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Fast and Furious Buffs Comeback Overtakes Crimson, 70-62
Nov 24th
By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Long before Sunday, Tad Boyle had no doubt about the competitive makeup of his Colorado basketball team. When he left the Coors Events Center late Sunday afternoon, his belief had been underscored.
After trailing for almost 35 minutes, the Buffaloes shifted gears offensively and defensively – and, yes, mentally – and overtook previously unbeaten Harvard, 70-62, improving to 50-7 under Boyle at the CEC.
“Our team has fight in it, no doubt,” Boyle said. “Our guys found a way . . . we’ve got competitors in that locker room.”
Sunday’s second half proved it. Down by 14 points in the opening minute of the final 20, the Buffs (6-1) used a 14-0 run in the last 8:23 to catch and surpass the Crimson (4-1). Sophomore forward Xavier Johnson contributed back-to-back three-pointers in the run, with junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie adding a third and edging the CEC crowd of 9,770 close to delirium.
“The three threes got the crowd going,” Boyle said. “Our fans were terrific.”
The win was CU’s biggest in a six-game November home stand that saw Boyle’s four-year record in the month climb to 15-0.
“The thing that’s so satisfying is how we got it and the team we got it against,” Boyle said, citing Crimson coach Tommy Amaker “and what he’s done with the Harvard program . . . that’s a veteran, well-coached team.”
Dinwiddie’s 17 points topped four CU players in double figures and further reinforced Boyle’s opinion of his 6-6 point guard.
“He’s playing at a very high level,” Boyle said. “Spencer has a good feel for the game; he’s a very calming influence our on team. I trust him – but I trust all of our players.”
Dinwiddie had scoring help from guard Askia Booker and forward Josh Scott with 12 points each, while Johnson added 11. Harvard also had four players reach double figures, led by Kyle Casey’s 13.
It was the second-half board work – especially on the defensive end – of Scott and teammate Wesley Gordon, who grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds apiece, that made a large impression on Boyle in a highly physical game. CU out-rebounded the Ivy League visitors 46-29.
The 6-10 Scott picked up a couple of first-half fouls and was limited to 12 minutes on the court. In the second half, he said, he didn’t feel encumbered by fouls and was able to get a feel for the game.
“That’s not an excuse,” he said, “it’s just of kind of how it works out . . . I wasn’t scoring and I wasn’t exactly blocking shots so I figured I’d play defense and rebound. The shots came afterwards and I shot well from the free throw line (a team best six-of-eight).”
The Buffs also held the Crimson to 23.5 percent shooting from the field in the second half and limited them to one three-pointer after allowing six treys in the first half. CU led only once in the first half – 3-2 on Johnson’s three-pointer to open CU’s scoring – and trailed by 12 (42-30) at intermission. After that brief one-point Buffs lead, Harvard went on a 14-1 run that featured four treys and ended with the Crimson up 16-4.
That surge – in reality, the entire first half – amounted to a long-range replay that Boyle might have believed the Buffs wouldn’t allow. The Crimson didn’t arrive in Boulder with the reputation of a dangerous bunch beyond the arc; they had shot just 26.3 percent on three-point attempts in their four previous wins.
Apparently, the word on CU’s susceptibility to the long ball got out. Harvard’s season-high for made three-pointers was six against Holy Cross, but in Sunday’s first 4 minutes the Crimson had drained four and they finished the first 20 minutes tying their season high (six).
Meanwhile, those six treys also tied three other CU opponents for the most allowed in a first half this season. CU allowed 11 treys in Thursday night’s win over UC Santa Barbara. The Buffs’ six opponents had shot 38.2 percent from behind the arc, with two foes – Baylor, UT-Martin – at 40 percent or higher. Harvard finished the first half at 50 percent (6-of-12).
But the second half was lock down time for the Buffs. Boyle’s halftime message about his team’s perimeter defense: “Respect them as shooters . . . Harvard moves the ball quickly (and) you have to move on the pass. We didn’t do it (in the first half) but we did a better job in the second half.”
After Harvard took its first 12-point lead, CU closed to within three points twice (19-16, 21-18) before the visitors pulled away again and fashioned their 12-point advantage at intermission. The Crimson shot 53.6 percent from the field (15-of-28) while the Buffs were well back at 42.3 percent (11-of-26).
