Posts tagged Oregon State
CU women’s 2013-2014 basketball schedule announced
Sep 10th
BOULDER – The 2013-14 University of Colorado women’s basketball schedule features 16 regular season home dates and 12 games against teams that participated in postseason events a year ago, head coach Linda Lappe announced on Tuesday.
In addition, the Pac-12 Conference announced Colorado would be featured on the Pac-12 Networks 15 times during the regular season, a school record number for television appearances in one campaign.
“It’s such an exciting opportunity to have 15 games on the Pac-12 Network,” Lappe said. “We are excited for that exposure.”
Colorado appeared on a program-best 13 national and regional telecasts in 2012-13, a figure that also included three postseason contests. Entering this season, the Buffaloes have tipped off on 112 national or regional telecasts since the Fall of 2001.
After a home exhibition game against the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, Nov. 2 (7 p.m.), Colorado officially kicks off its 40th season of varsity women’s basketball at Colorado State on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. It will be the first time since 2007 that the Buffaloes have started the season on the road, and the first time CSU has served as the Buffaloes’ opening opponent since 1979-80.
Colorado’s home opener, and the first of seven nonconference games at the Coors Events Center, takes place against Alcorn State on Friday, Nov. 15 (7 p.m.). The Buffaloes’ first Pac-12 Network contest will be played Wednesday, Nov. 20, as the Buffaloes host perennial Big Ten Conference power Iowa, with an 8:30 p.m. tip. The Hawkeyes were 21-13 in 2012-13, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Following a road contest at New Mexico on Saturday, Nov. 23 (2 p.m.), the Buffaloes host their 27th consecutive Thanksgiving weekend tournament. Tabbed the Omni Hotels Classic for the fifth time, Colorado welcomes Rice, Samford and South Alabama to Boulder, Nov. 29-30. CU will take on South Alabama in the first round on Friday (7:30 p.m.) while Rice and Samford will clash in the opener (5 p.m.). The consolation (5 p.m.) and championship (7:30 p.m.) games follow on Saturday.
Colorado finishes the nonconference schedule with a challenging five-game stretch. The Buffaloes play back-to-back games against 2013 Postseason WNIT teams, first visiting Wyoming on Wednesday, Dec. 4 (7 p.m.) in Laramie and then by hosting Illinois out of the Big Ten on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Saturday tilt against Illinois will be a double-header day as the men’s basketball team hosts Kansas at 1:15 p.m. followed by the women’s game against the Illini at 5 p.m.
After a home contest with Denver on Thursday, Dec. 12 (7 p.m.), and a break for finals, the Buffaloes travel to play 2013 NCAA runner up Louisville on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 11 a.m. MT. Unranked Colorado pulled off a 70-66 upset of the Cardinals, ranked No. 8 at the time, in Boulder on Dec. 14, 2012. Colorado returns home after the holidays to host Southern Utah on Sunday, Dec. 29 (2 p.m.) in a final tune up for Pac-12 play.
“We will be challenged,” Lappe noted of her team’s nonconference schedule. “Quite a few of these games will help prepare us for conference play.”
Fourteen of Colorado’s 18 conference games will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks, including eight of nine at home. All home games, and conference road games, not televised on the Pac-12 Networks, will be available online through Colorado’s Pac-12 video player.
The Buffaloes’ Pac-12 schedule once again features home-and-home series with seven schools, and one-game battles with four others. Colorado will host Pac-12 co-champions California and Stanford, but will not return to the Bay Area this season. The Buffaloes will play at Oregon and Oregon State this year, while those two teams do not travel to Boulder.
Colorado’s previous one-game series rotation involved the Washington and Los Angeles area schools. The Buffaloes will play home-and-home sessions with those four programs for the first time since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
Colorado’s Pac-12 schedule is also fairly balanced, alternating two home games one weekend, two road games the next, with one lone exception: a home-and-home series with travel partner Utah at the mid-point of the conference schedule.
