Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
6-4
Colorado State
6-3
Lackluster Buffs Fall To Rams
December 10, 2009 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
FORT COLLINS - After glimmers of progress in previous road trips to Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest, the Colorado Buffaloes took a shorter junket Thursday night - and regressed.
Staying in-state for a road game didn't help CU. Neither did coach Jeff Bzdelik's past "Moby mojo."
Inspired Colorado State surged to a 10-point halftime advantage, increased its lead to 18 midway through the second half, then held on to defeat CU 77-62 in Moby Arena.
The Buffs surged back in the final 4 minutes, closing to within seven points twice, but could get no closer.
CU lost its 20th consecutive road game to a Division I opponent. The Buffs last won on a Division I opponent's home court on Dec. 22, 2007 - and that 73-70 win was at CSU.
Bzdelik, meanwhile, entered Thursday's game with a 6-0 mark against CSU and was undefeated in three previous trips to Moby. No more, and Bzdelik knew why.
"We lacked discipline, we were selfish, we lacked toughness and we weren't very poised," he said. "We dug ourselves a hole because of those four things . . . . The only thing to take from this is to learn and understand why we got our butts whupped."
CSU coach Tim Miles said the students' participation made the difference, calling the Moby atmosphere "a phenomenal environment . . . I thought (the students) came out and provided a high-energy place."
Miles also said, "I thought we were aggressive - and the aggressor always wins."
CU's lack of discipline, said Bzdelik, was most apparent in the way it attempted to run his offense. The Buffs entered the game knowing they should kick the ball out to a perimeter shooter when Rams defense collapsed - but CU failed to do it with any regularlity.
"When we did, we manufactured open shots," Bzdelik said. "We didn't do that but a handful of times."
He also was perturbed by CSU players stripping the ball from CU players and beating Buffs to loose balls and getting 12 offensive rebounds which translated to 13 second-chance points. The Buffs, dropping to 6-4, were outrebounded 41-27 and their 16 turnovers were the second-most of the season.
CSU, improving to 6-3, won for the first time in this series' three most recent games.
The Buffs' 36-26 halftime deficit was their largest of the season and their 34.8 field goal percentage in the first 20 minutes also was a season low. They finished the night at 37.3 percent from the field, hitting just 19 of 51.
Couple those numbers with being badly outrebounded and CU's second-half objectives became fairly clear. Unfortunately, the Buffs couldn't realize them, although guard Alec Burks made a considerable contribution.
The 6-foot-6 freshman scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half, but Bzdelik said Burks was as culpable as any of his teammates in not sticking to the offense: "He tried to do a little too much."
CU didn't open that poorly, taking a 5-3 lead on a three-pointer by Burks less than 3 minutes into the game and going up by five points (12-7) on a conventional three-point play by Cory Higgins, who finished with 12 points.
That lead came with 15:14 to play in the half, and that's when the night began to sour for the Buffs. They didn't get another field goal for almost 8 minutes, allowing the Rams to catch them at 14-14 and steadily pull ahead.
Burks said the Buffs started the game with intensity but didn't maintain it: "I guess we just felt like they weren't better than us and we just let 'em win, I guess. We played to their ability instead of ours."
He also said he might not have realized how much the game meant to CSU and its fans until they stormed the court at the final buzzer.
"I didn't know it meant that much to them," Burks said. "I guess it does; it's a big deal to Colorado State."
But Bzdelik said the emotion of this series "was discussed and they should know . . . what are you going to do? If you can't get excited to do this, you don't have a pulse."
CSU junior forward Travis Franklin had his way with CU's inside players, hitting five of six first-half field goal attempts and six of seven free throws to lead all first-half scorers with 16 points. He finished with a double-double - 22 points and 10 rebounds - while freshman guard Dorian Green added 21.
Franklin said CSU "wanted it more than them . . . we really came out and played."
Nearly 2 minutes elapsed in the second half before either team scored. But by the 14:54 mark, Franklin and the Rams had asserted themselves and led 47-32. Of CSU's first 11 points of the second half, Franklin was responsible for six.
The Rams surged ahead by as many as 18 points in the second half before the Buffs cut that deficit in half (65-56) on a three-pointer from the left corner by guard Nate Tomlinson with 3:56 remaining.
It was the closest CU had been since late in the first half, and Bzdelik took an immediate time out. Over the next 31/2 minutes, Burks did his best to rally the Buffs but deficits of 67-60 and 69-62 were as close as they could come.
CU is off until Dec. 22, when Cal State-Northridge visits the Coors Events Center for the first game (5:30 p.m., FSN Rocky Mountain) of a Buffs men's/women's doubleheader.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
