Posts tagged MDT
MBB: CU into quarterfinal in Pac-12 tourney
Mar 13th
by B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com
LAS VEGAS – In March, basketball teams can live on their game’s intangibles and die without them. On an afternoon when their leading scorer’s frustration nearly overshadowed his productivity and little else went smoothly, the Colorado Buffaloes turned to those intangibles to survive – and they did.
No. 5 seed CU used an 8-0 run late in the second half to pull away from No. 12 seed Southern California, then held on loosely to eliminate the Trojans 59-56 in Wednesday’s first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.
A relieved CU coach Tad Boyle called it an exercise in winning ugly – but in March ugly still counts. The Buffs (22-10) advance to play No. 4 seed California (19-12) in Thursday’s quarterfinal round (3:30 p.m. MDT) in the MGM Garden Arena. In their only meeting this season, Cal defeated CU by one point in overtime last weekend in Berkeley.
CU’s 22nd win of the season ties for the fourth-most wins in school history, with Boyle owning three of the top four winningest seasons.
Reaching the quarterfinals was more difficult than many imagined for CU. USC, losers of 11 of its final 12 regular-season games, took a five-point lead with 9:46 remaining Wednesday and appeared ready to close out the erratic Buffs, who had swept the Trojans (11-21) in their two previous meetings.
But CU dialed up one of the intangibles – mental toughness – that finally surfaced late in the regular season and nearly carried the Buffs to a sweep of their Bay Area road trip. It arrived when needed in Vegas, and it came in the form of chasing down long rebounds, loose balls and protecting the ball over the game’s final 10 minutes. The Buffs committed nine of their 13 turnovers in the first half, the other four in the opening minutes of the second half.
“When you don’t play your best and you’re off your game with multiple guys on multiple levels and you figure out a way to win, that’s a testament to your mental toughness,” Boyle said. “When it’s a game that shots aren’t going in and you’re struggling offensively and the whistle is not going your way on either side, that’s where mental toughness really has to take over. That’s where I think our team over the last two weeks has made tremendous strides.”
Down 47-42 with just under 10 minutes to play, maybe CU’s – and junior guard Askia Booker’s – alarm buttons were hit. Booker converted a three-point play, followed with a 15-foot jumper, then fed Xavier Johnson for a stuff that tied the score at 49-49 with 8:01 left.
“Around the first media timeout in the second half, I told myself that it’s either now or never,” Booker said. “I talked to coach (Jean) Prioleau and he said, ‘It’s time.’ That’s when I told myself, let’s get going.
Booker led the Buffs with 21 points – his fifth 20-point game of the season and seventh of his career. He also contributed seven rebounds and four assists against only one turnover. Boyle said Booker “made some big-time plays, but he played with great composure. We’re going to need him to do that because he’s important to our team, as all our guys are.”
One of Booker’s most significant plays belonged in the intangible column. Going out of bounds to retrieve a long rebound off a teammate’s missed shot, Booker leaped and slammed the ball off a Trojans player’s leg with 10.2 seconds left to give the Buffs another possession.
“They got a loose ball that was going out of bounds and threw it off our legs. They got the ball back,” first-year USC coach Andy Enfield said.
When Booker has reached 20-plus points this season, the Buffs are 4-1. He’s been at his best against USC, averaging 20.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists in three wins against the Trojans this season. The Buffs won 83-62 in Boulder, 83-74 in Los Angeles and now lead the series 7-3, including 5-0 since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
Sophomore post Josh Scott, frustrated and held to one first-half point largely by USC’s large (7-0, 270) Egyptian center, Omar Oraby, keyed CU’s decisive 8-0 run with three consecutive baskets inside to break a 50-50 tie and give the Buffs a 56-50 advantage with 4:10 to play.
When Booker added a layup in transition, the Buffs had their largest lead of the afternoon – 58-50 – and the Trojans were in desperation mode. As it had all game, USC turned to Byron Wesley (23 points) for five of its last seven points and a potential game-tying 3-pointer that clanged off the left side of the rim at the buzzer.