Colorado opens its Pac-12 season with the Los Angeles trip, debuting at USC on Friday, Jan. 3 (9 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network) and at 2013 NCAA participant UCLA on Sunday, Jan. 5 (either 8 or 9 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).
The Buffaloes return home to host 2013 NCAA Women’s Final Four participant California on Friday, Jan. 10 (8 p.m.) and turn around to battle defending league co-champion Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 12 (3 p.m.). Both contests are scheduled for the Pac-12 Network.
CU visits the Washington schools for the first time since January 2012, facing Washington State on Friday, Jan. 17, (TBA) and Washington on Sunday, Jan. 19 (5 p.m., Pac-12 Network). The Arizona duo visit Boulder the following weekend, Jan. 24 & 26. The Buffaloes host Arizona on Friday (7 p.m.) and Arizona State on Sunday (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
For the second straight season, Colorado faces its travel partner in back-to-back games. The Buffaloes travel to Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 29 (7 p.m.). Utah then returns to Boulder for a Feb. 2 “Super Bowl Sunday” matchup slated for 12 p.m. at the Coors Events Center. Both Utah games will appear on the Pac-12 Network.
Colorado makes its lone appearance against the Oregon schools, Friday, Feb. 7, at Oregon State (9 p.m., Pac-12 Network) and at Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 9 (TBA).
The Buffaloes finish with four of six at home, beginning with home dates with the Washington opponents, Washington on Friday, Feb. 14 (6:30 p.m. Pac-12 Network) and Washington State on Sunday, Feb. 16 (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network). Colorado travels to Arizona State on Friday, Feb. 21 (TBA) and Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 23 (3 p.m. Pac-12). The Buffaloes wrap up the regular season the same way they began, hosting UCLA on Friday, Feb. 28 (6 p.m. Pac-12) and USC on Sunday, Mar. 2 (12 p.m., Pac-12).
The 2014 Pac-12 Tournament returns to KeyArena in Seattle for the second time, scheduled for March 6-9. Please note that all times and dates remain subject to change.
Colorado returns nine letterwinners and four starters from its 2012-13 team that had its best season in more than a decade, compiling a 25-7 record and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in team history and first since 2004.
2013-14 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME (MST) TV
Saturday, Nov. 2 COLORADO MINES (Exhibition) BOULDER 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 12 at Colorado State Fort Collins, Colo. 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 15 ALCORN STATE BOULDER 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 20 IOWA BOULDER 8:30 p.m. P12N
Saturday, Nov. 23 at New Mexico Albuquerque, N.M. 2 p.m.
Nov. 29-30 &-27th ANNUAL OMNI HOTELS CLASSIC (Rice, Samford, South Alabama)
Friday, Nov. 29 &-Rice vs. Samford BOULDER 5 p.m.
&-SOUTH ALABAMA BOULDER 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 30 &-Consolation BOULDER 5 p.m.
&-Championship BOULDER 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 4 at Wyoming Laramie, Wyo. 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7 ILLINOIS BOULDER 5 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 12 DENVER BOULDER 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 21 at Louisville Louisville, Ky. 11 a.m.
