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CU men’s golfers in the middle of a 75-team pack at Stanford
Mar 29th
PALO ALTO, Calif. —
There are three top 10 teams and 11 in the top 75 competing here, with host and No. 10 Stanford the day one leader with an 8-under par 272 score. Five strokes separate the top six teams through 18 holes, with six strokes the difference between seventh and 12th; the Buffaloes are in the middle of that logjam, with a 3-over 283 score that is good for ninth place.
“A great day for golf, the weather conditions were perfect,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “That’s why the scores are so good and so bunched. Overall, we had a decent day as far as our team score was concerned. The only thing that prevented us from shooting lower, or under par, is that we had some mistakes, but even those were few and far between.
“For the most part we played smart, and mitigated the big numbers,” he added. “It’s so tightly bunched, we did what we should have done and didn’t get tripped up by the tough holes. There are a lot of good teams in this field and this is a great test for us at this stage of the season, one month out from the Pac-12 Championship.”
Senior Jason Burstyn and freshman Philip Juel-Berg paced the Buffaloes on Thursday, each recording 2-under par 68 scores on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford Golf Course layout which tied them for 13th place.
Starting on the No. 1 tee, Burstyn turned a 3-under 32 on the front nine, with the aide of an eagle on the par-5 No. 7 hole. On the back, he couldn’t get some birdie putts to fall and endured two bogeys to bring him back closer to par in the end.
Juel-Berg played a fantastic back nine, firing a 31; after turning at 2-over, he birdied Nos. 10, 13, 15 and 16 and finished with a team-best six birdies, along with nine pars two bogeys and a double. He, too, endured a patch where he scored those three holes over par but had a birdie among them. He now has scored 12 birdies in his last two rounds, including 10 in his last 27 holes.
“Jason and Philip were really solid most of the day; both had to overcome a tough stretch around the middle of their rounds,” Edwards said. “Philip had a pretty good fall, though struggled a bit to start the spring but has come back to play well the last month. He’s a good player and he keeps getting better and better … and is making fewer and fewer freshman mistakes.”
Senior Derek Fribbs carded a 3-over 73, scoring four birdies and eight pars, with five bogeys and a double, tying him for 61st. He opened strong, with two birdies in the first three holes, but then endured a bad patch where he played the next eight holes at 6-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo fashioned a 4-over 74, tying him for 66th place, as he had three birdies, nine pars, five bogeys and a double. He started off with a birdie, but played the next six holes at 5-over before closing by playing the course at even par over his final 11 holes.
Sophomore David Oraee carded a 5-over 78, tying him for 76th. He had two birdies and 10 pars against five bogeys and a double for his day, as he continued struggling this week on the west coast; he was 23-over par for the UC-Irvine Anteater, very uncharacteristic for him, especially coming off a 1-under performance at Bandon Dunes three weeks ago.
Collectively, the five Buffs scored 18 birdies Thursday, one more than in the final round of the Anteater invite, which was one more than CU had in Monday’s two rounds. Big numbers were kept to a minimum in the first round here, as CU had just four double bogeys and nothing worse.
Nine players are tied for the individual lead with 4-under 66 scores; the most compelling of that group being San Jose State’s Cody Blick, who made the turn at 1-over but rallied to score six birdies en route to a 30 on the back nine.
The second round of the tournament is set for Friday, with the final round on Saturday. Play begins each day at 9 a.m. MDT off the No. 1 and 10 tees.
by CU SPORTS INFORMATION SERVICE!!!!!
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Buff golfers rally at UCI invitational for 4th place
Mar 26th
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — The University of Colorado men’s golf team rallied for a fourth place finish here Tuesday as the UC-Irvine Anteater Invitational came to a close.
The Buffaloes started the day in eighth place after two uncharacteristically bad rounds on Monday, but rallied to shoot the best team score on Tuesday (by some six shots) and the second best round overall in the tournament.
Long Beach State (ranked No. 85) won the event with an 891 team score (27-over par), edging Cal State-Fullerton (No. 90) by three shots; the two entered the final round tied for the lead. Host and No. 77 UC-Irvine finished third (895), with Colorado overtaking four schools to finish fourth with a 42-over 906 total.
The Buffaloes were the highest ranked team competing here (No. 71 in the latest Golfweek rankings), and played like it Tuesday. Assistant coach Jon Levy coached the team here, as head coach Roy Edwards was in Kansas City attending his grandmother’s funeral. Levy had said after Monday’s play that, “This is the kind of golf course that if you have a good round, you can leapfrog a lot of teams, and that’s our goal (Tuesday) to go out and do just that.” He turned out be absolutely correct.
“We absolutely held to our game plan today, and that was the difference,” Levy said. “This was a tough course, probably one of the toughest we’ve played all year. Our game plan was to play conservatively and let the other teams make the mistakes. We knew we would have to take some bogeys, but let the other teams make the big numbers and we’d be satisfied with pars on the tougher holes. The pin locations were challenging and the greens were firm, but we did a great job of not short siding the ball today. We literally improved 100 percent on that.”