Maybe the half’s most telling stat: Harvard scored 12 points off nine CU turnovers. But the Buffs committed only six second-half errors, leading to seven Crimson points.
Harvard’s Steve Moundou-Missi opened the second-half scoring with an inside basket, putting CU down 44-30, with that 14-point deficit matching the Buffs’ largest this season (first time vs. Baylor in the season-opening loss).
It might have jarred the Buffs awake. Over the next 31/2 minutes, they outscored the Crimson 9-0 to pull to within 44-39 on a layup Booker with 15:45 to play. The Buffs crept to within five again (46-41) on a short, falling-to-the-floor jumper by Xavier Talton, but three consecutive CU turnovers helped Harvard restore a 50-41 lead and prompted a timeout by Boyle.
“We were down nine, 50-41, and I said, ‘Guys, we don’t have a nine-point play. We have to get stops,” Boyle said. The Buffs did, getting stops on five Crimson possessions and creeping to within four points on two occasions (50-46, 52-48) before Dinwiddie hit a baseline runner with the shot clock winding down and brought the Buffs to within 52-50.
On Harvard’s next possession, a rejection by Scott gave CU a chance to go ahead – and the Buffs took advantage on an “XJ” triple with exactly 5 minutes left. When he hit from the right wing, the Buffs had their first lead (53-52) since his trey opened their scoring.
And he wasn’t finished. With Scott controlling the boards on the other end, CU moved back downcourt and Johnson drilled another three from the right corner.
“Pretty much it’s all just the game plan,” Johnson said. “Coach Boyle lays (it) out for us and I was able to hit the open shot. We had great ball movement, we played inside out and I was able to be open for the jump shot.”
The Buffs were up 56-52, and Dinwiddie was about to get into the act. His straight-away triple pushed CU ahead 59-52, and Scott followed with one of two free throws for a 60-52 advantage with 3:27 remaining and completed the Buffs’ 14-0 run.
During that stretch, said Scott, the Crimson players were drawing ragged breaths: “Breathing hard, their shooters for a good 10-minute span were short on a lot of shots or wide with their shots. They weren’t running as fast as they were in the first half, you could just tell . . . I think the altitude got to them.”
Harvard got as close as 66-62 on Laurent Rivard’s trey – the Crimson’s only triple of the second half – with 30 seconds to play. But CU closed it out by hitting five of six free throws – three by Talton, two by Booker – in the last 28.3 and matched the 11th largest comeback in the history of the men’s program.
The Buffs don’t play again until Saturday, when they travel to Air Force (2 p.m.), and Scott – from Colorado Springs – said a break in what has been a demanding November routine is welcome.
“We’re pretty excited to have a little rest time,” he said. “We’ve pretty much had an every-other-day game schedule, which is fun, but it wears on you. We’re on Thanksgiving break right now for school, so it will be pretty nice just to be on the basketball schedule and then chill out for the week.”
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FINALLY: MacIntyre’s first Pac-12 win
Nov 17th
by B.G. Brooks,
CUBuffs.com contributing editor
BOULDER – It took seven tries before the Colorado Buffaloes could present coach Mike MacIntyre with his first Pac-12 Conference win, but the Buffs accomplished it – plus a lot more – Saturday afternoon at cold and windswept Folsom Field.
CU slapped California 41-24, ending the Buffs’ 14-game Pac-12 losing streak (six this season, eight last) and keeping their postseason hopes flickering for at least another weekend.
Maybe just as important, said MacIntyre, “I think it validates, to the players, their hard work is paying off . . . this validates staying the course, you keep working, keep working, you keep planting the seeds; you keep watering the seeds and eventually they start to sprout. No way we are there yet, by any stretch, but this is a good step in the right direction.”
Improving to 4-6 overall and 1-6 in the Pac-12, CU needs two more wins to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007. Two games remain – next Saturday on Senior Day vs. Southern California at Folsom Field (kickoff time to be set Monday) and Saturday, Nov. 30 at Utah.
As October neared an end, MacIntyre said he wanted his team to make November a month that mattered in CU football. “Some people thought I was crazy when I said that a while back,” he said. “I thought we could win some games here, and I still do, I still think we can win some more left; they’re going to be real tough, against real good football teams.
