BOULDER – In just three days the Colorado women’s basketball team will kick off the 2023-24 campaign in grand fashion. The No. 20 Buffaloes will take to the T-Mobile Arena court in Las Vegas against the preseason No. 1 and defending champion LSU Tigers (5:30 p.m. MT / TNT).
The opener will be the first time CU has played the No. 1 team in the country to start a season. The Buffs are 1-4 all-time against No. 1 teams, but the lone win did come in CU’s last attempt against No. 1 Stanford on Jan. 17, 2021.
The headlining game of the women’s portion of the Hall of Fame Series figures to be an NCAA Tournament-like atmosphere in November. Colorado’s last game was in front of 9,626 fans in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.
“It is such a unique thing to play that type of team in that type of environment on opening night,” head coach JR Payne explained. “Most people don’t step up and do that at this junction of the season. It’s just a cool opportunity. We ended the season in that environment and had a great summer and fall of training. To jump right back into that environment, I think is pretty neat.”
Also unique about the circumstances are the Buffs’ opponents. Colorado ended the season in the Sweet 16 last season with a 10-point loss to Iowa. The Hawkeyes went on to win the region and face LSU in the national championship. Outside of LSU, the Buffs were the toughest opponent for the Hawkeyes in their run to the championship game last season.
“I think we’re a confident group no matter what,” Payne continued. “I think we all felt happy at the end of the NCAA Tournament with the fact that we had won and advanced and done really well. But also disappointed because when we turned on the film, there were a lot of things that we left on the board. LSU is a very different type of team than Iowa, but obviously, both are really good. It’s great to be able to play both back-to-back so to speak.”
The Buffaloes’ makeup for the 2023-24 season is almost identical to last season. The team returns 88.0% of its scoring with eight players back from the Sweet 16. Of those returners four of them slot into the starting lineup with Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller, Frida Formann and Aaronette Vonleh all back and ready to pick up from last season. Sherrod and Miller were both Preseason All-Conference while Formann and Vonleh picked up honorable mentions.
The Buffs feature 10 upperclassmen this year, adding a pair of transfers in Maddie Nolan (Michigan) and Sara-Rose Smith (Missouri) to the core that also includes Tameiya Sadler, Kindyll Wetta, Sophie Gerber and Charlotte Whittaker. Nolan was ranked the No. 19 transfer in the country by The Athletic.
“I think our veterans are used to playing in big games and take every game very seriously,” They take their preparation very seriously and have played in some big arenas on the big stage now. It’s great to not have to wait until March to do that. I really am excited to see who we truly are. How do we mesh? How do we deal with adversity? How do we fix things quickly and have a short memory and move on? It’s going to be a great barometer for where we are and where we want to go.”
LSU on Monday is just the first of five Power 5 matchups in the non-conference season for the Buffs. Colorado played two Power 5’s in last season’s non-conference.
“Most people choose to start slow and build their schedule, eventually accelerating to conference play,” Payne stated. “We just feel like our conference is so good this year that we have to make sure we’re battle-tested and ready before the Pac-12 season begins. We wanted to challenge ourselves and I feel like we have a good, balanced schedule in that way.”
The Hall of Fame Series will have four games total on Monday. The day starts on the women’s side with USC taking on Ohio State at noon MT. The Oregon and Georgia men will play at 2:30 p.m. MT. The USC and Kansas State men will conclude the evening at 8 p.m. MT.
Angel Gray (play-by-play) and Candace Parker (color analyst) will have the call along with Taylor Rooks (sideline) on TNT and stream on Max.
Cory Lopez and Carol Callan will be on the call on the Colorado Radio Network, starting with pregame at 5 p.m. MT. The game will also be carried nationally on SiriusXM 380 and the SiriusXM app.