Sunday, Dec. 29 SOUTHERN UTAH BOULDER 2 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 3 *at USC Los Angeles, Calif. 9 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Jan. 5 *at UCLA Los Angeles, Calif. 8 or 9 p.m. P12N
Friday, Jan. 10 *CALIFORNIA BOULDER 8 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Jan. 12 *STANFORD BOULDER 3 p.m. P12N
Friday, Jan. 17 *at Washington State Pullman, Wash. TBA
Sunday, Jan. 19 *at Washington Seattle, Wash. 5 p.m. P12N
Friday, Jan. 24 *ARIZONA BOULDER 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 26 *ARIZONA STATE BOULDER 1 p.m. P12N
Wednesday, Jan. 29 *at Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 7 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Feb. 2 *UTAH BOULDER 12 p.m. P12N
Friday, Feb. 7 *at Oregon State Corvallis, Ore. 9 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Feb. 9 *at Oregon Eugene, Ore. TBA
Friday, Feb. 14 *WASHINGTON BOULDER 6:30 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Feb. 16 *WASHINGTON STATE BOULDER 1 p.m. P12N
Friday, Feb. 21 *at Arizona State Tempe, Ariz. TBA
Sunday, Feb. 23 *at Arizona Tucson, Ariz. 3 p.m. P12N
Friday, Feb. 28 *UCLA BOULDER 6 p.m. P12N
Sunday, Mar. 2 *USC BOULDER 12 p.m. P12N
March 6-9 Pac-12 Tournament Seattle, Wash. TBA P12N & ESPN2
March 22-25 NCAA 1st & 2nd Rounds TBA TBA ESPN & ESPN2
March 20-April 1 NCAA Regionals TBA TBA ESPN & ESPN2
April 6 & 8 NCAA Women’s Final Four Nashville, Tenn. TBA ESPN & ESPN2
All Home Games In BOLD CAPS
*-Pac-12 Conference Game
&-Omni Hotels Classic, Boulder
P12N – Pac-12 Network
Dates and times are subject to change
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
BUFF GOLFERS SLIP INTO SEVENTH AT PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 1st
Freshman Juel-Berg Continues To Lead Buffaloes
LOS ANGELES — The University of Colorado men’s golf team slipped a notch from a tie for sixth into one for seventh after a high-scoring third round saw team scores escalate as the Pac-12 Conference Championships head into the final day of competition Wednesday.
No. 1 California remained in the lead but saw it shrink from nine strokes down to two. The Bears own a 1,056 team score, 6-over par, which is just ahead of No. 3 and host UCLA (1,058), which shot one of the two low rounds for the day, a 4-over 354. No. 4 Washington held its third place position, but is well back of the leaders at 1,078; Arizona State used the other low round in the field to zoom into fourth (1,084), with No. 7 Stanford rounding out the top five (1,092).
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 60, didn’t have a great day, but didn’t shoot themselves out of a first division finish, either. Colorado turned in a 30-over par 380 score for a 1,110 overall total, which has it tied with No. 11 Southern California and No. 51 Oregon State.
All 12 schools shot over par – to the tune of a total of 235 strokes. Only three players in the field turned in under par rounds Tuesday, with just four others matching par as the average score in the 72-man field jumped from 73.29 in the first round to 74.69 in the third.
The Buffs collectively recorded just eight birdies Tuesday, with 58 pars, 39 bogeys, four doubles and a quadruple.
“The hole locations were much more difficult,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “It was really tough out there, really hard. This is a major championship test, and in fields like this on a course like this, it’s hard to play 72 holes straight without having some struggles. And everyone went through it, this is one of USC’s home courses and they’re dead even with us through three rounds. It’s just a big time challenge out there, but the truth is that it is very fair. The greens are very firm and very, very fast. This is a top 10 golf course in the world since they restored it three years ago.”
“I thought we did okay under the circumstances, and of course we wanted to play better,” Edwards added. “But we had way too many three-putts, my guess is somewhere around 20, 25. We were in pretty good spots for the most part, we only had a few bad approach shots, so for the most part things were in our control putting-wise. Much of the damage was early.”
CU’s six players were collectively 15-over par through just five holes, and also were 10-over the last three.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg continued to pace the Buffaloes, though he shot a 7-over 77 in the third round; his 7-over 217 is tied for 20th on the 7,236-yard, par-70 Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course design. He had 11 pars and seven bogeys on his day, with his 39 pars tied for the most in the field and his 4.07 average on the par-4 holes is sixth best. Of the 16 freshmen in the field (including three redshirts), Juel-Berg is fifth among them heading into the last 18 holes.
Junior Johnny Hayes shot CU’s best round of the day, a 4-over 74, which gave him a 10-over 220 total that has him tied for 27th. He had two birdies, 10 pars and six bogeys for his round; he turned at 5-over but was one of the few players in the field to play either nine under par when he had both of his birds and just one bogey on the front side.
