Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: They couldn't stop Iowa star Caitlin Clark and couldn't get any momentum on offense.
Three stars:
1. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark: The top player had 29 points, 15 assists, six rebounds, and only two turnovers.
2. Iowa’s Kate Martin: Ended with 14 points and nine rebounds.
3. CU’s Aaronette Vonleh: Got into foul trouble in the first half, but performed well with 13 points, five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
Up next: Colorado's season ended with another Sweet 16 defeat, marking the second year in a row.
The sight of Quay Miller and Jaylyn Sherrod crying and leaving the stage, followed by a question about the seniors' impact, was tough for Colorado head coach JR Payne.
Payne, holding their hand as they cried, humorously noted their departure, expressing the significant influence of the seniors on the program.
JR Payne highlighted the seniors' profound impact on the program and emphasized the enduring family-like bond that transcends basketball.
Payne emphasized the lasting relationships with the seniors and the special nature of their bond, extending beyond basketball victories.
Although Payne's lifelong relationships with her team will continue, the end of the basketball season was still painful.
A full crowd of 13,878 witnessed the disappointing performance of the fifth-seeded Buffaloes against Iowa, with the top-seeded Hawkeyes dominating.
The stands were filled with No. 22 Iowa jerseys as the top player, Caitlin Clark, delivered an outstanding performance with 29 points, 15 assists, and six rebounds.
CU (24-10) was ousted in the Sweet 16 by the Hawkeyes (32-4) for the second straight year. Iowa will face LSU in the Elite Eight after defeating UCLA, 78-69.
Sherrod acknowledged the tough loss but expressed pride in the team's effort and emphasized the lack of surrender during the game.
The Buffs understood that it would be hard to control Clark, who is likely to be the national player of the year. She leads the nation in scoring with 31.8 points per game and also in assists with 8.8 per game.
“I mean, she can shoot from anywhere on the court,” Sherrod said. “It’s like you have to choose your disadvantage almost.”
Sherrod then humorously said, “But, I mean she had 29, so that’s two less than her usual.”
“Man, we locked her up,” Payne jokingly remarked.
Though Clark scored 29 points, what really hurt was her 15 assists, which immediately got her teammates involved.
In the first quarter alone, Clark made six assists and eventually got four teammates to score in double figures: Sydney Affolter with 15, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin with 14, and Hannah Stuelke with 11 (in addition to 10 rebounds).
“That's the challenging part, she got everybody else engaged,” Sherrod said. “It just shows what type of player she is. She’s unselfish and she got everybody else going. … That’s just difficult when everybody else is also making successful shots.”
The Hawkeyes began the game with a 10-0 run, leading 27-14 a minute into the second quarter. They extended the lead to 19 early in the third quarter and sealed the game with a 10-2 run later in the third. Iowa’s lead reached 27 in the fourth quarter.
“It felt like a complete basketball game,” Clark stated. “I think this was the first time in about three games we were able to put together what felt like a complete basketball game on both ends of the floor.”
While the Hawkeyes were doing well offensively, CU never managed to get their offense going.
Aaronette Vonleh scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Frida Formann and Maddie Nolan had 12 points each to lead the Buffs. However, they only made 37.5% (27-of-72) of their shots.
“We were just trying to find a rhythm and get going but every time we tried to make a run, they just came back and made threes,” Formann said. “We never really got the momentum for more than two minutes maybe.”
This was an unusual experience for the Buffs, who had been competitive in every other game this season except for a Nov. 25 loss to North Carolina State.
“Helpless might be the right word, only because we were trying so many different things and nothing really seemed to stop the momentum,” Payne said. “But as we all saw, our team is built on toughness and grit, never quit, never stop. We competed the whole night. But yeah, they were just better than us today.
“I think we’re a really great team. I think we could have won. We believed that we would win the game. But they were better than us today.”
Iowa 89, Colorado 68
COLORADO (24-10)
Vonleh 6-9 1-2 13, Miller 2-8 0-0 5, Sherrod 4-9 1-4 9, Formann 4-13 1-2 12, Nolan 4-11 1-2 12, Wetta 2-5 2-4 7, Sadler 3-8 0-0 6, Whittaker 1-3 0-0 2, Smith 0-3 0-0 0, McLeod 1-2 0-0 2, Gerber 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-72 6-14 68.
IOWA (32-4)
Stuelke 3-9 5-7 11, Affolter 6-6 3-4 15, Martin 5-11 2-2 14, Clark 13-22 0-0 29, Marshall 5-8 0-0 14, O’Grady 1-3 0-0 2, Feuerbach 0-2 0-0 0, McCabe 0-1 0-0 0, Ediger 1-2 0-0 2, Gyamfi 1-1 0-0 2, Goodman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-65 10-13 89.
Colorado scored 14 points in the first quarter, 21 in the second, 12 in the third, and 21 in the fourth, for a total of 68.
Iowa scored 22 points in the first quarter, 26 in the second, 20 in the third, and 21 in the fourth, for a total of 89.
From the 3-point line, Colorado made 8 out of 29 attempts, while Iowa made 9 out of 22. Colorado had 34 rebounds, with Vonleh, Miller, and Nolan each getting 5. Iowa had 43 rebounds, with Stuelke getting 10. Colorado had 19 assists, with Sherrod getting 10, and Iowa had 20 assists, with Clark getting 15. Colorado had 14 steals, with Wetta getting 5, while Iowa had 7 steals, with Feuerbach getting 2. Colorado had 13 turnovers, while Iowa had 19. Colorado committed 15 fouls, and Iowa committed 12. No one fouled out, and the attendance was 13,878.
