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CU Men Step Up, Beat Utes Without Scott
Feb 22nd
Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – With freshman center Josh Scott on the bench in jeans and a team pullover, the Colorado Buffaloes needed someone to fill the void Thursday night against Utah. Turns out it wasn’t a question of whom, but how many.
Getting stand-up performances from players in stand-in roles and a typical night’s work from Andre Roberson, the Buffs put away the Utes 60-50 at the Coors Events Center.
Rbberson was a force in the victory over Utah.
“It was a must win,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to get it done.”
It followed a bitter overtime loss to Arizona State last Saturday and avenged an equally bitter loss in Salt Lake City earlier this month. Utah (11-15 overall, 3-11 Pac-12 Conference) won that one 58-55, withstanding a rally that almost brought CU back from a 22-point second-half deficit.
In the rematch, CU (18-8, 8-6) never got itself in that predicament, taking control with a 17-5 run to open the second half. The Buffs got 13 points from Spencer Dinwiddie, 12 from Sabatino Chen, 10 from Roberson and season-high nine from Jeremy Adams off the bench.
Roberson added 11 rebounds, 4 blocks and two steals. And among Roberson’s 11 boards was his 1,000th career rebound. He is in second place (1,006) at CU, trailing only Stephane Pelle (1,054).
“It means a lot,” Roberson said, mainly because of Boyle’s emphasis on defense and rebounding. Roberson said he took that emphasis “to heart . . . it’s a great accomplishment for me and I’m not done working.”
Boyle called Roberson “the best defender in America and without a doubt in the Pac-12 12 . . . he doesn’t get enough credit.” Boyle said Chen “was terrific defensively and getting the ball in the lane.” Adams, he said, contributed “critical minutes in both halves.”
And then there was Beau Gamble, whose contribution didn’t appear on the stat sheet and went unseen by the 9,823 at the CEC. According to Roberson, after the Utes “disrespected” the Buffs by banging on their locker room door at halftime, Gamble waded through and “messed up their huddle” before the Utes took the court.
Said Roberson: “We were behind him 100 percent. We’re not going to let anybody come in on our home court and punk us – so that’s how it is.”
If CU needed an edge to start the final 20 minutes, maybe Gamble’s “walk-through” provided it – although the visitors didn’t appreciate it. Whatever, the Buffs limited the Utes to 31.9 percent from the field and outrebounded them 22-14 in the second half.
Boyle also called for increased ball pressure and trapping Utah’s guards, which helped bring CU back in Salt Lake City. “They had to call some time outs (and) the traps took them out of some of their set plays,” Boyle said.
Scott was still in recovery mode from the elbow to the head received in last weekend’s brutally physical overtime loss to Arizona State. Boyle said Scott “is still day-to-day . . . I don’t know when he’ll be back. But until he gets back we’re going to need Shane (Harris-Tunks), Andre and everyone else.”
CU opened with a small starting lineup, using the 6-4 Chen in Scott’s place. Scott’s absence left the 6-11 Harris-Tunks as the Buffs’ biggest inside presence. Along with Roberson, Harris-Tunks was counted on to contend with Utah’s Jason Washburn, a 6-10 senior who entered the game averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game.
Harris-Tunks played five first-half minutes, with Roberson proving most effective against Washburn, who had scored in double figures in 14 of the past 16 games and had four double-doubles in Pac-12 play. One of his double-doubles (13 points, 11 rebounds) was against the Buffs on Feb. 2. Washburn finished Thursday night with 10 points and five boards.
“They were smaller, but they have a quick team,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “I thought the energy and movement really got them going. They kept the ball moving (and) we struggled to get the ball inside.”
Dinwiddie, who had averaged 23 points in his last three games, entered Thursday night having made 32 consecutive free throws. He went two-for-four in the first half but was the catalyst in the Buffs closing with a 9-2 run to take a 30-28 lead at intermission. He also hit four-of-four in the final 46 seconds, enabling CU to close out the win.
To Boyle’s chagrin, CU allowed Utah to shoot 50 percent (10-for-20) from the field in the first 20 minutes and gave up a two-rebound advantage (15-13). But minus Scott, CU’s bench made a contribution, outscoring Utah’s 8-2, with Adams getting six of his total in the first half.