“But, now there is a little bit more to play for. Senior Day is awesome for the seniors, but now the seniors actually have a little bit more to play for, and so do the players out there. So, when they come back Sunday, I guarantee they will be a little bit more tuned up and a little bit sharper. I wish they were always that way, but they’ll be a little bit better on their Ps and Qs. They’ll be watching a little bit extra film, and they’ll be excited about what’s going on.”
The Buffs’ 485 yards in total offense against the Bears marked their most productive game since getting 509 in the season-opening win against Colorado State. The bulk of CU’s total Saturday was produced by freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau, who enjoyed his most productive passing day since becoming CU’s starter six games ago. He completed 23 of 36 passes for a career-high 364 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception.
MacIntyre said Liufau “played really, really well. He got hit on the arm on the one interception, but came back and made some really good plays. I think maybe ya’ll are starting a little bit of what I see (in Liufau). Hopefully he’ll just keep improving, and I know he will. There is no way he’ll get big-headed.”
Liufau, said junior receiver Paul Richardson, “showed what he is capable of. Each and every week he is getting better . . . Sefo is growing up; he gives us hope.”
Liufau’s explanation of his best night to date was simple: “I think I got into a really good rhythm. I felt like the offense overall was just clicking. Obviously, there was one or two times where our drives sputtered out, but I think overall the offense tonight was really good.”
The fleet Richardson did his part, as did Nelson Spruce. Over half of Liufau’s completions went to “P-Rich” (11 catches, 140 yards) and Spruce (8 catches, career-high 140 yards). Richardson’s 11 catches tied the school single-game record, and his 140 yards put him at 1,201 – a single-season school mark.
Richardson called setting the record “good for the university. I’ve said it before: they bring guys in each year hoping that they can do better than the guys in the past. We have to rewrite history in order to get this program back to being successful.”
Liufau’s three TD tosses were to tailbacks Michael Adkins II (63 yards) and Tony Jones (11) and tight end Kyle Slavin (10). CU tailback Christian Powell ran for a 2-yard score and Spruce returned an on-sides kick attempt 46 yards for CU’s final TD with just over 6 minutes left in the game.
“I was extremely surprised,” Spruce said. “I caught it, and normally you would fall on it. But I kind of froze up and then I saw the sideline and just took off . . . it was a lot fun out there today. With the wind blowing and having all the heaters on the sidelines, it was kind of a different game. We were able to get that win to stay bowl eligible. We talked about how we were going to win these last three games . . . this was a great win for us.”
If CU could celebrate the end of its long conference losing streak, Cal saw its streak extended. The Bears, who now have allowed 40-plus points in eight games this season, have lost 13 consecutive Pac-12 games and 15 straight to FBS competition. They dropped to 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the conference.
The Buffs closed out the first half by scoring twice in just under 2 minutes to take a 24-10 lead at intermission. That pair of swift scores came on an 11-yard pass from Liufau to Jones and a 2-yard run by Powell, who finished with 60 yards on 18 carries. Adkins ran nine times for 39 yards and Jones’ eight attempts netted 22 yards.
Powell’s TD came after Cal fumbled the kickoff following Jones’ score. With the wind swirling through Folsom, Will Oliver kept his kickoff low – a line drive that bounded off the chest of Cal up man Lucas King and was gathered in by CU’s Isaac Archuletta at the Bears 49-yard line.
Eight plays later – not including a costly roughing the passer call on Cal that salvaged CU’s drive on third-and-12 – Powell ran left and untouched into the end zone, giving the Buffs their two-touchdown halftime lead.
CU never trailed, going up 3-0 on Oliver’s 27-yard first-quarter field goal (he had missed from 40 on the Buffs’ opening drive), then increasing the margin to 10-0 on a 10-yard Liufau pass to Slavin. It was Slavin’s second career TD.
Cal pulled to 10-3 on a 42-yard Vincenzo D’Amato field goal with 8:25 left before halftime. Less than 2 minutes later, the Bears tied the score at 10-10 on a 55-yard sprint by Khalfani Muhammad. The Buffs answered with their two quick scores and had their first halftime lead in Pac-12 play this season.
Bears QB Jared Goff, a true freshman, completed only 11 of 21 first-half passing attempts for 79 yards and finished with 23-of-45 for 173 yards – his second-lowest total of the season. MacIntyre said CU’s secondary had learned from getting “toasted,” and also said the Buffs “had a great pass rush. He was under duress and that helps the secondary tremendously.”
