Through the first couple months of the season, Anaelle Dutat was perhaps the most consistent player for the Colorado women’s basketball team.
A double-double threat nearly every game and one of the Big 12’s top rebounders, Dutat averaged 9.9 points and 8.9 rebounds in her first 18 games.
That suddenly changed about three weeks ago. During a six-game stretch, Dutat averaged only 2.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.
“Honestly, I don’t know (why),” she said. “I didn’t feel more tired or anything. I don’t know; I just felt really passive, like a step behind on everything. I was trying to find solutions at that point. I’m like, I don’t even know what to do.”
A meeting and film session with head coach JR Payne earlier this week seems to have done the trick. Dutat didn’t put up big numbers in Sunday’s 80-79 upset of No. 14 TCU, but she was exceptional on defense. She then had 12 points and 13 rebounds in Wednesday’s 73-63 win at Houston.
She and the Buffs will aim to keep the momentum going Saturday when BYU visits the CU Events Center.
“That TCU game was, like, a good start to going back to how I used to play,” the senior transfer from Rhode Island said. “I think the Houston one was just the same, following that TCU game, and I’m just trying to keep it like that.”
As CU makes a push for an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, it will need more big games from Dutat, a 6-foot forward.
“(The Houston game) was huge because she’s been someone that’s been so reliable and so trustworthy,” Payne said. “Everyone just trusts that she’s going to do her job and be where she’s supposed to be and things like that.
“But for someone that is coming down the home stretch of their college career, you want to perform and you want to contribute in a meaningful way, and we need her to because she is our best rebounder and one of our best defenders, an elite athlete that can create. So it was really great to see her be aggressive again.”
The entire team has been more aggressive in the past few weeks with the postseason looming. Since a 74-68 loss at Central Florida — which is tied for 14th in the Big 12 — on Jan. 18, the Buffs are 5-1, with the only loss coming against first-place and No. 19 West Virginia.
“I think we’re more urgent about getting to March Madness, the end of the season,” Dutat said. “We’re all working towards the same goal and because we’re seeing that it’s getting more and more tangible, I think we’re really all focusing on the same thing.”
While getting to the NCAA Tournament is the goal, Payne’s teams have always focused on the task at hand, rather than the big picture.
“When you’re able to focus on what’s directly in front of you, it allows you an opportunity to achieve your goal,” Payne said. “If you’re just worried about the goal that might happen a month from now, you probably won’t attain it because you won’t handle your business day-to-day.”
For now the task is taking on BYU, which has had mixed results in Big 12 play but has proven capable of playing with and beating some of the top teams in the conference.
“I think they’re really dangerous,” Payne said. “I think they are one of the more dangerous teams in the league, because they can be so good. They’re also just a team that I have a lot of respect for because I respect teams that are just going to work hard, play hard, do what they’re supposed to do, no complaining.”
That’s how CU has played of late, as it has moved into the top six of the Big 12 standings.
“I feel like we play more together,” Dutat said. “We have a better sense of how to play with each other, so I think it relates on the court and I think our off-court chemistry is getting better. Like, way, way better, and it’s translating to the on-court (chemistry), so it’s really fun.”
CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. BYU
TIPOFF: Saturday, 1 p.m., CU Events Center
TV/RADIO: ESPN+/KHOW 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 17-8, 8-5 Big 12; BYU 17-8, 6-7 Big 12
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 10th season (181-124; 282-237 career). BYU — Lee Cummard, 1st season (17-8).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — F Tabitha Betson, 6-2, So. (4.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg); F Anaelle Dutat, 6-0, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.8 spg, .515 fg%); F Logyn Greer, 6-4, Fr. (9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg); F Jade Masogayo, 6-3, Sr. (12.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.1 apg, .514 fg%); G Zyanna Walker, 5-11, Jr. (11.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.3 spg); G Desiree Wooten, 5-8, Jr. (12.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg). BYU — G Sydney Benally, 5-9, Fr. (7.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.4 apg); G/F Brinley Cannon, 6-1, So. (7.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.7 spg); G Delaney Gibb, 5-10, So. (16.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.9 spg); G Olivia Hamlin, 5-10, Fr. (12.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.8 spg); G Marya Hudgins,6-0, Jr. (9.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .368 3pt%); F Lara Rohkohl, 6-3, Sr. (7.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, .647 fg%)
NOTES: CU is 9-7 all-time against BYU, including a 67-66 win in Provo, Utah, on Jan. 29, 2025. That was the first meeting between the teams in 22 years. … BYU won the first six meetings with CU, all from 1975-80, but CU has won nine of the last 10, including seven in a row. … The Buffs are 12-2 at home. BYU is 4-4 in true road games. … In conference play, CU is ninth in the Big 12 in scoring (67.2 points per game), and BYU is 10th (67.1). Defensively, the Buffs are seventh (allowing 64.5 per game) and BYU is 10th (69.5). … In the past three games, Masogayo is 22-of-24 (.917) from the free throw line. … As of Friday, CU was No. 47 in the NET rankings, while BYU was at No. 56. … Cummard was an assistant at BYU from 2019 to 2025 before being promoted for this season. He played for BYU from 2005 to 2009, earning All-American honors. … CU great Shelley Sheetz, who starred for the Buffs from 1991-95, will be recognized Saturday as she will be added to the Buffs’ Wall of Honor. Sheetz, now an assistant coach for the Buffs, was CU’s first-ever Associated Press All-American, in 1995.