Posts tagged Sabatino Chen
CU gets payback for home loss, advances PAC-12 tournament to another possible payback
Mar 14th
The opportunity for payback came quickly for the Colorado Buffaloes and they didn’t let it pass. Beaten and embarrassed last weekend on their home court by lowly Oregon State, the Buffs regrouped and eliminated the Beavers 74-68 on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.
And the second round brings another opponent the Buffs and their fans might always feel is owed a little something.
No. 5 seeded CU (21-10) advances to face No. 4 seed Arizona (24-6) on Thursday. The Buffs and Wildcats split their two regular-season meetings, each team winning at home but Arizona needing a disallowed three-pointer at the buzzer to win in the teams’ conference opener in overtime in Tucson.
“Yeah, we do feel like we’re 2-0 (against the Wildcats),” said CU sophomore guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who led the Buffs with 20 points on Wednesday, including eight straight after the Beavers had pulled to within a point in the second half. “We don’t go back and cry over spilled milk. We know it goes in the record book as a loss.
“But a lot of people around the country have the same feeling that we do. Even some of their players do because
we kind of talked about it on the floor last time (in CU’s 71-58 Valentine’s Night win in Boulder).”
Game three of the growing rivalry tips Thursday at 3:30 p.m. MDT (Pac-12 Network) in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “I think there is a lot of mutual respect between the programs, and I respect their coach and their coaching staff,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “I think what we did last year, and this year and these young men sitting beside me, I think we’ve earned some respect as well. So I look for a heck of a game.”
CU defeated Arizona twice last season, the final time (53-51) for the inaugural Pac-12 championship in Los Angeles. Out of that game, followed by Sabatino Chen’s waived-off buzzer beater on Jan. 3 in Tucson, burst a rivalry.
But to force another meeting, the Buffs had to dispose of the Beavers (14-18) Wednesday. And in Boyle’s words, the disposal process was unsightly. “Sometimes in tournament games you’ve got to win ugly,” he said, adding he couldn’t remember when his team shot from beyond the three-point arc (43.8 percent) than in front of it (39.3).
But in the second game with OSU in five days, CU had something that was missing on Saturday in Boulder – junior forward Andre Roberson, who returned after missing two games with a viral illness. He scored 12 points, added seven rebounds and, according to OSU coach Craig Robinson, was Wednesday’s difference-maker.
Asked that specifically, Robinson answered, “Is that a trick question, or did you not see Andre Roberson out there?”
Without ‘Dre’ last Saturday, the Buffs were outrebounded by the Beavers 38-32. With him back in the lineup, and with Josh Scott contributing 10 boards – eight big ones in the first half – and Xavier Johnson getting eight more, CU outrebounded OSU 43-30.
Roberson also was enough of an inside presence on the defensive end to help limit the Beavs to 39.7 percent from the field. He also contributed to CU having an 18-12 advantage in second-chance points.
“Roberson gave them a different look,” said OSU guard Roberto Nelson, who led his team with 20 points. “He does a lot for their team. There’s a reason he’s one of the best players in the league.”
But ‘Dre’ said he didn’t feel like that in his return to the court. “I was just trying to work myself back into shape and get the rustiness out,” he said, undoubtedly alluding to his five turnovers. “When you haven’t played in a long time, hadn’t touched the ball or run or anything . . . hey, I was relying on one day and that was (Tuesday). I felt like I did a pretty good job actually.”
He entered the tournament as the nation’s leading rebounder (11.5 rpg) and said this of Wednesday’s effort: “I slacked a little bit on the rebounding end. But I’ll pick it up (Thursday).”
In addition to Dinwiddie’s 20 and Roberson’s 12, CU got 16 points from Johnson and eight first-half points off the bench from Jeremy Adams, who continues to be a late-season force. Boyle said Adams “gave us some great first-half minutes . . . he made some shots (and) is a lockdown-type defender. I think I’d put him in there with ‘Sab’ (Sabatino Chen) and Andre in terms of his understanding of our defensive concept.”
Roberson, the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of The Year, knocked down a three-pointer followed by a pair of free throws that gave the Buffs a 12-point lead (61-49) with 2:43 remaining. It was CU’s largest advantage of the afternoon, with Roberson’s trey the Buffs’ final field goal of the game.
Oregon State pulled to within five points in the final three minutes, but CU hit 15 of 21 throws in the last 2:43 to advance against No. 18 Arizona. The Buffs are 4-2 against ranked opponents this season, their most wins in that category since the 2002-03 season.
After a back-and-forth first half Wednesday, the Buffs took 32-26 lead at intermission – and they did it dramatically. After a Beavers turnover with 1.1 seconds remaining, Chen inbounded the ball just across the mid-court line to Dinwiddie, who cleared himself to shoot with two dribbles and let his shot fly.
The horn sounded with the ball in the air – and CU had its fourth (and longest) three-pointer of the first half in 11 attempts.