Scott, who attempted only three first-half shots and made one of two free throws, scored 12 second-half points and collected a game-high nine rebounds – a respectable ending to a frustrating afternoon for CU’s leading scorer (14.5 ppg).
“It was frustrating,” Scott said. “I think that was pretty obvious I was pretty frustrated. But I thank my teammates a lot for having confidence in me to keep getting me the ball there at the end. It tells me that they still have confidence even when I might not have the most confidence in myself at the time.”
Boyle called the 6-10 Scott “the ultimate battler . . . that’s what he does. He battles every day on every possession offense and defense. People have no idea how big and how strong Oraby is . . . I didn’t want to play Josh as many minutes (33) as I did. I hoped I wouldn’t have to, but you’ve got to survive and advance.”
Scott finished 4-of-14 from the field, but frontcourt mates Wesley Gordon and Johnson had his back – each hitting four of their six field goal attempts. Johnson scored eight of his 11 points in the first half, when he hit back-to-back 3-pointers on his only two attempts to give CU its largest first-half lead – 10-4. But the Buffs led by only two – 29-27 – at intermission. The 6-9 Gordon finished the afternoon with eight points, six rebounds, one blocked shot, one assist and one steal.
Gordon called the Trojans “a different team than the Southern California team that we’ve played before. They came out with a lot of energy and they were very physical with us. They played really, really well.”
The Buffs outrebounded the Trojans 38-27, out-pointed them in the paint 34-30 and had 10 fast break points to USC’s two. The Trojans’ bench outscored the Buffs’ 9-2, with Dustin Thomas scoring CU’s only points off the bench. One of the reserves Boyle used was freshman Tre’Shaun Fletcher, who suffered a knee injury on Jan. 12 at Washington and had not played until Wednesday. Fletcher played 3 minutes and missed his only field goal attempt.
CU hit just nine of its 16 free throw attempts, with its 56.3 percentage the second lowest of the season. USC attempted 22 3-pointers, making just five. “It’s been a weakness of ours all year,” Enfield said. “We need to get some guys to make shots.”
Overnight Wednesday and on Thursday morning, CU turns its focus toward Cal. The Buffs like the short time – five days – between games; the memory of the OT loss remains fresh.
“We lose to them, like, just a couple of days ago and we get another crack at them. You can’t ask for more,” said Scott, adding that the intangibles the Buffs latched onto in Vegas eluded them in Berkeley. “They got a couple of loose balls, long rebounds that we had to get to win the game. We didn’t, so that hurt our chances.”
But, added Booker, “I think we can compete with them – with anybody in the Pac-12 really. But (Thursday) is the day to come out and prove it.”
More rain to come this evening
Sep 14th
Flash Flood Watch in Northeastern Colorado
Active for next 1 day, 8 hours Locations: Boulder And Jefferson Counties Below … Show more
Posted 5 hours, 47 minutes ago – National Weather Service
- How likely:
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The original text for this alert has been automatically reformatted to correct capitalization.
Potential for flash flooding in the mountains, and in and near the foothills this afternoon through Sunday afternoon.
A weak upper level trough will move slowly across the area this afternoon through Sunday. Meanwhile a cool front will move across Northeast Colorado late tonight and increase upslope flow.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop this afternoon and linger into the early evening hours. Rainfall amounts will range from one quarter inch to one half inch. However stronger thunderstorms could produce up to an inch or more of rain in less than 45 minutes in a few locations.
There will be a lull in activity this evening however rain and a few thunderstorms may increase in the northern foothills and mountain areas north of I-70 after midnight as upslope flow develops. Additional rainfall amounts of one half inch to one inch may occur between midnight and 6 am Sunday morning in some locations. For Sunday there will be periods of rain along with a few thunderstorms in the mountains and in and near the foothills. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches could occur in some locations by late Sunday afternoon.
