Posts tagged CEC
CU women stay cool through big Iowa comeback, win 90-87
Nov 21st
By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
BOULDER – The draw was clear, but it didn’t matter. Colorado students turned out by the hundreds for Wednesday night’s women’s basketball game matching No. 16 CU against previously unbeaten Iowa. Never mind that they came mostly for tickets to the men’s game on Dec. 7 against No. 2 Kansas.
All that mattered to CU coach Linda Lappe and her players was that the students showed up. Turns out, the Buffs needed them. They had a difficult time holding leads, but they held off the Hawkeyes nonetheless, winning 90-87 at the Coors Events Center.
At game’s end, students traded wrist bands given to them upon entering the CEC for the coveted KU tickets. The court was nearly stormed – not to celebrate a win – but in time the distribution of just under 2,000 tickets went smoothly. Another 500 will be made available to students.
“Whether they came for tickets or to watch us, it was their choice to come . . . I mean they were there, what more can you say?” said CU senior guard Brittany Wilson.
Wilson topped five Buffs in double figures. She started for the first time this season and scored a career-high 26 points – 17 in the first half. Arielle Roberson scored 17 points, contributed a game-best nine of CU’s 44 rebounds (Iowa had 35) and had a career-high six assists. Lexy Kresl scored 12, while Jasmine Sborov and Jen Reese added 10 points each for the Buffs.
Rounding back into form after a leg injury, Wilson hit seven of 10 free throws in the final 1:46 as the Buffs turned back their Big Ten visitors. For the foul-filled night (59 were called on both teams), CU hit 30-of-40 free throws to Iowa’s 21-of-32. The Hawkeyes lost three players to fouls, the Buffs two. But CU benefitted most at the line, getting 15 of its final 18 points at the free throw line in the last 4:54.
Lappe called the CU students “a huge help in a game like that . . . we enjoy having them and we hope they come back. Having students support you is important in women’s basketball. We knew the student section was going to be awesome.”
With the Twitter world abuzz Tuesday about the KU ticket distribution plan, Lappe had told her players to “keep a narrow focus” on Wednesday night.
The Buffs did, didn’t and finally did. A 20-point first-half lead was cut to two early in the second half. A 15-point second-half lead was cut to three in the final half minute. Yet the Buffs kept their cool, remained unbeaten (3-0) and eventually handed the Hawkeyes their first loss in five games.
“We knew they weren’t going to lay down and die,” Lappe said. “Their players play hard. But in the end I liked how we responded to every one of their runs. We could have folded; instead, we came down and hit shot, got key rebounds and got stops.”
The Buffs led by as many as 20 points (46-26) late in the first half, but a 9-2 run to close the half pulled the Hawkeyes to within 48-35 at intermission. The Buffs’ 48 first-half points were their most since the 2011 WNIT when they hit 50 against Cal, but they ended up allowing more than 70-plus points since the 2011-12 season.
CU forged its double-figure lead with a 17-0 surge that broke an 8-8 tie less than 5 minutes into the game. Wilson scored six points during the Buffs’ spurt but just as instrumental as her scoring in that run was CU’s defense. While the Buffs were going from that 8-8 tie to a 25-8 advantage, the Hawkeyes went without a field goal in six attempts. By the time Iowa found its range again, CU had opened its 20-point margin.
The Buffs shot 45.9 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, hitting 17 of their 37 attempts, while the Hawkeyes went to the locker room at 40.7 percent (11-of-27). Iowa finished the game at 46.9 percent, thanks to 51.4 percent second half shootinig.
If the Buffs believed they could open the second half in cruise control, the Hawkeyes quickly put an end to the notion. Less than 2 minutes into the final 20, CU’s 20-point first-half lead was a distant memory.
The Hawkeyes one-upped their 9-2 run that closed the first half, outscoring the Buffs 10-2 to pull to within five points (50-45) on a Theairra Taylor three-pointer with just over 17 minutes remaining. Two minutes later, CU saw its lead cut to three (54-51) on a pair of free throws by Iowa freshman guard Ally Disterhoft.
One of two free by freshman Alexa Kastanek shrunk the Hawkeyes’ deficit to 56-54 – and the Buffs were in dire need of a boost. They got it with a 15-2 run.