Said Dinwiddie: “I just wanted to get open and get it up there . . . It gave us momentum; they had just come back.”
Prior to their six-point halftime advantage, the Buffs had led by as many as seven before the Beavs regrouped and tied the score at 23-23 with a 7-0 run. They made it a 10-2 spurt and went up 26-25 before CU closed out the half with a short jumper by Scott, a pair of free throws by Chen and Dinwiddie’s half-court swish.
At tip-off all CU eyes were on Roberson, who was cleared to play in the tournament on Tuesday morning. Roberson started, took a break at the 14:23 mark, then reentered the game with 12:13 remaining.
But less than three minutes later, with 10:47 left before intermission, Roberson picked up his second personal foul and went to the bench for the remainder of the half. If he needed rest, he hadn’t figured on getting it this way. He finished the half with two points and one rebound in seven minutes.
Oregon State, which defeated CU 64-58 last Saturday, crept to within 53-46 before Askia Booker hit a triple to put the Buffs back in front by double-digits (56-46). Booker had been scoreless (0-8 from the field) until that basket.
“I mentioned to our staff in the locker room (that) he was one-for-nine,” said Boyle, “but the one he hit was a big-time shot.”
Still, the Beavers were intent on making it a close game. When Ahmad Starks drained a three with 1:54 to play, his team trailed by only 63-57, and a trey by Eric Moreland (14 points, 13 rebounds) made it a five-point game (65-60) with 1:35 left.
A three-point play by Nelson pulled the Beavs to 72-68 in the final 10 seconds, but Dinwiddie’s final pair of free throws with 6.5 left sealed it and sent the Buffs into Thursday’s second round against the Wildcats.
Dinwiddie said the Buffs “have to stick with what we do – hold them to under 40 percent field goal percentage and outrebound them. (Then) we have a good shot at winning the game. That’s pretty much our focus every game. They’re a team that plays pretty stout defense. I guess a lot of people kind of say they’ve turned into our rivals because we’ve faced them so many times . . . faced them in the (Pac-12) championship last year. They’re always a great match up.”
Added Roberson: “They’re a great program. They play just like us – same philosophies. It’s like the cat going to get the mice; we’ve got to come hungry . . . and be ready to play.”
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CU Buffs Down Oregon Ducks
Mar 8th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER -After thee, one-point victories over the Ducks. Colorado put the hurt on Oregon 76-53.
It was an outrageous, out-of-sight blowout Thursday night at the sold-out (11,013) Coors Events Center, and at night’s end CU savored a sweep of Oregon and its fourth win in six games this season against a Top 25 opponent.
If the Buffs needed another highlight on their NCAA Tournament resume, this was it. And if coach Tad Boyle needed another milestone win in his three-year CU career, he can put a check by this one.
“I told the team in the locker room I have been coaching division one basketball for 18 years now and I am not sure I have been more proud of a group of guys with what they did and how they stepped up,” Boyle said. “Our starters, bench, whoever we put in there played their hearts out and we beat a good solid basketball team.
Unfortunately, we cannot enjoy it as much as we would like to, we have to get ready for Saturday, and this was a gutty effort with a great basketball team.”
The Buffs, now 9-3 in their last 12 games, close the regular season on Sunday against Oregon State (2:30 p.m., CEC).
In the absence of the 6-7 Roberson, who is day-to-day with a viral illness, the Buffs took up the slack by committee. Their headliner was freshman Xavier Johnson, who responded with a career-high 22 points. He was perfect from the field, hitting seven-of-seven, including three-of-three from beyond the arc, and was five-of-six from the free throw line.
Boyle called Johnson’s performance “terrific . . . his performance was big time, when you make shots it covers up a lot of things and we were not able to do that at Cal but we were able to do it tonight. I was really proud of him stepping up because he is a guy that with Andre being out we needed to count on.”
Sophomore guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker added 17 and 11, respectively. Dinwiddie contributed seven rebounds and Booker six. Junior Jeremy Adams left the bench for seven points, and senior Sabatino Chen – opening in Roberson’s place – got six.
Oregon has three players with 10 points each – Jonathan Lloyd, Ben Carter and Arsalan Kazemi.
Chen returning the starting five gave the Buffs a smaller than usual lineup that produced matchup problems for the Ducks. Said Oregon coach Dana Altman: “They went small and we had a little trouble with that and then (Xavier) Johnson stepped up and hit a lot of shots, so he played really well. (He) really made a big difference in the game.”
Even without Roberson’s 11.5-board average (he also averages 10.8 points) and fierce defensive presence, the Buffs outrebounded the Ducks 38-35 and held them to 35.7 percent shooting. CU now has held nine consecutive Pac-12 Conference opponents under 70 points – the most since 16 foes were held under 70 during the entire 1962 Big Eight season and the first two games of the following season.
