No. 5 Colorado travels to Tucson to face Arizona

Buffs looking to stay undefeated in conference play

Kirby Lee, USA Today

The 5th-ranked Colorado women’s basketball team hits the road to face Arizona for a Friday night affair (8 p.m. ET/TV: P12N). There's an excitement in the air for JR Payne's Buffaloes, who will likely have a better result in Tucson than the men's team after being blown out by 47 points on Thursday night. 

Jaylyn Sherrod leads the Buffs and is coming off the best week of her career. She earned three awards to close out 2023 with PAC-12, Associated Press, and ESPN Player of the Week honors. The Birmingham native scored a career-high 34 points in the team’s victory over 12th-ranked Utah. This is the most points by a CU women’s player against a top 25 opponent in more than two decades.

Payne appreciates the effort by Sherrod, but still has a focus on the team's overall effort. “Everybody's going to have a night where they play really well and all they care about is winning,” Payne said during the week. “I appreciate that everyone celebrated Jaylyn's success last week and the awards and all that, but she's the first one to say that nobody wins awards like this unless the team does well. She always gives credit to her teammates and I just love that chemistry."

The Buffs and Wildcats battle before the team heads north to Tempe for a meeting with the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET/ TV: P12N). Colorado will then return home for a four-game stand beginning Friday, January 12th with California. 

This will be a huge test for Payne's team in the heart of January, with three straight contests at CU Event Center against top ten opponents (No. 2 UCLA, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 USC).