Thus if this additional heavy rainfall occurs then there could be more flash flooding as the ground is extremely saturated.
Flash Flood Watch in effect from noon MDT today through Sunday afternoon.
The National Weather Service in Denver has issued a Flash Flood Watch for portions of central Colorado, North Central Colorado and northeast Colorado, including the following areas, in central Colorado, Jefferson and West Douglas Counties above 6000 feet/gilpin/clear Creek/northeast Park counties below 9000 feet and south and southeast grand/west Central and Southwest Boulder/gilpin/clear Creek/summit/north and West Park counties above 9000 feet. In North Central Colorado, Larimer County below 6000 feet/northwest Weld County, Larimer and Boulder counties between 6000 and 9000 feet and South and East Jackson/larimer/north and northeast Grand/northwest Boulder counties above 9000 feet. In Northeast Colorado, Boulder and Jefferson counties below 6000 feet/west Broomfield County.
- From noon MDT today through Sunday afternoon.
- Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches with up to 3 inches will be possible in the mountains, and in and near the foothills through Sunday afternoon. At this time the best chance of heavier rainfall appears to be from late tonight through Sunday afternoon. However Scatttered thunderstorms this afternoon into the early evening hours could produce up to an inch of rain in less than 45 minutes in some locations which could lead to flash flooding as well.
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BUFF GOLFERS SLIP INTO SEVENTH AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 1st
LOS ANGELES — The University of Colorado men’s golf team slipped a notch from a tie for sixth into one for seventh after a high-scoring third round saw team scores escalate as the Pac-12 Conference Championships head into the final day of competition Wednesday.
No. 1 California remained in the lead but saw it shrink from nine strokes down to two. The Bears own a 1,056 team score, 6-over par, which is just ahead of No. 3 and host UCLA (1,058), which shot one of the two low rounds for the day, a 4-over 354. No. 4 Washington held its third place position, but is well back of the leaders at 1,078; Arizona State used the other low round in the field to zoom into fourth (1,084), with No. 7 Stanford rounding out the top five (1,092).
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 60, didn’t have a great day, but didn’t shoot themselves out of a first division finish, either. Colorado turned in a 30-over par 380 score for a 1,110 overall total, which has it tied with No. 11 Southern California and No. 51 Oregon State.
All 12 schools shot over par – to the tune of a total of 235 strokes. Only three players in the field turned in under par rounds Tuesday, with just four others matching par as the average score in the 72-man field jumped from 73.29 in the first round to 74.69 in the third.
The Buffs collectively recorded just eight birdies Tuesday, with 58 pars, 39 bogeys, four doubles and a quadruple.
“The hole locations were much more difficult,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “It was really tough out there, really hard. This is a major championship test, and in fields like this on a course like this, it’s hard to play 72 holes straight without having some struggles. And everyone went through it, this is one of USC’s home courses and they’re dead even with us through three rounds. It’s just a big time challenge out there, but the truth is that it is very fair. The greens are very firm and very, very fast. This is a top 10 golf course in the world since they restored it three years ago.”
“I thought we did okay under the circumstances, and of course we wanted to play better,” Edwards added. “But we had way too many three-putts, my guess is somewhere around 20, 25. We were in pretty good spots for the most part, we only had a few bad approach shots, so for the most part things were in our control putting-wise. Much of the damage was early.”
CU’s six players were collectively 15-over par through just five holes, and also were 10-over the last three.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg continued to pace the Buffaloes, though he shot a 7-over 77 in the third round; his 7-over 217 is tied for 20th on the 7,236-yard, par-70 Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course design. He had 11 pars and seven bogeys on his day, with his 39 pars tied for the most in the field and his 4.07 average on the par-4 holes is sixth best. Of the 16 freshmen in the field (including three redshirts), Juel-Berg is fifth among them heading into the last 18 holes.