“Rebounding is always our emphasis,” Dinwiddie said. “We like to say that defensive rebounding is the pillar of our program. But of course when someone like Andre goes out and rebounding is their specialty, you have to pick up the slack in that area. We just all had to pick up the rebounds as a team.”
CU improved to 20-9 overall – its school-record third 20-win season, all under Boyle – and 10-7 in the Pac-12. Oregon, needing a win to clinch a tie for first place in the conference, leaves Boulder 23-7, 12-5.
CU has had its share of injury/illness problems over the past three weeks. Freshman center Josh Scott was in his second game back since missing two with a concussion. He returned last weekend at California, scoring four points but hauling down 11 rebounds, and he collected eight on Thursday night with another four points.
Then comes Roberson’s illness . . . but the Buffs were a team on a mission. Johnson said Roberson’s absence “puts a lot of pressure on the freshman and everybody else, knowing that we have to make up for those rebounds. So, we just tried to do the best we could.”
The Ducks scored the game’s first basket – a jumper by E.J. Singler – but it was their last lead of the night. By intermission, despite Boyle having to sub liberally because of two fouls each on five of his key players, CU had rolled to a 37-21 lead – the Buffs’ largest halftime advantage of the season in Pac-12 play.
CU’s first-half defense was stifling, limiting Oregon to 18 percent shooting (3-for-16) in the first 10 minutes. By intermission the Ducks’ shooting had improved, but not by much – 7-for-26 (27 percent). The Buffs, meanwhile, improved on their 23 percent shooting last weekend at Cal, going 13-of-27 (48 percent) and hitting half of their eight three-point attempts.
Needing to at least maintain their intensity to open the second half, the Buffs took it a step further, outscoring the visitors 8-4 over the first 5 minutes to race ahead by 20 (45-25).
With 12:31 to play, CU pushed its advantage to 24 (55-31) on a pair of Dinwiddie free throws after a flagrant foul on Oregon. The Ducks could only get as close as 17 points in the final 10 minutes, and the Buffs pushed their advantage to 25 (71-46) before it was over.
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C
CU men lose to Golden Bears, throwing NCAA bid in doubt
Mar 3rd
CU, ranked fifth in the Pac-12 Conference going into Saturday’s game, falls to 19-9 overall and 9-7 in the Pac-12. The third-ranked Golden Bears, winning their seventh consecutive game, improved to 20-9 overall and 12-5.
Colorado struggled offensively Saturday with a season low in points, field goals made (15) and field goal shooting percentage (23.1). Freshman forward Xavier Johnson was the only CU player in double figures with 14 total points. Freshman Josh Scott returned to the lineup after missing two games with a concussion. He scored four points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Cal’s Justin Cobbs and Tyrone Wallace scored 16 points each, while David Kravish added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Wallace also hauled down 11 boards.
“We didn’t have one guy offensively make a shot tonight, but you have to credit Cal, they man-handled us,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “Our first shot defense was pretty good but those second-chance shots were tough.”
The Buffs came into Saturday’s matchup looking to smother guard Allen Crabbe, the leading scorer in the Pac-12 at more than 18 points per game. But when Crabbe recorded his third personal foul with 5:11 remaining in the half, he took to the bench.
An improving Cal team executed offensively without its star scorer, though. The Golden Bears went on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to go up 22-15, and while senior guard Sabatino Chen hit a three to end the half on an energetic note, the Buffs were still down four (24-20) at intermission.
The Golden Bears held the Buffs to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, CU’s worst first-half field goal percentage this season, and the Buffs’ 20 first-half points tied a season low recorded earlier this season at Washington.
Much of CU’s shooting woes came from a failure to capitalize off of Cal turnovers, as CU had a +2 turnover margin going into halftime, but had five fewer points off of turnovers than its opponent.
The Buffs found some energy out of the locker room, closing the gap back to two on a Xavier Johnson trey with 14:16 left in the game. Cal responded, though, with an 8-3 run over the next five minutes capped by a SC Top-10-worthy dunk by guard Tyrone Wallace.
Cal had widened its gap to nine by the 5:32 mark — and with a final shooting percentage of 23.1 from the field, the Buffs’ comeback attempt came nowhere close. By the final buzzer, CU was down 16 for a 62-46 loss.
“Cal wasn’t this Cal when they came to Boulder a month ago,” said Boyle, whose team won the first meeting 81-71. “So they’ve improved We were the best defensive team in the league for a stretch there but these guys have overtaken us and you can see why.”
CU returns to the Coors Events Center next weekend for its final two regular season matchups, against No. 24 Oregon on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Oregon State on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).
Boyle called Saturday’s contest “a big time game and we didn’t answer the bell. But it wasn’t because of our lack of effort and we can’t get too down on ourselves. We have two big games at home to finish out the season.”
At 12-4 in the Pac-12, the Ducks currently hold the top spot in the conference, while the Beavers are ranked 11th at 3-13.