Colorado
15-11, 7-7
Washington State
10-15, 2-11
Buffs Falter Down Stretch, Fall At WSU
February 15, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
PULLMAN, Wash. — With the table set for a strong stretch run, the Colorado Buffaloes instead went hungry Thursday night, dropping a crucial 73-69 loss at Washington State.
The Buffs led by as much as eight in the second half but couldn't hold the edge over the final minutes, allowing the Cougars to take the lead late and hold on for the win.
The defeat, which ended a three-game win streak for the Buffs, dropped CU to 15-11 overall and 7-7 in Pac-12 play. The Cougars, who ended a seven-game losing streak, improved to 10-15, 2-11.
The game was critical in CU's bid for a top-four Pac-12 finish as well as remaining in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid. Colorado could have moved into a tie for fourth in the conference standings with a win — and just one game away from second place — but instead will head to Washington for Saturday's game tied for eighth.
The loss and accompanying missed opportunity left CU head coach Tad Boyle in a sour mood.
"Pathetic is the only description I can come up with," Boyle said. "This is on me, this is on everybody that's a part of Buff basketball. This is on us. … We didn't execute, we didn't play with effort, energy and toughness. … This was just an absolute awful performance. I'm the head coach and I take this upon myself."
Despite 15 turnovers that led to 18 Washington State points, CU had its chances against the Cougars but could not come up with defensive stops when they mattered most. Malachi Flynn did the biggest damage for WSU, scoring 21 of his 30 points in the second half.
McKinley Wright IV had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Colorado, Dallas Walton added a career-high 16 points and six rebounds and George King had nine points and 11 rebounds.
The game was reminiscent in many ways to CU's win over Cal last week. But in that game, the Buffs managed to escape with a win despite not playing well.
They had no such luck Thursday night.
"Coach (Bill) Grier, the first thing he said in the scouting report was, 'Guys, last Wednesday against Cal we dodged a bullet. Now we're going to find out on Thursday, did we learn anything from that experience?'" Boyle said. "The answer is absolutely not. We learned absolutely nothing from that experience."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado trailed 30-29 at intermission but put together a 9-2 run to open the second half and assume control. The Buffs maintained the lead for much of the half, leading by as much as eight, but WSU stayed within range and finally regained the edge, 64-63, on a Robert Franks bucket with 2:56 to play.
Colorado then tied the game three times and finally took the lead again with 51 seconds left on a McKinley Wright three-point play, 69-68. WSU, though, quickly answered with two Flynn free throws to go back up by one, 70-69, with 46 seconds left.
Colorado then whiffed on its next two possessions, one of which ended in a turnover, while the Cougars added three free throws to sew up the win. CU made just two of its final 10 field goal attempts and fell to 1-8 on the road this season.
"This is one you second-guess yourself as a coach, who you're playing, how much you're playing them," Boyle said. "You go with the guys who have produced for you and they don't produce. This is a second-guessing game for me and our staff. Our defense wasn't good enough the second half. When we did get stops, we couldn't finish it with rebounds. It's the same old stuff — taking care of the ball."
Flynn, who Colorado held to five points in a CU win earlier this season, was virtually unstoppable in the second half. He scored nine straight points for WSU at one stretch midway through the second half and scored seven of the Cougars' final nine points in the last two minutes of the game.
"I think the last 15 possessions we got three stops," Boyle said. "We had our chances to win this game. We weren't very good offensively. It's disappointing because this was a winnable game, a game we should have won, could have won, but didn't win."
Neither team established anything resembling a rhythm in the first half. Colorado led early before WSU rallied to lead by as much as four, 25-21. The Buffs then put together an 8-0 run, capped by a Namon Wright three-point play that gave Colorado a 29-25 lead with 4:59 to play.
That, though, was the last time the Buffs scored in the half. Washington State then scraped together five points over the final five minutes to take a 30-29 lead at intermission. Neither team shot well from the field (CU was 10-for-25, WSU 12-for-31), but the biggest difference came in turnovers. The Buffs committed eight miscues in the first half, which Washington State converted into seven points.
TURNING POINT: Colorado still led by four, 63-59, with under four minutes to go but could not convert consistently on offense down the stretch while the Cougars got hot. WSU finally took the lead with just under three minutes to play and while CU managed to tie the game up twice and momentarily take the lead in the final minute, the Buffs could not come up with a defensive stop.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs are still mathematically in position to grab a top-four finish, but the task becomes much more difficult now, as they sit in a tie for eighth place.
CU STANDOUTS: McKinley Wright IV had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Colorado …. Dallas Walton scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs committed 15 turnovers that led to 18 Washington State points. … Colorado missed nine free throws. … CU also shot just 2-for-10 from the field in the final minutes.
QUOTEWORTHY: "We didn't execute. We didn't play with effort, energy and toughness. That's what we did against Utah, that's what we did against Stanford. We didn't against Cal and we dodged a bullet. We didn't tonight and we didn't dodge this bullet." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The finish their trip with a 6 p.m. Saturday game in Seattle against Washington. CU then returns home next week for its final regular season home games, an 8:30 meeting Wednesday with USC, followed by a 2 p.m. game Sunday vs. UCLA.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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