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CU men lose to Golden Bears, throwing NCAA bid in doubt
Mar 3rd
CU, ranked fifth in the Pac-12 Conference going into Saturday’s game, falls to 19-9 overall and 9-7 in the Pac-12. The third-ranked Golden Bears, winning their seventh consecutive game, improved to 20-9 overall and 12-5.
Colorado struggled offensively Saturday with a season low in points, field goals made (15) and field goal shooting percentage (23.1). Freshman forward Xavier Johnson was the only CU player in double figures with 14 total points. Freshman Josh Scott returned to the lineup after missing two games with a concussion. He scored four points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Cal’s Justin Cobbs and Tyrone Wallace scored 16 points each, while David Kravish added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Wallace also hauled down 11 boards.
“We didn’t have one guy offensively make a shot tonight, but you have to credit Cal, they man-handled us,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “Our first shot defense was pretty good but those second-chance shots were tough.”
The Buffs came into Saturday’s matchup looking to smother guard Allen Crabbe, the leading scorer in the Pac-12 at more than 18 points per game. But when Crabbe recorded his third personal foul with 5:11 remaining in the half, he took to the bench.
An improving Cal team executed offensively without its star scorer, though. The Golden Bears went on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to go up 22-15, and while senior guard Sabatino Chen hit a three to end the half on an energetic note, the Buffs were still down four (24-20) at intermission.
The Golden Bears held the Buffs to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, CU’s worst first-half field goal percentage this season, and the Buffs’ 20 first-half points tied a season low recorded earlier this season at Washington.
Much of CU’s shooting woes came from a failure to capitalize off of Cal turnovers, as CU had a +2 turnover margin going into halftime, but had five fewer points off of turnovers than its opponent.
The Buffs found some energy out of the locker room, closing the gap back to two on a Xavier Johnson trey with 14:16 left in the game. Cal responded, though, with an 8-3 run over the next five minutes capped by a SC Top-10-worthy dunk by guard Tyrone Wallace.
Cal had widened its gap to nine by the 5:32 mark — and with a final shooting percentage of 23.1 from the field, the Buffs’ comeback attempt came nowhere close. By the final buzzer, CU was down 16 for a 62-46 loss.
“Cal wasn’t this Cal when they came to Boulder a month ago,” said Boyle, whose team won the first meeting 81-71. “So they’ve improved We were the best defensive team in the league for a stretch there but these guys have overtaken us and you can see why.”
CU returns to the Coors Events Center next weekend for its final two regular season matchups, against No. 24 Oregon on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Oregon State on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).
Boyle called Saturday’s contest “a big time game and we didn’t answer the bell. But it wasn’t because of our lack of effort and we can’t get too down on ourselves. We have two big games at home to finish out the season.”
At 12-4 in the Pac-12, the Ducks currently hold the top spot in the conference, while the Beavers are ranked 11th at 3-13.
Roberson’s Career-High 24 Pushes Buffs Past Cardinal
Feb 28th
Release: 2/27/2013
STANFORD, Calif. – Andre Roberson woke up “sick and woozy” on Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night, he was much, much better – and Stanford was feeling ill.
Behind Roberson’s career-high 24 points and eight rebounds, Colorado edged the Cardinal 65-63, giving the Buffaloes their first Pac-12 Conference sweep of Stanford and their first-ever win at Maples Pavilion.
“Our players deserved that win,” said CU coach Tad Boyle, whose team improved to 19-8 overall and 9-6 in the conference.
“For what they’ve been through, how they battled and the heart they played with, they deserved that.”
Roberson, a 6-7 junior, got scoring help from sophomore Spencer Dinwiddie with 19. They were the only two CU players in double figures.
In a postgame interview on KOA Radio, Roberson said after waking up feeling subpar on Wednesday morning, “I drank a lot of fluids, took some medicine. But Trae (Tashiro, trainer) had me on the right path and I had to come out here and take care of business. You have to fight through it.”
The win kept the Buffs in contention for the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 tournament (March 13-16, Las Vegas). Said Roberson: “This means a lot for us . . . also in terms of the Pac-12 standings we’re trying to get that fourth seed. We’ll see how it goes.”
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Stanford (16-13, 7-9) had three players in double digits – Andy Brown with 17, Chasson Randle with 16 and Dwight Powell with 12. Powell almost ended with 14 points, taking an in-bounds pass with 2.4 seconds to play, turning on Roberson and going to the basket for a jam that would have sent the game into overtime.
