As Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne has built the program in recent years, the identity of the team has been its tough, gritty, blue-collar work on defense.

As the Buffaloes have become one of the nation’s elite teams this year, however, the offense is putting up eye-popping numbers.

No. 8 CU will host Northern Colorado on Thursday as it returns to the court for the first time since Dec. 5, and the Buffs are hoping to continue their sizzling start on offense.

“We run an offensive system that I think is great and really fun to play in and that you can put people in different positions and you’re not just stuck doing one thing all the time,” Payne said.

Through Tuesday, the Buffs ranked 14th nationally in scoring average (84.6 points per game), 15th in field goal percentage (.489) and fifth in assists per game (21.4).

It’s still early and the Buffs are likely to see some numbers go down once they get into the grind of Pac-12 play, but they’re currently averaging 15.4 more points per game than last year (69.2) and they’re on pace to be the first CU team since the 2001-02 squad to average at least 70 points. Only three CU teams have averaged at least 80, and that hasn’t happened since 1980-81.

“I just think that everybody’s kind of confident and know their roles,” senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod said. “(They) play their role, as well, and just kind of go out there and play with a lot of experience, to be honest. We know how we want our offense to run, we know what we’re good at within our offense, and I think we’re kinda just taking advantage of knowing our strengths and weaknesses as individuals and as a team.”

That has grown over time.

Going into the 2020-21 season, her fifth at CU, Payne and the coaching staff decided to install the Princeton offense. Developed by legendary Princeton coach Pete Carril, the offense requires players to be good at reading defenses and reacting. It relies on movement, cuts, stellar passing and everyone being on the same page.

Payne saw Stanford install that offense years ago and said, “It was cool to watch them progressively get better and better as they went and I think we’re doing the same thing.

“We do have some versatile players, but we also have kids that are really comfortable in they know where their shots are going to come from. They know where the areas are that they can be aggressive and I think that comfortability is showing.”

This is CU’s fourth season in the offense and its scoring average has gone up every year. Last year, CU scored 69.2 points per game and posted the program’s best field goal percentage (.434) in 19 years and the second-best 3-point percentage (.348) in that span.

This year, the Buffs are shooting even better overall. It’s no coincidence that Sherrod and leading scorer Frida Formann are in their fourth seasons in the offense, while Quay Miller, Kindyll Wetta, and Tameiya Sadler are in the third years and others in year No. 2.

“It took a couple of years,” said Sherrod, who is averaging career highs in points (12.7) and assists (6.2).

As the point guard, Sherrod is having fun in the offense. She can score, but loves dishing to a group of teammates that includes dominant posts (Aaronette Vonleh and Miller), sharpshooters on the perimeter (Formann, Miller, Maddie Nolan) and other weapons.

“It just makes my job pretty simple,” Sherrod said. “Just get the ball to your playmakers and let them go to work or you yourself be a playmaker. … It’s allowing me to work smarter, not harder.”