Senior Derek Fribbs turned in a 6-over 76 for a 221 score (11-over), as he had two birdies and eight pars against eight bogeys Wednesday. He was even though 10 holes but bogeyed six of the last eight holes coming into the clubhouse.
Fribbs and Juel-Berg have yet to have a score worse than a bogey.
Sophomore David Oraee fashioned a 5-over 75, which has him in as 12-over 222 for 54 holes; he had a birdie and 11 pars against six bogeys for his effort on the day. Like many of his teammates, he was over par early, in his case, 4-over seven holes in, but settled down and played the last 11 at just 1-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo shot an 8-over 78 for a 233 score (23-over), as he had 10 pars against six bogeys and a double for the third round. Tied for 67th in the field, he opened with a double on No. 10 and then bogeyed the next three holes to stand 5-over just four holes in, but gathered himself to reel off eight straight pars.
Senior Jason Burstyn, CU’s No. 1 player and leader in stroke average (72.15), continued to struggle, though was playing a little better than he did Monday until he was derailed on his final hole of the day, the par-3 No. 9 where he scored a quadruple bogey after having some trouble in the bunker. He finished with a 9-over 79 for a 234 total (plus-24), which has him in 69th place entering the final round. He started the round well with a birdie, and had scored his third of the day right before the disaster on No. 9. Burstyn came into the meet with just one triple bogey in 34 rounds (and just three in 68 rounds dating to last year), but has had to endure a triple and a quad here this week.
Cal’s Max Homa is still riding his first round course record 61 and extended his individual lead to five strokes, as he shot a 71 in the third round for an 8-under 202. UCLA freshman Jonathan Garrick also shot a 71 for a 3-under 207 total, with four others six strokes back at 2-under 208.
The fourth and final round is set for Wednesday, with play beginning at 9 a.m. MDT off both the No. 1 and 10 tees; Colorado will be paired with USC and Oregon State and will begin play off the back nine on Wednesday in the first six groups to start the day.
“We’re hoping this was our ‘struggle’ round of the week and that we will finish strong and rebound Wednesday,” Edwards said.
NOTES: Through 54 holes, just six players are under par and two others at even … After six eagles were recorded on Monday, just one went into the books Tuesday … Fribbs (-4) and Hayes (-3) are two of just 18 players in the field to be more than 2-under par on the three par-5 holes … The Pac-12 Network will air highlights of the championship on Saturday, May 11, at Noon MDT.
LOS ANGELES — The University of Colorado men’s golf team slipped a notch from a tie for sixth into one for seventh after a high-scoring third round saw team scores escalate as the Pac-12 Conference Championships head into the final day of competition Wednesday.
No. 1 California remained in the lead but saw it shrink from nine strokes down to two. The Bears own a 1,056 team score, 6-over par, which is just ahead of No. 3 and host UCLA (1,058), which shot one of the two low rounds for the day, a 4-over 354. No. 4 Washington held its third place position, but is well back of the leaders at 1,078; Arizona State used the other low round in the field to zoom into fourth (1,084), with No. 7 Stanford rounding out the top five (1,092).
The Buffaloes, ranked No. 60, didn’t have a great day, but didn’t shoot themselves out of a first division finish, either. Colorado turned in a 30-over par 380 score for a 1,110 overall total, which has it tied with No. 11 Southern California and No. 51 Oregon State.
All 12 schools shot over par – to the tune of a total of 235 strokes. Only three players in the field turned in under par rounds Tuesday, with just four others matching par as the average score in the 72-man field jumped from 73.29 in the first round to 74.69 in the third.
The Buffs collectively recorded just eight birdies Tuesday, with 58 pars, 39 bogeys, four doubles and a quadruple.
