Four games into the young season, Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne can live with the shooting struggles by her team. Sometimes the shots just don’t fall.

It’s the flow and pace of the offense that’s bothering Payne as her team, filled with 10 newcomers, continues to find its footing.

“The biggest issue that we’re seeing, besides just making open shots, is just our overall pace is too slow,” said Payne, whose Buffs will battle Southern on Sunday at the CU Events Center. “We’ve really prioritized repping live actions (in practice), like certain actions that we get a lot in our offense. Repping those at game speed and then just live against the (practice) guys, just playing faster pace. We’re just moving too slow.”

CU hasn’t shot the ball well overall this season. They’ve hit 41.0% from the field, including a dismal 22.4% from 3-point range. And they’ve struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 62.7%. Payne believes the Buffs have good shooters and will get on track. There were positive signs in Tuesday’s 75-59 win against Nevada, as the Buffs went 9-for-29 from 3-point range. That came just two days after going 0-for-17 in a loss at Boise State.

“We’re getting good looks,” Payne said. “Even in the Boise game when we couldn’t make a shot, we were getting good looks; we were just missing open shots and missing layups and free throws. You can be frustrated that you’re not making those, but also it’s important to have perspective. If we’re getting great looks at the basket, the shots will fall.”

Of greater concern is how the Buffs are running their Princeton-style offense. Of the 12 players who have seen the court this year, 10 had never played a game in a CU uniform until three weeks ago. With so many new players, Payne said it’s not too surprising that the Buffs aren’t smooth on offense. But, there have been too many times when players are thinking about where to move, rather than simply playing fast and making the cuts and moves they need to make. “It just is going to take time,” Payne said. “But we also just have to make an effort to be more aware of it and, honestly, we just need to fix it.”

Overall, though, Payne is pleased with the progress of the new-look Buffs four games into the season.

“I do (like the progress), yeah, but there’s some things that we’re not doing well that are in our control,” she said. “I’m not worried about the shots, but our pace is something that’s really frustrating me right now. That’s something that, as coaches, we just have to do a better job of holding everyone accountable to what that should look and feel like. And as players, we have to just really recognize, OK, where can I be better in this and attack that.”

CU hopes being at home will help. The Buffs have played just once at home, on Nov. 7. “We’re really happy to be home,” Payne said. “Everybody likes to play at home, but especially for such a new team, to play three of your first four games on the road against teams that are very veteran-laden, that’s a great challenge for our club. But we’re excited to be home and stay home for a little bit.”

Starting Sunday, the Buffs will play seven of their next eight games at home.