Colorado falls to No. 2 Stanford in the Pac-12 semifinals

BOULDER — The run is over.

The Colorado Buffaloes fell 71-45 to the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal Friday night in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. The Buffs were 11.5-point underdogs to the defending national champions. CU held its own early but the Cardinal pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back.

Although the Buffs won the rebounding battle, Stanford dominated the paint from the second quarter on. The Cardinal’s length in the post led to easy baskets against a Colorado defense that is typically staunch. Cameron Brink, the Pac-12’s Player and Defensive Player of the Year, scored 14 points for Stanford on 5-for-10 shooting with 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 steals. The 6-foot-4 forward helped Stanford to a 36-13 win in the paint.

Brink also was involved in a double-intentional foul play in the post with Mya Hollingshed, early in the second quarter. Colorado’s two-time All-Pac-12 forward caught the ball in the post and was immediate triple-teamed. The ball was tied up and the refs blew their whistles but Hollingshed and Brink both refused to let go of the ball. Hollingshed shoved Brink’s face and Brink threw the ball at her.

Even if it's wrong, I can perfectly understand Cameron Brink's ( @cameronbrink22 ) reaction pic.twitter.com/nFFowrEKCv

— Antonio Garcia (@Iruk_WomenSport) March 5, 2022

Over the past few years, Stanford and Colorado have had some battles. The Buffs beat Stanford in 2021 when the Cardinal was ranked first in the country. Stanford also lost its next game but has won 32 Pac-12 games in a row—and a national title—since that point.

Colorado took down #1 Stanford 👀👀 @CUBuffsWBB pic.twitter.com/w2VH4AyHET

— WSLAM (@wslam) January 17, 2021

The year before, Colorado took the No. 6 Cardinal to overtime but couldn’t seal the deal. The other meeting that season should have gone to overtime but a Colorado turnover in the final seconds led to a successful half-court heave at the buzzer instead.

KIANA WILLIAMS WITH THE WINNER! 😱#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/NnIVEQcSAL

— Stanford WBB 🤓🏀 (@StanfordWBB) February 16, 2020

Three Colorado natives are part of the Stanford rotation. The No. 1 recruit in the country in the 2023 class is a 6-foot-7 center out of Grandview High School in Centennial and she’s headed to Stanford after graduation. All of this has helped to build one of the most bitter rivalries in the Pac-12.

But after Hollingshed and Brink butted heads, Colorado faded out of the game fast. Stanford went on a 19-8 run to close the half and then built on that lead until the final buzzer.

Hollingshed only managed 7 points and 10 boards in 38 minutes on the court, but even that performance made her one of Colorado’s top performers in the game. Freshman point guard Kindyll Wetta tied her career high in scoring with 12 points. Jaylyn Sherrod was second in scoring with 10 points on 1-for-5 shooting and she grabbed a few boards, too.

Nobody was capable of breaking through against Stanford’s frontcourt, though. Plus, the Buffs only made four of their 21 3-point attempts. Colorado turned the ball over 22 times, too. Whether it was playing three games in three days or the loss of a starting guard the night before, Colorado didn’t have the juice to compete with Stanford on Saturday.

This was just as true on the defensive end of the court. CU’s conference-best scoring defense was leaky for most of the game after holding No. 14 Arizona to 43 points on Thursday. Colorado wasn’t itself.

While Stanford stuck a dagger in the Buffs’ deepest conference tournament run since 2015, Colorado will ride into March Madness on an 8-2 run. They’ll learn their fate on Selection Sunday after a week off. ESPN projects the Buffs as an 8-seed as of this writing.

Stay tuned to DNVR as Colorado’s postseason continues.