“The hole locations were much more difficult,” head coach Roy Edwards said. “It was really tough out there, really hard. This is a major championship test, and in fields like this on a course like this, it’s hard to play 72 holes straight without having some struggles. And everyone went through it, this is one of USC’s home courses and they’re dead even with us through three rounds. It’s just a big time challenge out there, but the truth is that it is very fair. The greens are very firm and very, very fast. This is a top 10 golf course in the world since they restored it three years ago.”
“I thought we did okay under the circumstances, and of course we wanted to play better,” Edwards added. “But we had way too many three-putts, my guess is somewhere around 20, 25. We were in pretty good spots for the most part, we only had a few bad approach shots, so for the most part things were in our control putting-wise. Much of the damage was early.”
CU’s six players were collectively 15-over par through just five holes, and also were 10-over the last three.
Freshman Philip Juel-Berg continued to pace the Buffaloes, though he shot a 7-over 77 in the third round; his 7-over 217 is tied for 20th on the 7,236-yard, par-70 Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course design. He had 11 pars and seven bogeys on his day, with his 39 pars tied for the most in the field and his 4.07 average on the par-4 holes is sixth best. Of the 16 freshmen in the field (including three redshirts), Juel-Berg is fifth among them heading into the last 18 holes.
Junior Johnny Hayes shot CU’s best round of the day, a 4-over 74, which gave him a 10-over 220 total that has him tied for 27th. He had two birdies, 10 pars and six bogeys for his round; he turned at 5-over but was one of the few players in the field to play either nine under par when he had both of his birds and just one bogey on the front side.
Senior Derek Fribbs turned in a 6-over 76 for a 221 score (11-over), as he had two birdies and eight pars against eight bogeys Wednesday. He was even though 10 holes but bogeyed six of the last eight holes coming into the clubhouse.
Fribbs and Juel-Berg have yet to have a score worse than a bogey.
Sophomore David Oraee fashioned a 5-over 75, which has him in as 12-over 222 for 54 holes; he had a birdie and 11 pars against six bogeys for his effort on the day. Like many of his teammates, he was over par early, in his case, 4-over seven holes in, but settled down and played the last 11 at just 1-over.
Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo shot an 8-over 78 for a 233 score (23-over), as he had 10 pars against six bogeys and a double for the third round. Tied for 67th in the field, he opened with a double on No. 10 and then bogeyed the next three holes to stand 5-over just four holes in, but gathered himself to reel off eight straight pars.
Senior Jason Burstyn, CU’s No. 1 player and leader in stroke average (72.15), continued to struggle, though was playing a little better than he did Monday until he was derailed on his final hole of the day, the par-3 No. 9 where he scored a quadruple bogey after having some trouble in the bunker. He finished with a 9-over 79 for a 234 total (plus-24), which has him in 69th place entering the final round. He started the round well with a birdie, and had scored his third of the day right before the disaster on No. 9. Burstyn came into the meet with just one triple bogey in 34 rounds (and just three in 68 rounds dating to last year), but has had to endure a triple and a quad here this week.
Cal’s Max Homa is still riding his first round course record 61 and extended his individual lead to five strokes, as he shot a 71 in the third round for an 8-under 202. UCLA freshman Jonathan Garrick also shot a 71 for a 3-under 207 total, with four others six strokes back at 2-under 208.
The fourth and final round is set for Wednesday, with play beginning at 9 a.m. MDT off both the No. 1 and 10 tees; Colorado will be paired with USC and Oregon State and will begin play off the back nine on Wednesday in the first six groups to start the day.
“We’re hoping this was our ‘struggle’ round of the week and that we will finish strong and rebound Wednesday,” Edwards said.
NOTES: Through 54 holes, just six players are under par and two others at even … After six eagles were recorded on Monday, just one went into the books Tuesday … Fribbs (-4) and Hayes (-3) are two of just 18 players in the field to be more than 2-under par on the three par-5 holes … The Pac-12 Network will air highlights of the championship on Saturday, May 11, at Noon MDT.
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.
Colorado’s Spencer Dinwiddie shoots a free throw
“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.”
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