But he had too much court to cover in too little time – and Roberson knew it. “I knew they were going to play the three or attack the rim,” Roberson said. “He went past me and I said, ‘Oh, shoot’ . . . but the ball was still in his hand when the light went off.”
After a collective CU sigh that might have rattled windows in the Rockies, the Buffs had their eighth win in 10 games and their third consecutive conference road win for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
Boyle called Roberson “a beast” for his offensive effort and lauded his overall defense on the 6-10 Powell. Boyle also said when Dinwiddie “plays aggressively and attacks the rim, and Andre plays like he did, those two are special.”
But overall, it was another special night for the Buffs. They won without 6-10 freshman center Josh Scott, who received an elbow to the head on Feb. 16 against Arizona State and did not play last week against Utah. Scott made the trip to the Bay Area but was held out of Wednesday night’s game. In CU’s 75-54 win against Stanford on Jan. 24, Scott scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Scott’s status for Saturday, when CU plays at fast-improving California (2 p.m. MST, ESPNU), is to be determined. Against Cal in Boulder on Jan. 27, Scott contributed five points and three rebounds. Nonetheless, the Buffs won 81-71, but since then the Bears have won seven of eight – including five straight.
Boyle said Scott “is getting closer every day . . . we wouldn’t have brought him if we didn’t think there wasn’t a chance of him playing.”
CU led only once (2-0) in Wednesday night’s first half and trailed 32-31 at intermission. Over the first 6:00, the Buffs shot horrendously, making only two of their first 13 shots and trailing by as many as 10 points (15-5).
But they refused to roll over, launching an 11-2 run that brought them to within 17-16 with 10:06 left before the break. They forged ties at 25-25 and 27-27 before the Cardinal answered with a 5-0 run to go up 32-27.
But CU closed the half with baskets by Dinwiddie and Jeremy Adams to account for their one-point deficit at intermission.
Dinwiddie’s 10 points topped the Buffs in the first 20 minutes, followed by Roberson with eight and Adams with seven off the bench, giving him 13 in the first halves of his last two games.
The difference in the first half for Stanford was its three-point shooting; the Cardinal hit five of their nine trey attempts while the Buffs were one of eight from beyond the arc. Stanford finished 9-of-20, CU 4-of-18.
The Buffs shot 42.9 percent from the field to the Cardinal’s 39.0 percent and outrebounded the home team 34-33. CU scored 36 points in the paint to Stanford’s 22.
The Buffs made only one of their first four shots over the first four-plus minutes of the second half, and the Cardinal outscored them 8-2 to go ahead 40-33 with 15:36 remaining. And when Randle drained a three-pointer from the right wing,
Stanford had matched its largest lead of the game – 10 points – at 43-33.
But as they did in the first half facing a 10-point deficit, the Buffs had a swift response. Dinwiddie scored five points to spark an 8-0 run, pulling CU to within two (43-41) with 11:50 to play. Less than two minutes later, a triple by Roberson with the shot clock at :02 brought the Buffs to within one (45-44).
And “Dre” was just getting started. He drained another trey, followed that with a layup, then watched Askia Booker hit a layup to send CU ahead 51-45 – the Buffs’ largest lead of the night.
After trailing by 10, CU had strung together an 18-5 run, but Stanford wasn’t finished. Another Randle three-ball, followed by a Brown tip, brought the Cardinal back to 51-50.
But the Buffs didn’t surrender the lead, going up by as many as six before a Josh Huestis tip brought the Cardinal to 61-59.
Dinwiddie answered with a layup (63-59) but he also got a technical foul for touching the ball after it came through the net.
Aaron Bright hit one of two free throws (63-60), but Roberson was fouled on a rebound and hit two free throws (65-60) with 15.1 seconds to play. Then a Brown triple from the left corner pulled Stanford to 65-63.
Dinwiddie was fouled with 4 seconds showing, but missed the front end of his one-and-one. Stanford controlled the rebound and called timeout with 2.4 seconds left. Powell got the inbounds pass, pivoted and went to the basket and jammed it . . . but it was too late.
“I saw the light go off (around the backboard),” a relieved Boyle said. “It was a break this team needs and deserves . . . Powell made a good play, there wasn’t just enough time for him, thank goodness.”