Junior Johnny Hayes shot CU’s best round of the day, a 4-over 74, which gave him a 10-over 220 total that has him tied for 27th. He had two birdies, 10 pars and six bogeys for his round; he turned at 5-over but was one of the few players in the field to play either nine under par when he had both of his birds and just one bogey on the front side.
Senior Derek Fribbs turned in a 6-over 76 for a 221 score (11-over), as he had two birdies and eight pars against eight bogeys Wednesday. He was even though 10 holes but bogeyed six of the last eight holes coming into the clubhouse.
Fribbs and Juel-Berg have yet to have a score worse than a bogey.
Sophomore David Oraee fashioned a 5-over 75, which has him in as 12-over 222 for 54 holes; he had a birdie and 11 pars against six bogeys for his effort on the day. Like many of his teammates, he was over par early, in his case, 4-over seven holes in, but settled down and played the last 11 at just 1-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo shot an 8-over 78 for a 233 score (23-over), as he had 10 pars against six bogeys and a double for the third round. Tied for 67th in the field, he opened with a double on No. 10 and then bogeyed the next three holes to stand 5-over just four holes in, but gathered himself to reel off eight straight pars.
Senior Jason Burstyn, CU’s No. 1 player and leader in stroke average (72.15), continued to struggle, though was playing a little better than he did Monday until he was derailed on his final hole of the day, the par-3 No. 9 where he scored a quadruple bogey after having some trouble in the bunker. He finished with a 9-over 79 for a 234 total (plus-24), which has him in 69th place entering the final round. He started the round well with a birdie, and had scored his third of the day right before the disaster on No. 9. Burstyn came into the meet with just one triple bogey in 34 rounds (and just three in 68 rounds dating to last year), but has had to endure a triple and a quad here this week.
Cal’s Max Homa is still riding his first round course record 61 and extended his individual lead to five strokes, as he shot a 71 in the third round for an 8-under 202. UCLA freshman Jonathan Garrick also shot a 71 for a 3-under 207 total, with four others six strokes back at 2-under 208.
The fourth and final round is set for Wednesday, with play beginning at 9 a.m. MDT off both the No. 1 and 10 tees; Colorado will be paired with USC and Oregon State and will begin play off the back nine on Wednesday in the first six groups to start the day.
“We’re hoping this was our ‘struggle’ round of the week and that we will finish strong and rebound Wednesday,” Edwards said.
NOTES: Through 54 holes, just six players are under par and two others at even … After six eagles were recorded on Monday, just one went into the books Tuesday … Fribbs (-4) and Hayes (-3) are two of just 18 players in the field to be more than 2-under par on the three par-5 holes … The Pac-12 Network will air highlights of the championship on Saturday, May 11, at Noon MDT.
LOS ANGELES — The University of Colorado men’s golf team slipped a notch from a tie for sixth into one for seventh after a high-scoring third round saw team scores escalate as the Pac-12 Conference Championships head into the final day of competition Wednesday.
No. 1 California remained in the lead but saw it shrink from nine strokes down to two. The Bears own a 1,056 team score, 6-over par, which is just ahead of No. 3 and host UCLA (1,058), which shot one of the two low rounds for the day, a 4-over 354. No. 4 Washington held its third place position, but is well back of the leaders at 1,078; Arizona State used the other low round in the field to zoom into fourth (1,084), with No. 7 Stanford rounding out the top five (1,092).
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 60, didn’t have a great day, but didn’t shoot themselves out of a first division finish, either. Colorado turned in a 30-over par 380 score for a 1,110 overall total, which has it tied with No. 11 Southern California and No. 51 Oregon State.
All 12 schools shot over par – to the tune of a total of 235 strokes. Only three players in the field turned in under par rounds Tuesday, with just four others matching par as the average score in the 72-man field jumped from 73.29 in the first round to 74.69 in the third.
The Buffs collectively recorded just eight birdies Tuesday, with 58 pars, 39 bogeys, four doubles and a quadruple.
“The hole locations were much more difficult,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “It was really tough out there, really hard. This is a major championship test, and in fields like this on a course like this, it’s hard to play 72 holes straight without having some struggles. And everyone went through it, this is one of USC’s home courses and they’re dead even with us through three rounds. It’s just a big time challenge out there, but the truth is that it is very fair. The greens are very firm and very, very fast. This is a top 10 golf course in the world since they restored it three years ago.”
“I thought we did okay under the circumstances, and of course we wanted to play better,” Edwards added. “But we had way too many three-putts, my guess is somewhere around 20, 25. We were in pretty good spots for the most part, we only had a few bad approach shots, so for the most part things were in our control putting-wise. Much of the damage was early.”
CU’s six players were collectively 15-over par through just five holes, and also were 10-over the last three.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg continued to pace the Buffaloes, though he shot a 7-over 77 in the third round; his 7-over 217 is tied for 20th on the 7,236-yard, par-70 Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course design. He had 11 pars and seven bogeys on his day, with his 39 pars tied for the most in the field and his 4.07 average on the par-4 holes is sixth best. Of the 16 freshmen in the field (including three redshirts), Juel-Berg is fifth among them heading into the last 18 holes.
Junior Johnny Hayes shot CU’s best round of the day, a 4-over 74, which gave him a 10-over 220 total that has him tied for 27th. He had two birdies, 10 pars and six bogeys for his round; he turned at 5-over but was one of the few players in the field to play either nine under par when he had both of his birds and just one bogey on the front side.
Senior Derek Fribbs turned in a 6-over 76 for a 221 score (11-over), as he had two birdies and eight pars against eight bogeys Wednesday. He was even though 10 holes but bogeyed six of the last eight holes coming into the clubhouse.
Fribbs and Juel-Berg have yet to have a score worse than a bogey.
Sophomore David Oraee fashioned a 5-over 75, which has him in as 12-over 222 for 54 holes; he had a birdie and 11 pars against six bogeys for his effort on the day. Like many of his teammates, he was over par early, in his case, 4-over seven holes in, but settled down and played the last 11 at just 1-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo shot an 8-over 78 for a 233 score (23-over), as he had 10 pars against six bogeys and a double for the third round. Tied for 67th in the field, he opened with a double on No. 10 and then bogeyed the next three holes to stand 5-over just four holes in, but gathered himself to reel off eight straight pars.
Senior Jason Burstyn, CU’s No. 1 player and leader in stroke average (72.15), continued to struggle, though was playing a little better than he did Monday until he was derailed on his final hole of the day, the par-3 No. 9 where he scored a quadruple bogey after having some trouble in the bunker. He finished with a 9-over 79 for a 234 total (plus-24), which has him in 69th place entering the final round. He started the round well with a birdie, and had scored his third of the day right before the disaster on No. 9. Burstyn came into the meet with just one triple bogey in 34 rounds (and just three in 68 rounds dating to last year), but has had to endure a triple and a quad here this week.
Cal’s Max Homa is still riding his first round course record 61 and extended his individual lead to five strokes, as he shot a 71 in the third round for an 8-under 202. UCLA freshman Jonathan Garrick also shot a 71 for a 3-under 207 total, with four others six strokes back at 2-under 208.
The fourth and final round is set for Wednesday, with play beginning at 9 a.m. MDT off both the No. 1 and 10 tees; Colorado will be paired with USC and Oregon State and will begin play off the back nine on Wednesday in the first six groups to start the day.
“We’re hoping this was our ‘struggle’ round of the week and that we will finish strong and rebound Wednesday,” Edwards said.
NOTES: Through 54 holes, just six players are under par and two others at even … After six eagles were recorded on Monday, just one went into the books Tuesday … Fribbs (-4) and Hayes (-3) are two of just 18 players in the field to be more than 2-under par on the three par-5 holes … The Pac-12 Network will air highlights of the championship on Saturday, May 11, at Noon MDT.