Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
14-8,(3-4)
Baylor
14-6,(4-3)
Buffaloes Overtaken By Bears In Second Half
January 29, 2011 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
WACO, Texas - Colorado had its way with Baylor for a half here Saturday, but at the end of the day . . . what a way to lose. The Bears overcame a 17-point first-half deficit, finally overtook the Buffaloes with less than 3 minutes to play and held on to win 70-66 at the Ferrell Center.
The defeat extended CU's losing streak to four after a 3-0 start in Big 12 Conference play and dropped the Buffs to 14-8 overall. Baylor improved to 14-6, 4-3 and snapped a four-game losing streak against Big 12 North Division teams. CU is now 2-34 in its last 36 conference road games, including 1-3 this season.
"Our guys battled and we wanted it," CU Coach Tad Boyle said. "We're right there; it's a possession here, a possession there, a free throw here, a free throw there. We've got to find a way to win these games, and as this program grows and we build, we can't let days like this get us down."
Leading by 14 points at halftime, the Buffs' second-half mission was clear: Stay patient, stay aggressive and play to win instead of playing not to lose.
"Obviously, we talked about winning the second half, and then we came out and instead of us punching them in the mouth, they came out and punched us in the mouth," Boyle said. "We couldn't get stops, and everything we worked for in the first 20 minutes was gone in the first part of the second half. They came out and got momentum, got the crowd in the game.
"You have to play at least well enough in the second half when you have a 14-point lead at half time, you can't play not to lose. You have to play to win. We took some quick shots and we took some shots that were good shots, we just didn't make them. Part of it is that you have to make shots against a zone. We have good shooters, but we didn't make enough."
Baylor's LaceDarius Dunn scored a game-best 26 points and moved into third on the Big 12's all-time scoring chart. He was 11-for-11 from the free throw line, sinking eight of his foul shots in the final 1:27 to keep the Buffs at bay.
Alec Burks led the Buffs with 20 points, and Higgins added 16 - but only four in the second half - and Levi Knutson contributed 10.
Dunn scored 17 of his total in the second half to lead Baylor's comeback. "He heated up," Boyle said. "He's scored a lot of points in his career. I thought Cory (Higgins) in the first half did a really good job on him; he might have gotten a little tired. LaceDarius is a good player and Cory is a good player and that was a good matchup.
"It's a tale of two halves; 33 percent field goal percentage defense in the first half, 60 percent in the second half is the tale of the game. We guard even at a 50 percent clip, we win that game."
CU opened smart and efficiently against Baylor's 2-3 zone, attacking it patiently and eventually building a 17-point lead (35-18) on a pair of free throws by Burks with 44.7 seconds left before intermission.
"You can't get on your heels against (a zone) and settle for perimeter jump shots early in the possession," Boyle said. "I thought the first half we got the ball inside, we got the ball to the high post, we attacked the basket and that's why we had success against it.
"They packed it in a little more in the second half, they used the same zone and played man more than I thought they would. I thought we did a good job adjusting to that. We got good shots, we just didn't make enough."
CU rolled to its big first-half lead despite shooting only 38.7 percent from the field (12-of-31) and finished at 35.4 percent (23-of-65) for the game.
The Buffs led 35-21 at halftime, with that advantage their largest of the season in Big 12 play. Never trailing in the first half, CU got 12 points from Higgins - his second-best early output this season - and committed only five turnovers, the fourth consecutive game the Buffs have been in single digits in that category at the half. They finished with 10.
Conversely, CU forced Baylor into 13 of its 18 turnovers in the first half and recorded nine of its 12 steals, a first-half high this season. The Buffs also went to the boards en masse, grabbing first-half 21 rebounds against a Bears' team that goes 6-11, 6-11 and 6-10 across its starting front line. The game wasn't lost on the boards: CU battled Baylor to a 38-38 tie there, with Buffs freshman Andre Roberson finishing with a game-high 11 boards - 10 on the offensive end - to go with his nine points.
"I'm not sure I've seen that from a true freshman in a long, long time," Boyle said of Roberson's 10 offensive boards.
For Baylor, the burning question was how it would open the second half - and the answer came quickly. The Bears scored seven consecutive points and cut their halftime deficit in half before the Buffs could respond with a pair of free throws by Burks.
Those shots put CU up 37-28, but Baylor was rolling. Over the next 5 minutes, the Bears outscored the Buffs 14-7 and pulled to within 44-42 after Perry Jones III grabbed his own miss, backed off and hit a baseline jumper with 11:40 remaining.
CU withstood that surge, getting two foul shots from Andre Roberson and field goals by Higgins and Knutson to go back up by six (50-44). But Baylor kept applying the pressure and finally tied the score at 54-54 on two free throws by Dunn with 4:49 to play.
It took almost 2 more minutes for the Bears to take their first lead of the game. They got it on two foul shots by - who else? - Dunn to go ahead 58-57 with 2:58 left.
CU's next possession was a boon for Baylor. After Burks was called for a charge, A.J. Walton hit a three-pointer to push the Bears ahead 61-57 - forcing the Buffs into an uphill climb the rest of the game.
Burks converted a conventional three-point play with 39.4 seconds remaining to pull CU to within 64-62. When Walton missed a pair of free throws two seconds later, the Buffs had a chance to tie or go ahead.
But on that critical possession, Higgins uncharacteristically settled for a quick three-point attempt, which clanked off the back of the rim. Dunn's march to the free throw line continued. The Buffs cut the Bears' lead to two points twice more in the final 10 seconds, but each time that happened, Dunn answered with another pair of foul shots - the last two sealing Baylor's win with 3.3 seconds remaining.
Boyle's plan was to prevent Dunn from getting the ball on Baylor's final possession, but said, "We had a break down defensively, especially on that last possession. We wanted to keep the ball out of his hands. If anybody was going to catch it, we wanted Walton to catch it. He had missed a couple free throws early. But Dunn is a good player. He stepped up like seniors do."
The Buffs play three of their next four at home, returning to the Coors Events Center Tuesday to face Iowa State (7 p.m., FSN Rocky Mountain). Following ISU's visit, CU travels to Missouri on Saturday, Feb. 5 before back-to-back home games against Texas A&M (Feb. 9) and Kansas State (Feb. 12).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDUÂ
