For a program that has established a high standard in the past few years, this season hasn’t quite gone as the Colorado women’s basketball team would have hoped.

Fortunately, a trip to Kansas City, Mo., for the Big 12 tournament offers a chance to hit the reset button. There’s no question the Buffaloes (18-11, 9-9 Big 12) need it after a rough finishing stretch that culminated in a disappointing 83-79 overtime loss at Texas Tech on Saturday.

“We’re excited for the tournament to start, postseason play to begin,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “It’s sort of a new season. I think the last game we played, we should be motivated more than any team going into that tournament.”

Injuries have certainly played a role in the Buffs going 2-5 in their past seven games, a stretch that has put their NCAA Tournament hopes in doubt. The loss to Texas Tech — which had lost nine in a row — cost the Buffs a No. 8 seed and first-round bye for this week’s tournament in Kansas City.

Payne hopes the Buffs, seeded No. 9, can use that as a fuel for Wednesday’s first-round matchup against 16th-seeded Houston.

“I hope so,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since the buzzer sounded. … You don’t want to stay in that place too long, but the sting of it and the mistakes that we made in areas that we could have been better, and things like that, that should sit with you as you enter the tournament so that you can use that as motivation to be better next time.”

It worked a year ago, when the Buffs flopped in the regular season finale, losing to Washington State at home. That veteran-laden CU squad regrouped, played well in the Pac-12 Tournament and then won two games in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet 16 for a second year in a row.

“I think it could be similar (to last year’s situation),” Payne said. “Just very different teams. But, yeah, we have to use it as motivation moving forward, because it’s just … the next ones are all too important.”

Most of the core group from last year’s team that turned it around in the postseason is gone. Only three players who suited up are back this year, but that includes senior guard Frida Formann, the Buffs’ leading scorer and all-time leader in 3-pointers who hasn’t played since Jan. 28 because of a stress fracture in her foot. She remains day-to-day, and it’s unknown if she can play this week.

Even if Formann can’t play, CU has plenty of talent to make a run this week in Kansas City — if it can avoid issues that have been all too common this year, such as turnovers and fouls.

“I definitely think we’ve shown that we can compete with any team in our conference,” Payne said. “We’ve shown that we can beat a lot of the top couple teams in the conference. So this team is definitely capable of achieving at a really high level and winning games this week.”

It starts with beating last-place Houston, which has lost 12 in a row, including CU’s 83-60 victory in Boulder on Feb. 15. The depleted Cougars have only seven healthy players, but Payne isn’t overlooking them.

“This game, it’s like they have absolutely nothing to lose,” Payne said. “I would expect them to be more aggressive, more tenacious, more willing to put it all on the line and things like that.”

Although CU stumbled out of a top-eight spot, senior Johanna Teder said that could be a benefit — if the Buffs handle it right. Two years ago, she was part of a Washington State team that came into the Pac-12 Tournament with the No. 7 seed and became the first team to win four in a row to take the title.

“From my previous experiences, getting a bye is not always the best thing,” she said. “We’ll play the first game and have the feel and like the touch on the court and stuff. So you never know. Things happen for a reason. It was disappointing on Saturday (at Texas Tech), but we’ve got to move on, and it’s March. You never know how anyone is doing.”

This will be the first conference tournament experience for redshirt freshman Kennedy Sanders, but she said the Buffs have to put the previous games behind them.

“It’s just definitely forgetting about the games we’ve lost and whatever, and just going in playing hard,” Sanders said. “I’m excited. It’ll be fun.”