Cal pulled a special teams switch with Goff in the first half, using him to pooch punt for the first time in his career. He punted three times for a 40.3 average, with one punt downed inside the 20 and a pair of touchbacks. On fourth down of their first second-half possession, the Bears went back to regular punter Cole Leininger.
CU and Liufau dodged a bullet early in third quarter when Liufau suffered his sixth interception of the season. With his arm hit in mid-release, his fluttering pass was picked off by Cal linebacker Jalen Jefferson at the CU 38-yard line. But the Buffs allowed the Bears only three yards on four downs and escaped any damage from the turnover.
Cal coach Sonny Dykes pulled Goff on the Bears’ fourth series of the third quarter, replacing him with redshirt freshman Zach Kline. Nothing changed; the Bears went three-and-out, giving the Buffs possession at their 23 after a Leininger punt.
Liufau promptly drove CU to the Cal 7-yard line, where the drive stalled and Oliver kicked his second field goal of the game – a 24-yarder that pushed the Buffs up 27-10, with that score holding for the rest of the third quarter.
In the first 3 minutes of the final quarter, CU all but put the ‘W’ away on the 63-yard catch-and-run from Liufau to Adkins. He scrambled out of at least four tackles, sprinting and weaving in front of the Buffs bench on his way to the end zone.
Oliver’s PAT made it 34-10 with 12:22 remaining, and Cal’s challenge went from daunting to nearly impossible. Dykes went back to Goff at QB on the next series, and Goff drove the Bears 52 yards in 10 plays, with running back Brendan Bigelow scoring on a 1-yard run. That pulled Cal to 34-17, but the on-sides kick attempt backfired when Spruce fielded the ball cleanly and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown.
After Oliver kicked CU ahead 41-17, Cal got its final TD on a 26-yard Bigelow run, making the score 41-24 with 1:21 left. And this time, the Bears executed the on-sides kick, but Goff was intercepted in the end zone by corner Kenneth Crawley.
The Buffs had less than half a minute remaining before they could finally sing their fight song following a 2013 Pac-12 game. They did so in front of the student section, then went to the opposite side of Folsom Field and encored before the CU band.
“I was so happy for them,” MacIntyre said. “Our coaching staff has worked tirelessly and really hard keep those young men together and focused. And then, I would like to thank our fans. I thought it was an exciting atmosphere. That’s a stepping block for us going into the future.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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Ugly Or Not, Buffs Finally Get ‘W’ vs. Wyoming
Nov 14th
Contributing editor
BOULDER – Tad Boyle likes it fast, Larry Shyatt likes it slow. The hare finally took down the tortoise Wednesday night, but it was hardly the hoops version of the Indy 500 and it was anything but picturesque.
Boyle’s Colorado Buffs, perennial losers to Shyatt’s Wyoming Cowboys, encountered nearly night-long difficulty finding offensive consistency. But the Buffs dialed up their defense in the second half, hit their free throws when needed and exited the Coors Events Center with what Boyle labeled a homely 63-58 win.
“If you guys are looking for the definition of the phrase ‘winning ugly’ I think you saw it tonight,” he said afterward. “It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t our best effort, but I was really proud of our guys for finding a way down the stretch to win the game.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Larry Shyatt, the University of Wyoming and their program. They play us tough every year and it was good to get a win against them. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it, we’ll learn and we’ll move on and we’ll get better. I’ve said many times you’d rather learn from a win than learn from a loss and I think our players understand that.”
The Cowboys – staunch believers in low-possession, low-scoring games – had defeated the Buffs six straight times. Payback came Wednesday night, but it didn’t come easily for CU, which trailed by 10 points in the first half and got its final seven points on free throws (7-of-12) in the game’s last 3:06. The Buffs hit 24-of-34 free throws for the game to the Cowboys’ 11-of-15.
Junior Spencer Dinwiddie made five of his eight free throw attempts during the final 3:06, finishing with a team-high 15 points. He was 10-of-13 from the free throw line, taking all of his foul shots in the second half, when the Buffs rallied from a 31-26 deficit at intermission largely on their performance on the defensive end.
