The Colorado women’s basketball team could not have asked for a better shot of momentum going into a holiday break.

Coming out of that break, the Buffaloes could not have asked for a tougher challenge.

On Wednesday, the Buffs (10-2, 1-0 Big 12) will open the new year with a trip to No. 11 TCU (13-1, 1-0) in the program’s first Big 12 road trip in nearly 14 years. The trip will continue Saturday at Baylor (11-2, 1-0).

“Yeah, we’re really excited,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “I feel like we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I also think it’s two of the best teams in the league right off the bat, so it’s just off to the races.”

After 13 seasons in the Pac-12, CU has returned to the Big 12 this year. The Buffs knocked off then-No. 14 West Virginia on Dec. 21 in Boulder in the conference opener but now face a very different task on the road against the Horned Frogs.

“They’re just really balanced and tough,” Payne said. “They share the ball really well. I think they’re top five in the country in assists because they share the ball so well.”

Payne said the Buffs have to be sound in their defensive rotations against TCU.

“It’s going to be hard if we’re scrambling defensively, just because they share the ball so well and they can shoot it,” she said.

TCU ranks fourth in the country with 21.0 assists per game and 24th in field goal percentage (47.9). It is also one of the most prolific 3-point teams, hitting 10.6 per game (fourth nationally) from beyond the arc.

With the move to the Big 12, the Buffs are going to face a lot of teams the program hasn’t seen in a decade or more, including TCU. This will be the first matchup between the two in nearly 11 years.

Although seeing the TCU jersey will be new, the Buffs’ coaches are familiar with many of the Horned Frogs, who have relied heavily on the transfer portal to build their roster.

In the past couple of years, CU has played against each of the top six players in the TCU rotation: Hailey Van Lith (from LSU); Madison Conner (Arizona); Sedona Prince (Oregon); Taylor Bigby (USC and Oregon); Donovyn Hunter (Oregon State); and Agnes Emma-Nnopu (Stanford). “It’s interesting, though, they’ve evolved,” Payne said. “You hope that players evolve throughout their career. Bigby, I’ve known her since high school, and it’s been cool (to watch). She used to only be able to drive one direction, now she can go both ways. “So, yeah, definitely know a lot of the players and have played against them in the past. It helps to know those guys for sure.”

She’s also familiar with TCU head coach Mark Campbell, who was an assistant from 2014-21 under Kelly Graves at Oregon. Graves was Payne’s college coach and still a top mentor for her.

While familiarity will help a bit, the Buffs are more focused on themselves. They’re hoping to take some momentum from the win against West Virginia.

“We’ve had good practices since we got back (from the holiday break) and I think it’s been good preparation this week,” she said.