The five Buffs competing here totaled 17 birdies compared to just 16 for two rounds on Monday, and recorded just 19 bogeys, both bests in the 11-team field Tuesday.
Starting on No. 10, a deceivingly hard hole, CU scored four bogeys and a quadruple, but the players were in the right frame of mind out of the gate: no one in the 69-man field birdied the hole and only 25 were able to score par. From that point on, the four players who scored for CU collectively played even par golf the remaining 18 holes.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg paced the Buffaloes here, as he tied for 10th after finishing up with a 1-over 73 for a 7-over 223 total for 54 holes on the 7,060-yard, par-72 El Niguel Country Club course. He had a team-best six birdies Tuesday, with six pars, five bogeys and a double. His 11 birdies for the tournament led the Buffs and also tied for the third-most in the field, as did his playing the par-5 holes at 5-under overall. His 15 holes over par were also a team low as he finished in the top 10 for a second straight tournament.
Senior Jason Burstyn turned in CU’s best score in the final round, a 1-under 71 that propelled him into a tie for 21st (up from 40th); he finished with an 11-over 227 score and he closed with an eagle, three birdies and 10 pars against four bogeys. He was 2-under at one point before scoring a pair of quick bogeys, but he came back with his eagle on the par-5 sixth hole to get back under for the round. He was the lone Buff not score worse than a bogey the entire tournament.
Senior Derek Fribbs and redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo tied for 24th individually (after both entered the day tied for 35th); they each scored 2-over par 74s to wrap things up, closing with 13-over 229 totals. Fribbs had three birdies and 11 pars in his round (against three bogeys and a double), closing on a wild ride his last four holes (birdie, double, bogey, birdie), while Trujillo had two birdies, 12 pars and four bogeys; he was 3-over after 10 but had his two birdies on the way in.
Sophomore David Oraee finished with a second consecutive 78, giving him a 23-over par 239 total, which tied him for 52nd. He opened with a quadruple bogey 8 on No. 10, when his drive kicked to the left and went out of bounds by all of three inches, and then followed that up with a double on No. 11, but then was able to gather himself and finish the remaining 16 holes even, scoring three birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys along the way.
Loyola-Marymount’s Connor Campbell claimed medalist honors, closing with a 1-under 71 that gave him a 216 total – the only player in the field to shoot par or better for the tournament. He defeated second round leader, Long Beach State’s Daniel Chin, by one stroke.
“We wanted to build some momentum today going into a really big event coming up,” Levy added. “That was the message we talked about last night. Play loose, don’t play so tight; out there and have some fun.”
The Buffaloes will now head up the coast to Palo Alto, where they will compete in the Stanford U.S. Intercollegiate this Thursday through Saturday.
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CU men fall to Arizona in PAC-12 tourney
Mar 15th
Still holding hopes for a wild card berth in the NCAA tournament
LAS VEGAS – Let the waiting game begin. A year ago, the Colorado Buffaloes wrung the suspense out of Selection Sunday by winning the Pac-12 Conference Tournament and earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
This year, it’s not that clear-cut, although the Buffs believe their NCAA case has been stated – even in Thursday’s 79-69 quarterfinal loss to No. 18 Arizona in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.
No. 5 seed CU rallied dramatically, cutting a 14-point lead by No. 4 seed Arizona to two in the final 63 seconds. But the Wildcats held on and left the Buffs holding their collective breath for one of 37 NCAA at-large bids.
“We’re one of the top 37 teams in my mind,” said CU coach Tad Boyle. “But it’s not for me to say.”
But Boyle did cite his argument for the Buffs, who finished 21-11 for their third consecutive 20-win season under Boyle. Last March, after punching the Pac-12’s free ticket, they advanced to the NCAA second round before being eliminated by Baylor in Albuquerque.
This March, Boyle cited CU’s strength of schedule (No. 19), the overall strength of the Pac-12 this season, CU’s league-low 15 home games and the return of Andre Roberson as reasons for the Buffs to be given strong NCAA consideration.
The Buffs finished the season 4-3 against Top 25 teams and were 9-9 against opponents in the top 100 RPI. CU’s pre-game RPI on Thursday was in the low 30s. It all appears to give the Buffs strong NCAA credentials. Yet as Boyle said, inclusion in the 68-team NCAA field isn’t for him or his players to determine despite “what we did over our whole body of work.”
Their work finished in dramatic if unfulfilling fashion as the Buffs overcame an enigmatic and sloppy start to push the Wildcats harder than they might have expected after the first 20 minutes.
Arizona, said Boyle, “played a hell of a game. You could tell from the very beginning they were ready to go.” But it took more than a little while for the Buffs to find the same gear; they trailed 39-28 after a first half that saw them commit 10 of their 13 turnovers (leading to 15 first-half Arizona points) and hit only five of 12 free throw attempts.
