BOULDER — All week, Jaylyn Sherrod was telling her teammates things were about to get a whole lot harder with Pac-12 play set to begin.

But that didn’t apply to her in No. 8 Colorado’s conference opener Saturday.

Given the strength of the league — with five teams ranked inside the top 12 — it’s going to be a gantlet for the Buffaloes. Sherrod made things look easy as could be, dropping a career-high 34 points to lead the way to a 76-65 win over No. 12 Utah.

“Everybody that chose to come to this conference, including transfers and coaches, we know how hard it is,” Buffs coach JR Payne said. “We know how tough it is and we want that. That’s why we chose it. This was a great win. We’re super excited.”

CU trailed the Utes by eight points less than 2 minutes into the fourth quarter. After a timeout by Payne, the Buffs closed the game on a 23-4 run, paced by 13 points from Sherrod herself.

But even after a performance like that, Sherrod — the fifth-year senior and unequivocal leader of this year’s team — wouldn’t take credit.

“We’ve been coming out slow and I’ve put that on my shoulders, just because I’ve always said if I don’t bring the most energy and passion on the court, then I’m not doing my job for my team,” Sherrod said. “I just wanted to give my team the best position to win. I just made layups and jump shots. They did all the hard work.”

In fact, she said, she’s the one who has to buy a teammate dinner, saying that she promised her roommate Sara-Rose Smith a nice meal if she played a big part in Saturday’s game.

Smith, the Missouri transfer, lived up to her end of the deal, recording her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds as a key piece to the lineup that closed the game.

“It was just really fun,” Smith said. “This is the reason that I came here and playing (against) high competition every single day, it’s exactly what I wanted.”

The other CU player in double figures was junior center Aaronette Vonleh, who had the toughest assignment of the day in guarding Utah star Alissa Pili. Pili entered the game second in the league at nearly 24 points per game.

After Pili caused problems for the Buffs in the first half, Vonleh helped limit her to just 10 points and five turnovers in the second half.

“I thought in the first half she got a lot of easy drives to the rim and open shots,” Vonleh said. “The adjustment was just to be more aggressive and make her have to make a different decision than what she wants to do.”

The conference opener between the Buffs and the Utes was the first of many marquee matchups in the Pac-12 season. The Buffs community responded with nearly 7,400 people in attendance in yet another reminder of how far the program has come during Payne’s tenure.

“For us, that means everything,” Payne said. “Most of us have been here a long time and worked really hard to build a program that everyone can be really proud of on and off the court. So, to have that many people here supporting (us) is awesome.”

GAME RECAP

No. 8 Colorado 76, No. 12 Utah 65

What happened: The No. 8 Buffaloes (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) picked up their second ranked win of the season, pulling away late against the 12th-ranked Utes in front of a bustling crowd at the CU Events Center. Utah star Alissa Pili finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds, but was shut down late as CU held the Utes scoreless in the final 3:20. The Buffs finished the game on a 9-0 run in the first game of what figures to be a grueling Pac-12 schedule.

Star of the night: Fifth-year senior Jaylyn Sherrod delivered one of the best performances of her CU career, tallying a career-high 34 points on 13-for-23 shooting. She also tallied six steals as the Buffs forced 20 turnovers as a team.

Quotable: “I think we have tremendous depth. There’s gonna be some nights that some players need to be on the floor based on who they’re playing or how they’re playing. We trust everybody that plays. I know that our team stays really focused, so whoever stays in at the end of the game is going to be dialed in.” — CU coach JR Payne

Up next: The Buffs play at Arizona at 6 p.m. Friday and at Arizona State next Sunday at noon. CU’s next home game is Friday, Jan. 12, versus California.