Tag: JR Payne

JR Payne earns 150th win at Colorado as Buffs take down Tennessee Tech

JR Payne secured her 150th win leading the Buffaloes

In a Tuesday matinee at the CU Events Center, the Colorado women’s basketball team defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 91-79, bringing the Buffs’ record to 7-2. Colorado’s seventh win also marked an important milestone for head coach JR Payne.

Payne earned her 150th victory leading the Buffs, a feat she credited to the players she has coached since taking the helm in 2016.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of great players come through here, long before I was here, and ever since I’ve arrived,” Payne said (h/t CUBuffs.com). “I had no idea it was 150 wins. That’s clearly a testament to the great players we’ve had through our program. That’s really cool for the program.”

The Buffs’ offense showed up again on Tuesday, hitting 90 points for the second time this season. Forwards Ayianna Johnson and Nyamer Diew each scored 15 points off the bench to lead the Buffs and guard Frida Formann pitched in 14 points.

Ball movement has become the calling card of the Buffs’ offense this season. They shared the rock to the tune of 25 assists on 36 made field goals. Senior point guard Kindyll Wetta dished out a team-high eight assists.

The Buffs will welcome the 1-8 Southern Utah Thunderbirds to the CU Event Center on Saturday (1 p.m. MT on ESPN+).

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Colorado WBB dispatches Mines in preseason exhibition

The Colorado women’s basketball team flashed plenty of good in a preseason exhibition

Head coach JR Payne’s Colorado women’s basketball team was back in action on Sunday after an offseason of extreme roster overhaul. The Buffs kicked off their 2024-25 campaign with a 91-46 exhibition victory over the Colorado School of Mines at the CU Events Center.

Oklahoma State transfer Lior Garzon led the Buffs with 18 points, displaying prowess at all three levels of scoring.

CU is still ironing out a roster made up of 10 new players, doing so with a balanced offensive approach. Eleven of the roster’s 12 active players on Sunday scored at least one point.

“We’re very intentional about learning each other,” Payne said following the win. “The chemistry will continue to come… It’s going to be pretty basketball.”

Veteran transfer portal additions stood out for the black and gold, as Nyamer Diew (3-for-4 from distance) and Jade Masogayo each logged 13 points. Former Minnesota forward Ayianna Johnson patrolled the paint with 12 points and five offensive rebounds.

Returning guard Frida Formann did not play due to a foot injury. Texas Tech transfer center JoJo Nworie, who’s still recovering from an ACL injury, also didn’t see the court.

The Buffs’ regular season opener will come on Nov. 4 at Wyoming. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MT.

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JR Payne confident in Colorado women’s basketball’s depth heading into new season

New Buffs Nyamer Diew, Lior Garzon and JoJo Nworie all boast great length

Last season, the Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team started a duo of talented post players in Quay Miller and Aaronette Vonleh while bringing in 6-foot-3 Charlotte Whittaker and 6-foot-1 Sara-Rose Smith off the bench. Now, only Smith remains with the 2024-25 season on tap, but the Buffs remain strong in the paint.

Head coach JR Payne and her staff went to work over the offseason and brought in a host of post players, making this year’s group look like one of the longest teams the Buffs have fielded in some time. New players include Ayianna Johnson (6-foot-3), JoJo Nworie (6-foot-5), Nyamer Diew (6-foot-2), Lior Garzon (6-foot-1) and Jade Masogayo (6-foot-3).

Earlier this week, Payne spoke about some of the new faces on her roster:

“Jade Masogayo is unbelievably gifted, very long and very athletic,” Payne began. “Nyamer Diew, we list her at maybe 6-foot-1, but I’d love to know her wingspan because it’s significantly longer than that. She provides great length. Lior Garzon is great on the perimeter. JoJo Nworie is probably the longest of all of them at 6-foot-5. The goal was to add depth and size, and we definitely did that.”

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JR Payne congratulates Jaylyn Sherrod following WNBA Finals win

JR Payne shouted out Jaylyn Sherrod after her New York Liberty won the WNBA Finals

Colorado women’s basketball head coach JR Payne congratulated her former point guard on Monday as Jaylyn Sherrod’s New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Finals over the weekend.

“I can’t start the day without shouting out our recent grad Jaylyn Sherrod, who just became a WNBA champ last night, so congrats to her and her Liberty team,” Payne said to open a press conference. “What an amazing series and just indicative of how incredible women’s basketball is right now.”

Sherrod is the first Colorado alum to win the WNBA Finals and is only the fifth former Buff to play in the league. She went undrafted after her final college season (2023-24) but soon signed with the Liberty. While Sherrod was waived after the preseason, she later re-signed with New York and appeared in 12 games between the regular season and the playoffs.

No player started more games (133) in Colorado women’s basketball history than Sherrod did in her five seasons with the Buffs, where she forged a close bond with Payne. The point guard was a two-time All-Pac-12 player and a three-time Pac-12 All-Defensive selection. Nut more importantly, she was the heart and soul of a core group that reached the Sweet 16 twice in her final two collegiate seasons.

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JR Payne named to national coach of the year watch list for second straight season

JR Payne is a late-season finalist for the Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year award

After making the late-season watch list for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award last season, Colorado women’s basketball head coach JR Payne has found herself on the list again.