“I was talking to some of my teammates and some of the guys who come off the bench and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to make up for Josh, if not by scoring then by rebounding,’” he said. “And I think we did a great job.”
The Buffs’ second-half challenges: tighter defense and better ball movement that hopefully would produce a higher second-half field goal percentage (42.3). CU attempted 17 first-half treys (hitting four), but Boyle refrained from telling his players to cease and desist.
“It’s such a big part of our offense and we really need it,” he said. But knocking a few down would help, and in the second half the Buffs attempted just seven more and hit two. Revving up their rebounding effort in the second half helped the Buffs outscore the Utes 14-8 on second-chance points.
After Utah freshman Jordan Loveridge – a former CU recruit – canned a three-pointer to put the Utes up 31-30 to start the second half, the Buffs answered with an 8-0 run to go to up 38-31. CU got its points in that surge on a tip-in by Xavier Johnson and back-to-back treys by Askia Booker and Chen.
Sensing the night might be slipping away, Krystkowiak called a timeout. But the Utes whiffed on that possession and Booker hit one of two free throws (39-31) and Roberson added a layup to push the Buffs’ lead to double digits (41-31).
Utah crept to within five points but CU responded with six consecutive points, completing a 17-5 run for a 47-36 advantage with 12:22 remaining. The big lead didn’t last, but neither did Utah’s energy.
The Utes pulled to within five points three times in the final 6:25, but got no closer. The Buffs made five of six free throws – four of them by Dinwiddie one of two by Chen – to account for the final margin.
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CU Women’s Second Half Comeback Pushes Buffs Past ASU Sun Devils
Feb 17th
Story by Caryn Maconi, CUBuffs.com
TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 21 Colorado women’s basketball team turned an eight-point first-half deficit into an eight-point victory here Sunday afternoon, earning a 71-63 win over Arizona State.
Having defeated Arizona 55-42 on Friday, the Buffs swept their Arizona road trip, marking the first sweep on conference road games for the Buffs in their Pac-12 Conference history.
Sophomore forward Jen Reese led the Buffs with a career-high 22 points, six more than her previous high.
Roberson scored all of her 16 points in the second half
The victory was CU’s fifth straight fand its 20th this season, improving the Buffs to 20-5 overall and 9-5 in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils fall to 11-15, 3-11 and are now on a seven-game losing streak.
Both teams scored in surges in the first half, but the Sun Devils had momentum on their side. After ASU scored the first two baskets of the game, CU scored seven straight. But the Sun Devils responded with a 10-0 run of their own, building an eight-point lead with 13:26 left in the half.
Though the Buffs would add another 6-0 run to close the gap to three (23-20) with six minutes remaining, the Sun Devils’ offense surged from there. ASU would eventually gain its largest lead of the half – 12 – at the 2:05 mark and enter intermission up 35-27.
CU outrebounded ASU 26-16 in the first half but struggled from the field, shooting less than 30 percent while the Sun Devils shot close to 50.
The Sun Devils held onto that momentum for the start of the second half, but with 16:22 on the clock, the Buffs – led by Reese and redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson – turned up the energy.
Sophomore Jen Reese had team and career high 22 points
Roberson scored three treys in nine minutes as part of an 18-6 CU run, and the Buffs finally took the lead (54-49) on Roberson’s third three-pointer with seven minutes remaining. They held onto their advantage until the final buzzer.
Roberson, who had gone scoreless in the first half, surged to finish the game with 16 points and eight rebounds. Reese’s 22 points were a game and career-high; the sophomore also added eight rebounds and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
Senior guard Chucky Jeffery was the third CU player in double figures, earning her 28th career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Colorado head coach Linda Lappe said before the game that it would be difficult to prepare for ASU’s offense in the absence of one standout scorer, and that balance showed Sunday afternoon.
“They have a number of different players that are doing some good things for them,” Lappe said. “When they don’t have a go-to player, it’s about everybody stepping up on defense and understanding that at any point anybody on their team can get hot. Sometimes that’s more dangerous than maybe having one player.”
The Sun Devils had three players in double figures; forward Janae Fulcher, guard Promise Amukamara and guard Adrianne Thomas ended the game with 14 points apiece.