Field goals by Sborov and Roberson, coupled with two Roberson free throws and another pair by Reese, pushed CU back up by 10 (64-54) with 10:01 left. Kresl added a layup, aided by a sweet look-off of an Iowa defender, then freshman Lauren Huggins drained a three-pointer from the left corner.
Suddenly, the Buffs were back up by 15 points (71-56) and appeared to be out of danger. The Hawkeyes had something else in mind – and rolling over wasn’t it. They used a 12-1 run to get within four points again (72-68) until Huggins’ huge trey from the right wing opened a 79-72 CU lead with 3:28 remaining.
Again, Iowa wasn’t done. Four consecutive free throws by Melissa Dixon brought Iowa to within 79-75 with 2:02 to play, and a layup by Clair Till pulled the Hawkeyes to 84-80 with 41.4 seconds showing. They got to 85-82, then 87-84, then 90-87 at the buzzer on a three-pointer by Samantha Logic, who tied Wilson with a game-high 26 points.
Lappe called the win “huge” for her team “to gain confidence and for our young players to get some minutes and see what that looks like.”
And as for the CU students, added Kresl, “Maybe it opened their eyes to us.”
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
It wasn’t pretty but CU men got a good win
Nov 19th
by B.G. Brooks
CUBuffs.com contributing editor
BOULDER – Colorado’s young Buffs are growing up, which means an occasional pain or two. For now, it’s nothing they can’t tolerate but it won’t stay that way much longer.
Ebbing and flowing Monday night at the Coors Events Center, CU alternately buried and revived Arkansas State before finally putting down the talented Red Wolves 93-70.
“Obviously, we’re happy with a 23-point win,” Buffs coach Tad Boyle said. “That was the good news. But I think again, like most games we’ve played this year, there’s a lot of things we can take from this one and learn from and get better from. And I think the thing that stands out for me tonight was defensive intensity.
“I thought we let up a little bit the first part of that second half, and part of that credit goes to Arkansas State. They’ve got good players; we knew that coming in . . . but we’ve got to have that killer instinct defensively. We let up a little bit and let them back in it. But we gained control of it and I was proud of our guys. There’s a lot of good things to build on.”
Let the construction work continue.
The Buffs (4-1) led by 18 points at halftime, by 20 in the opening seconds of the second half, then by only eight points with 13:30 remaining. Such are the mood swings for a team depending on four true freshman and a redshirt freshman for quality minutes.
CU ultimately took control against Arkansas State (2-2), which had lost 85-64 at Wyoming on Sunday, but it took a Spencer Dinwiddie three-pointer with 10:09 to play to restore a double-digit lead (68-56) and allow the Buffs to rediscover how to hit the accelerator. Dinwiddie, one of four CU players in double figures, had another fine floor game, hitting four of five field goal attempts (two-of-two threes) and three of four free throws for 13 points. He also had a game-high five assists and two steals.
But the Buffs’ high-point man was their growing low-post presence, Josh Scott, the 6-10 sophomore. His 20 points were one short of his career high. “They had a 6-7, although he was 250 pounds, and a 6-10 – but they were single-covering me and they weren’t digging hard,” Scott said. “If you’re going to give me that, I’m probably going to score. That’s pretty much all I can say about that.”
Also in double figures for the Buffs were freshmen George King (11) and Jaron Hopkins (10). Eleven of the 14 CU players in uniform scored, but for the second consecutive game the Buffs were without sophomore forward Xavier Johnson, who also missed Saturday’s game against Jackson State after being “dinged” in a late-week practice, according to Boyle.
Once again, Hopkins opened in Johnson’s place – and once again Hopkins was effective early, scoring five points on two free throws and a three-pointer in an 11-0 run that helped the Buffs open a 12-point (22-10) advantage. King also hit a pair of three-pointers during that surge and made good on a prophesy to roommate Tre’Shaun Fletcher.
“I noticed in warm-ups I wasn’t shooting the ball well, but in this one I focused on blocking everything out . . . . I told my roommate, ‘Fletch,’ I was going to hit a three in this game,” said King, who hit both of his three-point attempts as the Buffs hit nine for the second consecutive game.
But Boyle wasn’t necessarily pleased with that number, especially with the Buffs hitting only one of their first eight trey attempts and getting away from their offensive philosophy. They finished the half 6-of-15 from behind the arc and 9-of-23 for the game. Said Boyle: “I thought we got trigger happy in the first half with threes. We can’t live and die with those . . . we’re an inside-out team.”