Of the 15 coaches named to the 2023-24 late-season watch list on Wednesday morning, five hail from the Pac-12 Conference, including Payne. At 20-5 overall and 10-4 in conference play, the Buffs are currently tied for second place in the Pac-12 standings.

In her eighth year as Colorado’s head coach, Payne’s Buffs have spent all 16 weeks of the season ranked in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll, including 14 weeks in the top 10. CU currently sits at No. 11 in the coaches poll after suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this season.

With the watch list being narrowed down on March 14, Payne and the Buffs are looking to bring a Pac-12 championship trophy to Boulder before the NCAA Tournament begins.

The Buffs will be at No. 7 USC on Friday.

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JR Payne speaks on Colorado’s massive win over Utah

JR Payne gave her thoughts on Colorado’s huge win on Saturday

The No. 8 Colorado women’s basketball team defeated No. 12 Utah, 76-65, on Saturday afternoon in a massive top-15 battle.

The Buffs are now 11-1 on the year after kicking off their Pac-12 schedule with a strong win over a talented Utes team.

After the win, eight-year CU head coach JR Payne gave her thoughts on the performance, giving special praise to Jaylyn Sherrod, who scored a career-high 34 points.

“Our upperclassmen, Jaylyn in particular, talked a lot to the group this week about (how) playing in the Pac-12, everything is harder,” Payne said. “You’ve gotta have a more focused mindset, a more disciplined approach, everything has to be elevated. Our team, I think, really did that whether we were up or down, it didn’t really matter. We stayed locked in. So, super proud of our team. Great win. We’ll enjoy it for about a day.”

Sherrod came into the contest averaging 13 points per game, so this was a massive performance for the veteran point guard.

The Buffs will face both of the Pac-12’s Arizona schools this upcoming weekend away from Boulder.

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LSU vs. Colorado: Preview and prediction for Tigers women’s basketball season opener in Las Vegas

Here’s a preview and prediction as LSU begins its national title defense against No. 20 Colorado on Monday night.

LSU women’s basketball looks to begin its national title defense on Monday night, kicking the year off with a top-25 showdown against Colorado in Las Vegas.

The game will tip at 6:30 p.m. CT and be nationally televised on TNT.

There are several big stories to monitor on Monday night, most notably the anticipated debut of Louisville transfer [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag]. The arrival of Van Lith along with a few top-rated freshmen, has led to even bigger expectations in Kim Mulkey’s third year.

We’ve gotten a preview of what this team might look like with two exhibitions, but this is its first real test. Here’s what to watch for when [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and the Tigers take the floor tonight.

CU Buffs women’s basketball locked in ahead of highly-anticipated season

Focus hasn’t been an issue for the #cubuffs women’s basketball team amid a chaotic fall in Boulder

This fall has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen before at the University of Colorado. Celebrities, Hall of Fame athletes and cameras are now everywhere as head football coach Deion Sanders has brought Boulder into the center of the sports world.

Understandably so, things have also been different for the other varsity teams on campus, including head coach JR Payne’s women’s basketball squad, which is looking to make its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Although those aforementioned distractions are of the welcomed variety, the Buffs have remained focused with their season opener on the horizon.

“We’re a pretty focused group,” Payne told the media prior to CU’s first official preseason practice last week. “There’s been a lot of distractions in Boulder the last few weeks since we got here, and it’s incredible. We all love it. To have ‘GameDay’ here and Fox ‘Big Noon’ and all of that is so cool, our team has done a good job of keeping us focused. We have our own job to do outside of what everybody else is doing in Boulder.”

Payne, fortunately, has a veteran group this year with Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller, Frida Formann and other upperclassmen aiming to run back last season’s trip to the Sweet 16.

Colorado opens things up against the defending national champion LSU Tigers on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.

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What the season opener selection means for Colorado

Welcome to the big leagues, Colorado women’s basketball

The spotlight of the college sports world has been taken over by the Colorado Buffaloes, and not just by Deion Sanders and the football team.

The CU women’s squad is becoming a household name when it comes to college basketball, and this is never more apparent after the announcement that they will open the season against LSU in Las Vegas. Head coach JR Payne and her team of gritty Buffaloes stormed their way to the Sweet-16 of last year’s NCAA tournament, including a huge upset over Duke in Raleigh.

Payne’s team has been recognized for their efforts with that marquee match-up in Las Vegas and they couldn’t be more excited for the chance to go against LSU presents (h/t Seth Pringle of cubuffs.com):

“We are honored to be included in the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas and to be playing LSU on Opening Night,” head coach JR Payne stated. “It will certainly be an exciting environment to kickoff the 2023-24 season. We have loved playing in Las Vegas with the Pac-12 Tournament and are excited about this really cool opportunity.”

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CU Buffs women’s basketball 2022-23 season in review

We were treated to a magical 2022-23 CU women’s basketball season

The 2022-23 season was a magical one for the Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team. JR Payne’s squad well exceeded preseason predictions and danced all the way to the Sweet 16.

Colorado seems primed to build upon this success as its core remains intact, and another wave of talent is set to join the team next season. But fans would do well to take a few minutes and relish in the memories that were made this past season. It had been 20 years since Colorado pushed that far into the postseason and the Buffs accomplished this by defying the odds all season.

Read on to see our review of the 2022-23 CU women’s basketball season: