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Buff golfers prepare for tough Hawai’i tourney
Feb 6th
WAIKOLOA, Hawai’i — The University of Colorado men’s golf team arrived here Saturday in preparation for its spring opener, the 24th annual Amer Ari Hawaii-Hilo Invitational.
The tournament, which runs this Thursday through Saturday, will once again provide an indication of where the Buffaloes stand right out of the gate, not just nationally, but with seven other Pac-12 schools competing, the Buffs will get an early idea of where they stand in the conference.
The field here is annually one of the strongest in the spring, and it’s no exception this year with three top 10 teams competing and 10 of the top 50 and all but two (out of 17) in the top 100. It also includes 10 of the nation’s top 30 individuals and the No. 7 Division II program in CSU-Monterey Bay.
Colorado (No. 83 in the final Golfweek fall rankings), will be joined in the field by league counterparts Stanford (No. 9), Washington (No. 13), UCLA (No. 17), Southern California (No. 25), Arizona State (No. 37), Oregon (No. 60) and Oregon State (No. 67). Other top schools competing include No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Texas and No. 26 Auburn.
The three-day tournament is a real treat for the participants, as the tournament will be played on the renowned 7,074-yard, par-72 Waikoloa King’s Course on Hawai’i’s Big Island, a Scottish links-style layout with fairways interspersed between ancient lava fields, along with numerous lakes and pot bunkers. The teams will play 18 holes each day in a shotgun start format at 10:30 a.m. MST in weather expected to be near-perfect with temperatures in the low 80s.
Colorado head coach Roy Edwards said the team is looking forward to the spring season getting underway.
“This tournament annually has a great field, and it’s always really exciting,” Edwards said. “It’s been just over three months since our last tournament and we’re ready to get our spring season going. We’ve had some solid days of practice out here, which we were in need of considering the weather back home. If we take care of business and play the way we’re capable, we’re confident that we can beat some really good teams.”
Six Buffaloes are on trip; five will score for the team: junior David Oraee (73.9 fall stroke average) sophomore Philip Juel-Berg (73.5) and three true freshmen: Jeremy Paul (72.9), Yannik Paul (72.5) and Andrew Bonner (77.7). Oraee, Juel-Berg and Jeremy Paul played in all five competitions, while Yannik Paul appeared in four and Bonner two. Senior Johnny Hayes (74.4) will play as an individual.
DAVID PLATI | ASSOCIATE AD/SPORTS INFORMATION
With Dinwiddie injured, Huskies trounce Buffs
Jan 12th
By Alex Kaufman, CU Sports Information
SEATTLE – The Colorado Buffaloes suffered their first Pac-12 Conference defeat on Sunday afternoon – 71-54 to Washington – but they left for Boulder hoping they hadn’t absorbed a larger loss.
The No. 15 Buffs (14-3, 3-1) appeared to dictate the pace for much of the first half at Alaska Airlines Arena, leading by as many as seven points. But they struggled to find a rhythm after losing junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie to a knee injury with 2:51 left in the half.
Dinwiddie finished with 7 points and 1 assist in 15 minutes. Speaking with reporters after the game, CU coach Tad Boyle expressed concern over the injury to CU’s leading scorer.
“My gut says it’s not good, but we’ll see,” Boyle said. “If he’s out, he’s out. I feel so bad for the kid because he’s worked so hard, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
CU, still off to its best start since the 2005-06 season, had no answer for UW’s C.J. Wilcox. He finished with a game and career-high 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting and was deadly from downtown. The senior guard hit seven three-pointers, including five in the second half, to put the game out of reach.
“Every time he shoots it, you think it’s going in,” Boyle said. “He’s got such a good stroke a good release and he gets it off quickly. A guy who plays without the ball like that is pretty special.”
Colorado committed a season-high 20 turnovers and shot just 1-for-12 (.083) from beyond the arc. Josh Scott, who has now scored in double figures in eight consecutive games, paced the Buffs with 15 points.
“The second half, boy we shot ourselves in the foot. You turn the ball over 20 times against a good team and you’ve got six assists, it’s just a recipe for disaster,” Boyle said. “They’re a good team and they’ve got good players and they’re playing well right now.”
Wesley Gordon, who finished with a season-high 13 rebounds and 11 points, collected 11 boards in the first half en route to posting his first career double-double.
Washington stormed out in the second half with a pair of early three-pointers by Wilcox and Andrew Andrews to erase a four-point halftime deficit, and the Huskies never looked back. They shot a blistering 66.7 percent from the field in the second period (16-of-24), including 70 percent (7-10) from beyond the arc, and capitalized on a number of second-half miscues by the Buffs. CU coughed the ball up 11 times in the second half, which led to 21 Husky points.
Scott’s play was a bright spot for the Buffs in the second half. After a relatively quiet first half, the sophomore forward exploded for 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting and connected on all 7 attempts from the free throw line.
CU returns to the Coors Events Center next week to play UCLA and USC. The Buffaloes tip off against the Bruins Thursday at 6 p.m. before playing the Trojans at noon Saturday.
CU WBB get’s out of California 1-1
Jan 6th
LOS ANGELES – No. 12/14 Colorado erased a late nine-point second half deficit to edge UCLA, 61-59, Sunday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Jen Reese scored 15 points and Jamee Swanhad nine points and nine rebounds giving the Buffaloes (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12) a conference opening-weekend road split of the Southern California schools.
Trailing 52-43 with 6 minutes, 20 seconds left, the Buffaloes clamped down on defense and held the Bruins scoreless for the next 4:06 as CU embarked on a 10-0 run.
Reese started the run off with a made free throw. She missed the second but Swan corralled the layup and scored to cut the Bruins lead to six.
UCLA (7-8, 1-2) missed three straight shots and had a couple of turnovers as the Buffaloes whittled the lead down to 52-48 with 4:09 left on a pair of Ashley Wilson free throws.
After two more defensive stops, Arielle Roberson drilled a long two-pointer at the top of the key at the 2:53 mark.
On the next possession, Brittany Wilson tied up Thea Lemberger with the arrow in the Buffs favor.
Brittany Wilson was fouled and hit one of two free throws to cut the UCLA lead to one at 52-51. She missed the second one, but the scramble for the ball fell out of bounds in CU’s favor. Wilson then drove the lane and scored on a layup in traffic as CU regained the lead at 53-52 with 2:32 left.
UCLA’s Luliana Livulo hit a couple of free throws at 2:14 as the Bruins briefly retook the lead. But Reese hit a jumper at the top of the key, in the exact same spot as Roberson’s earlier jumper, to give Colorado a 55-54 lead with 1:55 left. After a defensive stop for CU, and both teams swapping turnovers, Swan scored on a layup for a 57-54 lead.
The Buffaloes kept the Bruins out of reach at the free throw line. Lexy Kresl hit a pair to extend the lead to five. UCLA’s Nirra Fields, who led all players with 23 points, countered with a layup. She was fouled and hit the subsequent free-throw to cut the CU lead to 59-57 with 16 seconds left.
Brittany Wilson was fouled immediately and hit one of two from the line to up the CU lead to three. Lemberger attacked the rim and scored with eight ticks left to knock the lead back to one at 60-59.
Wilson again was sent to the line and again hit one of two. With no timeouts left, Lemberger hustled down the floor took a contested runner in the lane. Livulo grabbed the offensive rebound but her put back fell short at the buzzer.
Jasmine Sborov had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Buffaloes. Atonye Nyingifa had a double-double for the Bruins with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Colorado returns home to host the Bay Area schools next weekend. The Buffaloes will have their Pac-12 home opener on Friday, Jan. 10, by playing California at 8 p.m. Colorado will then face Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 12, at 3 p.m. Both games are scheduled for the Pac-12 Network.