind of being injured and half in with practice, easing into it," Formann noted. "I'm someone that really relies on the reps that I put in in the gym, and I haven't really been able to put up the same amount of reps because of load management. It was really nice to kind of get in the groove, and I felt confident today and kind of knew I had to play that way for the team."

The Cardinals had four players in double figures, led by Nyla Harris and Jayda Curry, who both had 14-point efforts.

How it Happened
Louisville raced to the early lead, scoring immediately off the opening tip. The Buffs proceeded to score the game's next 10 points, with early contributions from Formann, Masogayo and Tabitha Betson to build a 10-2 lead. The Buffs opened the day with a hot shooting hand, starting 5-for-8 from the field. Things cooled off with a 0-for-6 streak, but UL went 2-for-10 for the floor early on, as Colorado took a 16-10 lead.

Louisville reversed the trend in the second quarter, starting with a 10-2 run that put CU down 20-18, with just over three minutes played in the quarter. Formann hit the first of her two 3-pointers to put CU back in front 21-20, but another push from the Cardinals put the visitors up by six, 32-26 late in the quarter. The Buffs closed the quarter 4-for-4 shooting, getting back to within two at the half, 35-33.

Colorado used an early 8-0 run out of the half, with all eight points coming from Formann, to go up 43-37. UL responded with a 10-2 push that leaped them back in front, 47-45, with 4:38 to go in the quarter. The two teams swapped the lead two more times in the final stretch of the quarter, with CU outscoring UL 22-21 in the frame to trail by one, 56-55, going into the fourth.
The Buffs opened the fourth quarter with free throws from Masogayo to regain the lead, 57-56. But the Buffs tripped themselves up with four turnovers on four straight possessions as the Cardinals capitalized, racing to a 72-57 lead.

"I think we turned it over in every possible way," Payne stated. "I think we dribbled into traps. I think we turned it over against their press, full court, not necessarily our point guards, but various people trying to get the ball back to our point guard. I think when we turn it [game film] on, we will have turned it over in lots of different ways. As our coach, I just probably needed to navigate and manage that better. Using timeouts is one thing, but I needed to help us get more organized. Because obviously, we weren't as organized as we needed to be."

A layup from Masogayo stopped the Louisville run, and the Buffs outscored the Cardinals 14-7 in the final 4:17, but the rough start to the period was too much to overcome.

"With so many new players, it's been really challenging to talk about and instill that toughness and blue color that we've just always been, and with only a few players that have been here, they've really lived it," Payne added. "It's one thing to talk about, but we must start embodying that. I think we did tonight like that's something we've been talking about, and I am really proud of our toughness and grit in so many ways tonight."

Up Next
Colorado will play four more home games in December, starting with Tennessee Tech on Tuesday (11 a.m. MT).

Notes
Wetta's first steal of the night was the 200th of her career…She is the 12th CU player to reach 200 steals…Wetta matched her career-high with 10 assists…She's now got 382 for her career…Formann now has 1,385 career points….Colorado has now scored 30 or more points in the paint in all eight games this season (38 today)…Colorado edged Louisville 50.0% to 49.2% shooting…CU's 18 free throws made was its most since making 19 at Kansas State last season…CU matched a season-high with four blocks.

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Team Stats

Frida Formann

Jade Masogayo

Nyamer Diew

Tabitha Betson

Players Mentioned

Tabitha Betson

Nyamer Diew

Frida Formann

Jade Masogayo

Kindyll Wetta

Players Mentioned

Tabitha Betson

Nyamer Diew

Frida Formann

Jade Masogayo

Kindyll Wetta