Despite the sting of a shocking loss in the home finale on Saturday, Colorado point guard Jaylyn Sherrod tried to look at the big picture.
Washington State’s stunning 72-63 victory at the CU Events Center certainly ruined the atmosphere on senior day. Especially since the 13th-ranked Buffs led by five with 2 minutes, 57 seconds to play and gave up a 14-0 run to close the game.
And, especially because the loss left the Buffs (21-8, 11-7 Pac-12) with a 1-5 record in the last three weeks of the regular season.
The Buffs, however, now turn their attention to the Pac-12 tournament. Fifth-seeded CU will face 12th-seeded Oregon at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday at 1 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Network).
“Yeah. I mean, we all know what’s on the line,” Sherrod said. “Like (head coach JR Payne) said, none of our goals are not attainable at this point. Nobody’s looking at it as if we can’t do it. So I don’t think that’s the case.”
WSU just got hot late, Sherrod said, adding, “That’s just how basketball goes, so I’m not really hanging hats on this game.”
CU has to recover from more than just Saturday’s loss, however.
The Buffs, ranked as high as No. 3 this season, were in the top eight for 14 consecutive weeks before this recent slide.
The rough stretch began when they were dominated at home by No. 17 Oregon State on Feb. 11. That was followed by a three-game road trip against top-25 teams. CU had a chance to win all three, but never played a complete game in any of them.
The Buffs nearly overcame a horrible start at No. 22 Utah on Feb. 16, but lost on a buzzer beater. They played phenomenal on offense at No. 7 USC on Feb. 23, but terrible on defense in a six-point loss. Three days later at No. 8 UCLA, they played exceptional defense and terrible offense in an eight-point loss.
That loss to UCLA was the first in what is now a three-game streak of abysmal fourth quarters.
CU trailed 46-43 with 5:22 to play at UCLA, but then had a scoreless stretch of 4:16 and missed its last 10 field goal attempts of the game.
On Thursday, CU beat Washington 68-62, but struggled to close it out. The Buffs led by 12 with 5:57 to play and went scoreless over the next 5:23 as the Huskies pulled with five in the last minute.
Then came Saturday, when the Buffs went 0-for-6 down the stretch. They were 5-for-16 with three turnovers in the final quarter, while WSU went 8-for-12.
In the last three games, CU is a combined 9-for-40 (.225) from the floor in the fourth quarter, while its opponents are 18-for-40 (.450). Those struggles are uncharacteristic for this Buffs team.
For most of this season, CU has owned the fourth quarter in close games.
The Buffs rallied from fourth-quarter deficits to beat Oklahoma State and Utah at home and Arizona and Washington State on the road. They also had strong finishes to close out several other wins and dominated the fourth quarters against Oregon State on Feb. 11 and Utah on Feb. 16, nearly coming back from big deficits before losing.
Heading to Las Vegas, the Buffs will aim to regain the winning edge, especially in the fourth quarter.
“I just think we’ll have to be really intentional about making sure that we’re playing to win a game, not playing not to lose, as people say,” Payne said.
Through the pain of Saturday’s defeat, Sherrod expressed confidence the Buffs can regroup.
“Vegas, I know we all feel the, I guess, crunch time of it and we all know that this team can be really special,” she said. “So that’s still on the table. Nobody here is writing us off. We’ve just got to go out there and handle business.”
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