The Buffs outrebounded their opponents 50-35, with four CU players grabbing seven or more boards. CU also committed just 10 turnovers compared to ASU’s 13, an improvement from Friday’s matchup against Arizona in which the Buffs’ turnover total was 20.
Colorado returns home this week to take on Washington State on Friday (7 p.m.) and Washington on Sunday (2 p.m.) at the Coors Events Center.
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CU Men Fall To ASU In OT On Buzzer-Beating Layup
Feb 17th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – A Saturday night of bumping, grinding, pounding and flailing ended with a soft buzzer-beating layup. And that ended the night badly for the Colorado Buffaloes.
Arizona State’s Evan Gordon split CU’s defense down the right lane, driving for the game-winning basket in overtime as the Sun Devils stunned the Buffs 63-62 at the sold-out, bummed-out Coors Events Center.
“Welcome to college football . . . I thought the season was over in December,” said disgruntled CU coach Tad Boyle. “It was an unbelievable physical game, the most physical game I’ve ever been a part of – college, high school, YMCA.”
Dinwiddie’s 24 points kept the Buffs in the game.
CU freshman Josh Scott took the brunt of the night’s physicality. Matched against Jordan Bachynski, Scott and the 7-2, 250-pound ASU center became entangled and spun to the floor with 16:02 remaining in the second half.
Bachynski got up, Scott didn’t. Motioned to come to the court by CU players, trainer Trey Tashiro rushed to attend to Scott. When Scott was able to sit up and finally stand, Tashiro escorted him to the locker room, where he remained for the rest of the game.
Boyle said Scott, after catching an elbow to the head, “blacked out and got a concussion.” Further tests are scheduled to determine Scott’s status for Thursday’s game against Utah (CEC, 8 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
Boyle credited Arizona State but said the night’s rough-and-tumble play and the scarcity of blown whistles – 35 fouls were called and maybe that many or more uncalled – “affected both teams . . . I thought our guys reacted well and played their hearts out. I had no problem with their effort and energy; they did everything we asked them to do on defense.”
He called Gordon’s drive “a hell of a play . . . a bang-bang play and we weren’t able to stop them.”
On ASU’s winning possession, which started with 8.3 seconds left after Spencer Dinwiddie’s layup gave CU a 62-61 lead, Buffs sophomore Askia Booker he and his teammates were aware of Sun Devils point guard Jahi Carson.
Boyle said the Buffs wanted to “get the ball out of (Carson’s) hands, and Booker added, “I think Jahi is so great with ball and can create his own shot, everybody was looking to him. Gordon had a straight-line drive . . . we just didn’t guard the ball well enough.”
Saturday night’s bitter defeat came two nights after CU had shocked No. 9 Arizona. Losing for the first time in four games, the Buffs fell to 17-8 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-12 Conference. ASU, which defeated CU 65-56 in Tempe last month, improved to 19-7, 8-5. Saturday night marked CU’s sixth sellout at the CEC this season, breaking the school record of five set in 2010-11.
The Buffs rallied to win close games last week at then-No. 19 Oregon and Oregon State, which left Boyle philosophical about Saturday night’s loss. “We stole two games in Oregon,” he said. “I can’t get too down . . . (but) it stinks. It’s college athletics and losing is no fun. The guys in our locker room are hurting, I’m hurting, our staff is hurting and BuffsNation is hurting.”
Josh Scott left the game after getting an elbo to the head from Arizona State’s 7-2, 250 pound center Jordan Bachynski
A foul-line jumper by Andre Roberson gave CU a 60-59 lead with 1:46 remaining in overtime, but Carson banked in a runner from the right side to push the Sun Devils ahead 61-60.
Boyle called a timeout but the Buffs went empty on that possession. At the other end, Carrick Felix missed two free throws with 24 seconds to play, giving the Buffs a chance.
Dinwiddie took it, making a layup to put CU up 62-61 with 8.3 seconds left. But the Buffs couldn’t cut off Gordon’s drive to the basket, and his layup trickled in as time expired, sucking the life out of the CEC.
Dinwiddie led CU with 24 points, with Booker adding 17 and Xavier Johnson 10. Carson’s 18 topped ASU, with Gordon scoring 14 and Bachynski 12.
Behind 15 rebounds by Roberson and 14 by Johnson, the Buffs won the board battle 41-26. Roberson collected 14 of his rebounds in the second half. The Sun Devils shot 46 percent from the field, the Buffs 35.1 percent. ASU’s biggest statistical edge was in the paint – 30-20.
CU trailed for the final 6:38 of regulation and had only one field goal from the 5:33 mark until a pair in the final 46.6 seconds by Booker and Johnson. It was Johnson’s dunk on a dish from Dinwiddie that tied the score at 54-54 and sent the game into overtime.
While the Buffs were struggling to hit a shot in the final 5 minutes, Dinwiddie hit 10 of 10 free throws before the baskets by Booker and Johnson. Dinwiddie finished 14-of-14 from the line.
The Buffs ran hot and cold in the first half, encountering a pair of scoring droughts and winding up three points behind (27-24) at halftime. That’s not to say Arizona didn’t have its first-half offensive troubles; the Sun Devils went 7:18 without a point and the Buffs took advantage, rolling to a 22-15 advantage behind the three-point shooting of Dinwiddie and Xavier Talton.
But as quickly as that seven-point lead appeared, it evaporated in the half’s final 4:10 as Arizona closed with a 12-2 run. In home games this season in which they trailed at halftime, the Buffs had been 1-1 (beating Texas Southern, losing to UCLA). Now they’re 1-2.
In most areas, CU clearly needed a quick reversal to open the second half. Less than two minutes in, Booker tied the score at 27-27 with a three-pointer from the left wing. But a rough patch – literally – was coming for the Buffs.
Inside play had been physical from the opening tip, with Bachynski trying to overpower Scott from the outset. Their duel intensified in the second half’s first 4 minutes, resulting in the entanglement that took Scott out of the game.
In Scott’s absence, the Buffs used 6-11 Shane Harris-Tunks and the 6-7 Roberson on Bachynski. By this time, the sold-out CEC was doing its part, but both teams were still having difficulty on the offensive end – mainly because anything seemed to be allowed on the defensive end.
With 7:11 to play, the score was tied at 38-38, and if the Buffs were going to win this one it wouldn’t be done softly.
A trey by Jonathan Gilling gave ASU a 41-38 advantage, then he added a pair of free throws to put the Sun Devils up by five (45-40) – their largest lead of the night – with 5:01 to play.
After Arizona went ahead 47-42, Dinwiddie hit four consecutive free throws to pull CU to within 47-46 with 3:56 to play. Just over a minute later, Gordon’s three-pointer from the right wing gave the Sun Devils a 50-46 advantage, but once again Dinwiddie cut CU’s deficit to 50-48 with a pair of free throws. Bachynski, who had missed a pair of foul shots at the 3:36 mark, hit a pair with 1:50 showing – and down 52-48, the Buffs were in trouble. It deepened when Carson sank another pair with 1:19 left, putting CU six points (54-48) down.
All that was keeping the Buffs afloat were Dinwiddie’s free throws – he got two more at 1:15 – until Booker hit a runner in the lane to bring the Buffs to within 54-52. It was CU’s first field goal since 5:33, that coming on another Booker basket.
ASU called timeout with 34.7 on the game clock and 24 seconds on the shot clock. The Sun Devils took the shot clock to zero, leaving the Buffs with 10.6 seconds to tie or win.
Dinwiddie fought his way through a double team to get the inbounds pass, raced up court and after going airborne, dished to Xavier Johnson for a stuff. It was 54-54 with 2.5 seconds to play.
ASU’s Carrick Felix got off a shot at the buzzer, but it bounded off the back iron. OT, along with heartache for the Buffs, were on the way.
Booker said the Buffs missed Scott “without a doubt. He’s our low-post presence . . . Coach told us it would be a physical game and that (Bachynski) would be one of the best players we’d face. We did pretty well with him.”
After scoring 16 points, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking nine shots in the first meeting, Bachynski line read 12, 3 and 3 in those categories Saturday night.
Boyle told his team that “every game from here on out is going to be like this . . . we’re 0-2 against Arizona State, but guess what? We’ve still got a conference tournament.”
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