Throughout Jaylyn Sherrod’s four seasons on the Colorado women’s basketball team, she’s had a bit of an odd history with Arizona State.

Not that weird things have happened against the Sun Devils; but she just hasn’t faced them much.

“I really don’t recall a lot of history with Arizona State in my four years, just because I feel like that’s the team that I played the least,” the Buffaloes’ senior point guard said.

Indeed, for various reasons, she has only played the Sun Devils twice, while she’s gone up against every other Pac-12 team at least five times.

Sherrod and the 21st-ranked Buffaloes will get another opportunity against ASU on Friday in Tempe, Ariz. While Sherrod hasn’t seen them much, she does know one key fact about that limited history.

“I’ve never beaten Arizona State here or there,” she said. “So, it’s a big weekend for me because that’s the only team in the Pac-12 I’ve never beaten.”

In fact, it’s been a long time since anyone at CU has beaten the Sun Devils — aside from ASU canceling its Jan. 15 trip to Boulder and forfeiting the game to the Buffs. That win counts for conference standings and not in the overall record, and it still doesn’t change the fact that the Buffs go into Tempe riding a 14-game losing streak against the Sun Devils.

Friday marks the 10-year anniversary of CU’s last win against ASU, a come-from-behind 71-63 victory in Tempe on Feb. 17, 2013.

Given that history, CU certainly doesn’t plan on overlooking an ASU team that is winless in Pac-12 play this season.

“It’s an important game and we’re not going to overlook them at all,” Sherrod said. “We’ve got to go in and be really focused and just really mentally in-tune. … I think it’s a very important game and we’ve got to be locked in for it.”

Sitting one game behind Pac-12 co-leaders Stanford and Utah and two games ahead of a three-team pack in fourth, the Buffs could take a major step toward locking up a first-round bye with a win in Tempe.

While Desert Financial Arena has been rough on the Buffs, they’ve been a stellar road team in the past year.

On Jan. 21-23, 2022, the Buffs were swept on the road by the Arizona schools, but they are 9-3 in Pac-12 road games since. All three losses came against Stanford (twice) and Utah.“Everybody loves to play at home and I know we are no different, but being on the road really allows you to just focus on basketball,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “Players are doing homework and, obviously, we have a really academic team, but you get to watch more film, you get to spend more time talking about the game, about personnel, about game plans, and things like that.”

That’s true of every team, of course, but this particular group of Buffs has displayed the maturity to focus on the task at hand when on the road.

“It’s a whole team that’s really locked in to the fact that we have big goals and have to execute to make it happen,” Payne said.

Sherrod missed one ASU matchup, in 2021, with an injury. Two others that were scheduled wound up being canceled, either for COVID or injury issues. And, she had a career-high eight turnovers in last year’s overtime loss at ASU.

She and the Buffs are eager to flip the script on this series and get the program’s first win in the state of Arizona since 2015 (the Buffs have lost four straight in Tucson against Arizona). Payne is 0-6 in the state during her tenure at CU.

“I definitely know we’ve never won down there, which is something we’re well aware of as far as being focused,” she said. “We’re just really excited to execute a great game plan.

“I love this team. … So, anytime you get to spend time together and go out on a mission, so to speak, it’s fun. It’s exciting. We just want to see if we can keep it going.”