Boyle previously had expressed a reluctance to have three freshmen on the court at the same time, but with Johnson out now for two games there is little choice at times. “I’d rather have it in a game like this,” Boyle said. “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I won’t look at them as freshmen. But our freshmen are growing up quick . . . tonight was another step in the right direction for them.”
CU trailed only once, allowing a trey by Melvin Johnson III – a 6-6 senior transfer from Texas-San Antonio – to open the scoring. Nothing out of the ordinary for Johnson; he entered the game having connected on 12-of-22 three-point tries in the Red Wolves’ first three games and was the team’s leading scorer (16.7 ppg).
He finished as Monday night’s leading scorer with 25 and teammate Brandon Reed added 21. But they were the only Red Wolves to score in the first half; their teammates went 0-for-13. Kirk Van Slyke, a 6-10 post, added 15 points, but aside from the Red Wolves’ brief second-half spurt they simply couldn’t keep pace with the Buffs’ mostly young guns.
CU pushed ahead 40-22 with 4:05 left before intermission, and at halftime, the Buffs were still up by 18 – 46-28. There was little reason to think the Red Wolves could catch up in the final 20 minutes, but they gave it a shot – a three-point shot. They hit five of their seven treys after intermission, pulling to within eight points twice before the Buffs decided ‘D’ might be necessary.
CU held A-State to 28.6 percent from the field (8-of-28) in the first 20 minutes, but 53.3 percent second-half shooting brought the Red Wolves to 41.4 percent for the game (24-of-58).
“I think we locked them up pretty well in first half . . . we chased them off the three-point line,” Scott said. “Coming out of the half, we didn’t find their shooters. They hit some good shots (but) we finally got locked in and got the win by a large margin.”
After Dinwiddie fed Hopkins for an alley-oop slam to open a 20-point lead (48-28) seconds into the second half, CU appeared to be cruising. But over the next 51/2 minutes, the Red Wolves outscored the Buffs 19-7, taking advantage of a familiar CU deficiency – perimeter defense.
A-State used four three-pointers during that span to pull to within 55-47 with just over 14 minutes remaining. But the visitors from Jonesboro, Ark., could get no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
The Buffs surged to a 25-point lead, 90-65, on a Beau Gamble-assisted Ben Mills stuff with 1:45 to play. Sophomore walk-on Brett Brady got the Buffs to 93 with a three-pointer in the final minute and the CEC crowd of 8,204 roared its approval.
Boyle wants the roaring – as well as the attendance – to increase. The Buffs’ six-game home stand begins to wind down Thursday when UC-Santa Barbara visits the CEC (6 p.m.). On Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m.), Harvard visits, and Boyle said the Buffs need to “get our minds right” for both games.
“The last two weeks this team has gotten better,” he said. “You can feel it offensively and defensively (but) Santa Barbara is a different caliber team, Harvard is a different caliber team. We’ll find out in the next two games how great those strides have been.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
CU women looking forward to playing an old opponent in NCAA tourney
Mar 19th
CU is matched against former Big Eight/12 Conference foe Kansas in its first game on Saturday, approximately 4:40 p.m., at the Coors Events Center. The Buffs (25-6) are a fifth seed, the Jayhawks (18-13) a 12th seed. A win would send CU against the winner of Saturday’s No. 4 South Carolina vs. No. 13 South Dakota on Monday night, at 7:30 p.m., at the CEC. South Carolina and South Dakota State will tip at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday at Coors.
“I’m excited to play a Big 12 opponent; we spent a lot of years in the Big 12 and the Big Eight,” said coach Linda Lappe, who in her third season guided the Buffs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance 2004 and the 13th in school history.
Lappe initially believed another former Big 8/12 conference foe – Nebraska – might wind up matched against her team. She said she was “excited for that opportunity (but) Kansas is going to be a tough opponent; I think anybody who makes it into the NCAA is going to be high level competition.”
During their final years in the Big 12, the Jayhawks had the Buffs’ number – a 7-1 record against them in their last eight meetings. In Lappe’s first season (2010-11) at CU, KU won all three games (two regular season, one postseason tournament).
CU senior guard Chucky Jeffery can recall KU’s domination before the Buffs said goodbye and headed for the Pac-12.