With 12:24 left in the game, CU fell behind by 14 before tightening up its defense, rebounding more tenaciously and eventually closing to within 71-69 on a pair of Andre Roberson free throws with 1:03 remaining. But Arizona’s Nick Johnson scored a layup between two CU defenders at the other end to push the Wildcats up four.
Then two free throws by Mark Lyons with 23.6 seconds left gave Arizona a comfortable six-point advantage. The Wildcats added four more free throws in the final 14.2 seconds to win by double digits.
“Coach Boyle always preaches defend and rebound, and I felt like that’s when started to do that and we had a run,” said Roberson, who collected his 37th career double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds). “I feel like we just didn’t do it consistently throughout the whole 40 minutes. That’s how we fell off in the first half, and that’s how we got back into the game in the second half.”
CU outrebounded Arizona 33-31, but allowed the Wildcats to shoot 45.2 percent for the game. The Buffs’ goal is to hold opponents below 40 percent from the field. Arizona also got 25 points from a bench that Boyle says offers “the most quality depth of anybody in our league . . . they go ten deep.”
When the Buffs were surging back, Wildcats’ guard Mark Lyons hit what Boyle called “the play of the game.” With a second showing on the shot clock and Arizona cradling a 68-64 lead, Lyons (14 points, three assists, one steal) took an inbounds pass and fired from the left corner. It swished and CU’s momentum took a hit.
Boyle called the quick inbounds play “a breakdown on our part defensively. We’ve practiced that situation. We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do and it cost us.”
Just over a minute later, after the Buffs had pulled to 71-69, Nick Johnson scored between Roberson and Xavier Johnson to push the Wildcats back up by four. Roberson said Nick Johnson “was stuck in the key looking for a teammate . . . he didn’t have any other option but to go up with it. Maybe I could have been a little more aggressive, but ‘XJ’ was trapping him. He just made a tough shot.”
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (25-6) play top-seeded UCLA (24-8) in one of Friday’s semifinals at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which saw a record crowd of 12,915 on Thursday afternoon.
CU, which defeated Arizona 53-51 last season for the inaugural Pac-12 championship in Los Angeles, was led by Spencer Dinwiddie with 18 points. Askia Booker contributed 12 and Xavier Johnson 11. Arizona had three players in double figures, topped by Nick Johnson’s 18. The Wildcats hit nine of their 27 three-point attempts, while the Buffs were 5-of-12 from beyond the arc.
The Buffs took their only lead of the game on the first possession, getting a dunk from Dinwiddie on a baseline drive. From there, the afternoon looked as if it belonged to Arizona. The first half’s last half minute providing a snapshot of the Buffs’ early deficiencies. After closing to within eight (36-28) on a put-back by Roberson, CU forced a turnover and had possession with 23.8 seconds left before the break.
But Sabatino Chen couldn’t in-bound the ball in the allotted five seconds and Arizona regained possession. The Wildcats worked the clock to five seconds before Solomon Hill drove the lane for a layup. Roberson fouled him and Hill converted the three-point play, saddling CU with its second-worst (11 points) halftime deficit of the season.
The worst was 19 at Kansas, and that game didn’t end well for CU – a 90-54 smack down in Allen Fieldhouse.
CU’s bench, which was outscored 18-4 in the first half, took a hit when 6-11 Shane Harris-Tunks was hit in the head with 12:45 left before the break. He went to the locker room for evaluation and was not cleared to play in the second half.
Asked about Harris-Tunks’ condition, Boyle said, “Let me say this about Shane: We’ve had two blatant no-calls that have led to concussions on our basketball team (Josh Scott was the other) and I’m really disappointed about it.”
Harris-Tunks’ departure and two early fouls on the 6-10 Scott resulted in five rare first-half minutes for 7-0 junior Ben Mills, who had one point and two rebounds in that time. Boyle said he was “proud of him for doing it tonight in a very tough environment.”
With 12:24 remaining, a three-pointer from the left corner by Jordin Mayes pushed the Wildcats ahead 54-40. If the Buffs couldn’t see trouble ahead, they weren’t looking. But maybe that was a good thing.
Down by 14 after Mayes’ trey, Dinwiddie hit a pair of free throws, Xavier Talton scored a layup on a fast break, and Dinwiddie knocked down a three in transition.
Suddenly, Arizona’s 14-point led had been cut in half (56-47) with 10 minutes to play. The Buffs pulled to within four three times in the final 3:13, the last time on a Booker three with 1:50 remaining. After an Arizona turnover 30 seconds later, Boyle – with his team trailing 71-67 – called a timeout. Roberson’s two foul shots made it a two-point game, but that was as close as the Buffs could get.
Arizona coach Sean Miller said the Wildcats “beat an excellent basketball team . . . we needed to play extremely hard to beat a team like Colorado. You think about Colorado being seeded fifth, it really shows the depth and quality of our conference from top to bottom.”
Boyle and the Buffs hope the NCAA Selection Committee sees it that way, but they’ll have to wait to find out.
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