“We’ve gone 0-3 against (Wyoming) since I’ve been here,” Dinwiddie said. “It was a big game for us. I know I said earlier they aren’t a rival and I stick by that. But at the same time they are a really big game. Really, anything is a big game; we’re glad we won.”
Three other Buffs starters backed up Dinwiddie with double-figure scoring efforts – Askia Booker with 14, Xavier Johnson with 13 and Josh Scott with 12. The Buffs outrebounded the Cowboys 35-24, with Scott grabbing nine boards and Dinwiddie adding seven.
With Wyoming switching defenses and forcing CU to attack a zone and get to the free throw line for the bulk of its offense, the Buffs managed only four assists in 40 minutes. It was CU’s lowest total since having just two in a 1977 game at Jacksonville in a one-point win. CU’s bench was outscored by Wyoming’s 16-3, which Boyle attributed in part to his “shortening” his bench in the second half due to most of his top reserves being freshmen.
CU shot 40 percent (18-of-45) for the game but held Wyoming to 38.1 percent (8-of-21) in the second half – and that, noted Boyle, was key.
“In the second half, the defense was the difference in the game,” he said, adding that his team gave up nine layups in the first half – two more than its goal for the game. “We gave up three layups in the second half . . . when we ran our offense and executed our offense, we shot 50 percent in the second half and those are good numbers.”
Guard Josh Adams, of Parker, Colo., led Wyoming with 15 points, followed by Larry Nance Jr. with 10. Adams said the Buffs’ ability to reach the free throw line “always makes it difficult. They have a lot of great athletes, a lot of quick kids and a lot of kids with size. They were able to get to the line more than us . . . if you get yourself to the line like that in a game you give yourself a chance to win.”
Said Shyatt: “We just didn’t come up with what we needed at the charity stripe.”
The Cowboys led 31-26 at halftime, but that was half the advantage they held 31/2 minutes earlier. A 10-0 run put them up 28-18 before the Buffs began to gather themselves. It didn’t help that CU went just over 71/2 minutes without a field goal, and that Dinwiddie was limited to 12 first-half minutes after drawing two fouls.
Wyoming’s 10-0 run featured three-pointers by Jerron Granberry and Adams and underscored a deficiency CU exhibited in its opener. UT-Martin had hit 41 percent from beyond the arc in a 91-65 loss, but the Buffs’ perimeter ‘D’ problems got Boyle’s attention.
The Cowboys ended the half shooting 50 percent from downtown (5-of-10), but hit only two of their 11 second-half attempts (18.2 percent). “We tried to get a little closer to them,” Boyle said. “I thought our three-point defense in the second half was much better.”
The Buffs needed a stellar start to the second 20 minutes and they got it, outscoring the Cowboys 8-3 and tying the score 34-34 on a pair of “XJ” free throws with 17:17 remaining. CU went inside to open the half, getting baskets from Scott and a pair of layups from Wes Gordon that preceded Johnson’s free throws.
Wyoming reclaimed a four-point lead (40-36), but CU used free throws by Dinwiddie and Booker to tie the score at 40-40 before a Booker layup put the Buffs ahead 42-40 with 12:15 to play. The Cowboys led only once the rest of the game – 47-46 on a three-pointer by Nathan Sobey with 7:55 left.
But even with CU parading to the foul line, Wyoming stayed close. The Cowboys closed to 57-56 on a jumper by Nance with 1:47 remaining. Dinwiddie answered by making four consecutive free throws, Xavier Talton hit one of two – the last gave the Buffs a four-point lead with 11.7 seconds showing – and Johnson made one of two with 3.6 seconds left to end the scoring.
Boyle said Dinwiddie “can affect the game the game in a lot of different ways. It doesn’t have to be scoring; it doesn’t have to be shooting. It can be getting to the free throw line, which he obviously does a great job of. It can be defensively and I think he’s our best perimeter defender right now.”
If the Buffs did as Boyle suggested and won ugly, Scott took consolation in this: “You can see that we make mistakes and sometimes lose concentration, but one of the blessings is that we have so much we can improve upon. We play teams that are well-coached and have returning players . . . we have to feel pretty excited by the fact we were able to beat a team like that. It just shows that we have promise for the games coming up.”
The next one is one of the earliest in recent memory: The Buffs are back at the CEC on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Jackson State.