“Oh yeah, we remember,” Jeffery said at a Selection Show gathering Monday afternoon. “As soon as our name and Kansas came up on the screen, we all looked at each other like, ‘This is our time right here’. So we’re excited to have them come and play on our home floor, it’s definitely going to be a good game.
“I think, like coach Lappe said, we are a better team on our home floor so they (Kansas) can bring as many fans as they need, but I think we are going to have a pretty good turnout and play well.”
The Buffs were one of four Pac-12 teams to make the NCAA Tournament, joining Stanford, California and UCLA. Those teams were responsible for CU’s five conference losses, with the Cardinal ousting the Buffs from the league’s postseason tournament. Stanford is a No. 1 seed, Cal a No. 2 and UCLA a No. 3.
Lappe said her team’s seeding in the 64-team field was near what she anticipated: “We were expecting a five or six, right in that area, so we’re happy with that. The committee took a look at what we did all season long and I felt like that was a great seed with the wins we were able to get and having no bad losses.
“I know the committee takes a lot of things into consideration so you never quite know where you are going to be, but we are happy with that seed. It shows the committee gives us a lot of respect.”
The Buffs’ 25 wins are the women’s program’s most since the 1995-96 team finished 26-9. CU’s all-time NCAA Tournament record is 17-12, which includes an 8-2 mark in first-round games (9-3 in opening games, reflecting two first-round byes).
When Boulder was chosen for a first-round site, CU’s goal was to be included in the four-team field. Lappe called playing at the CEC, where her team was 15-0 this season, “a huge advantage; it’s a place we’ve had success all year, we’ve had great fan support. Being able to have our fans come out and support us, I think it is going to be one of the best first and second round games in terms of attendance that you are going to find out there.
“I think having that support always helps you, but you can’t take that for granted, you still have to come out and you still have to play well. But to be able to sleep in our own beds and to be in our comfort zones and not have to travel will be something that really helps us out, and obviously I like the altitude as well.”
By the time they tip off in Saturday’s first game, the Buffs will be on the last day of a 14-day break. They haven’t played since March 9, when they lost 61-47 to Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament in Seattle.
Lappe said the layoff can be viewed in “a few different ways. We’ve used it as some time to get some rest, and get some time away, so I think that is going to be very beneficial for us. I think we feel good, our legs are going to feel great. Obviously there’s that period of time if you have a long layoff where you haven’t competed, but we have practiced hard, we have a great group of practice guys that come in everyday and help us out.
“The most important part is what we do this week. This week will be like any normal week, we have four days to practice and then we will be getting ready to play on Saturday, so it’s a pretty typical week in terms of what were used to in the Pac-12.”
Jeffery, the team’s leading scorer (13.9 ppg) and rebounder (8.3 rpg), will close out her home career with an NCAA appearance she’s dreamed of.
“It means a lot,” she said. “It just shows how far we have come as a program, and how great the coaches have been at turning it around. And it’s all a tribute to my team, we have good players and we play together and we’ve had a great season. It’s just really satisfying to go out as a senior like this, and I just want to thank my teammates and my coaches for that.”
In the days preceding Monday’s Selection Show, Jeffery and the Buffs engaged in their own “bracketology” and tried to determine who they might play and the other two teams that would land at the CEC.
“We’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time, looking at the brackets and stuff like that, but you can’t really know,” she said. “We were way off (on their projections), we thought we were going to be up with Notre Dame, but we were off. We’re excited though.”
If the Buffs win their two home games, the Irish still could be in their future. Notre Dame is the No. 1 seed in the Norfolk bracket but plays its opening games in Iowa City. CU and Notre Dame would play in a Sweet 16 game on March 30.
The Buffs reaching the NCAA Tournament has caused a quandary for the family of CU redshirt freshman forward Arielle Roberson. Her brother, Andre, is a junior forward on the CU men’s team, which plays Illinois Friday in Austin, Texas, in the men’s tournament.
In high school in San Antonio, Arielle said she and Andre competed in the playoffs at the same time, creating a similar dilemma in the Roberson family. She called this week’s NCAA play at different sites “a great opportunity for both (of us), but it’s another competition in the family – who’s coming to who’s game.”
Maybe this is what they can hope for: Arielle and the CU women win two in Boulder and advance to Norfolk, Va.; Andre and the CU men win two in Austin and advance to Washington, D.C. That’s close enough for a close family to commute.
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]