Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
21-13
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Kansas (Semifinal)
31-2
Jayhawks Hold On To Eliminate Buffs From Big 12
March 11, 2011 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Let the waiting game begin.
If winning two games in the Big 12 Conference tournament added enough bulk to its resume, Colorado's NCAA Tournament destination will be decided on Sunday afternoon when the NCAA Selection Committee announces its 68-team field.
CU's opportunity to earn an automatic NCAA berth as the Big 12 champion and end the suspense was quashed Friday night in the Sprint Center by top-seeded, second-ranked Kansas. After using a 12-0 run early in the second half and appearing to comfortably distance themselves from the No. 5 seed Buffaloes, the Jayhawks were forced to hold on for a 90-83 win that advanced them to Saturday's championship game.
Trailing by 18 points with 14 minutes to play, CU cut the deficit to 86-80 in the final minute but could come no closer.
"I'm not real happy with the outcome . . . but we took some big-time strides in Kansas City," said first-year CU Coach Tad Boyle. "I'm proud of our resiliency and toughness, but we came here to win this tournament."
CU (21-13) has not played in the NCAA Tournament since 2003, and is hopeful of making only its third NCAA appearance in the past 41 years. If the Buffs don't make it this season - their best since 1996-97 when they won 22 games and were in the NCAAs - it will send them into the NIT with spirits sagging.
"We know we're going to be in postseason," said Boyle, "but we hope it's the NCAA tournament. If it's not, we'll be extremely disappointed . . . but it's something you have no control over."
After falling behind by 18 points in the second half, CU rallied gamely, cutting the KU lead to 79-70 on a Levi Knutson three-pointer with 3:48 to play, to 84-77 on another Knutson trey, and finally to 86-80 on a conventional three-point play by Alec Burks with 38 seconds left.
After that, the Buffs were forced to foul and the Jayhawks sealed their 31st win of the season (two losses) at the free throw line, putting the Buffs' NCAA fate in the unpredictable hands of the selection committee.
"We didn't have enough juice and gas in the tank to get over the hump . . . but you can't fault these guys and their effort," Boyle said, agreeing that playing three games in three days likely took its toll on his team. Senior Cory Higgins, who picked up CU in its quarterfinal win on Thursday against Kansas State, finished with only six points after scoring 28 the previous day. Higgins was 1-for-11 from the field.
Boyle, forced by fouls to play "unconventional lineups," said KU "did a great job on Cory . . . they made Alec and Cory work. They make you earn it; they're not going to break down.
"In Cory's case, he expended a lot of emotional energy (Thursday) and midway through the second half (Friday), he didn't have that pep in his step."
Burks led CU with 23 points, followed by Knutson with 17. KU had four players in double figures, topped by brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris with 20 each. Tyrel Reed and Tyshawn Taylor added 15 each.
KU Coach Bill Self was more perplexed than distraught about his team allowing an 18-point lead to slip to six. "They got it to six in the final minute, and that's nothing to be proud of," he said. "But sometimes that's misleading - you hit a couple of shots . . . and that's what they did. You don't ever like to lose a lead, but I don't feel like we ever lost control as far as the outcome."
He also called CU's 49.2 shooting percentage from the field - 51.5 in the second half - "troublesome . . . we've done a good job over time in defending people."
Among the Buffs' pregame goals were limiting the Jayhawks' number of three-point baskets and being more competitive on the boards than they had been in a pair of regular-season losses. The Buffs stayed close to meeting that first goal for a large portion of a first half that saw them build a 22-10 lead; they didn't allow a Jayhawk three until Markieff Morris, trailing in transition, buried the first with 7:22 left before halftime.
That basket capped a 17-4 KU run in which all the points were scored by the Morris Brothers - nine by Markieff, eight by Marcus. It brought the Jayhawks all the way back and then some, giving them their first lead of the game, 27-26.
The Jayhawks hit only five of 25 three-point attempts in their 63-62 quarterfinal win on Thursday against Oklahoma State, and CU went into Thursday's semifinal match hoping that cold spell at the arc carried over. The Jayhawks weren't nearly that frigid in their two regular-season wins against the Buffs, shooting a combined 21-for-46 from three-point range.
So holding KU to one trey for almost 17 minutes was an accomplishment. But not many in the Sprint Center believed that would last - and it didn't.
Mario Little and Reed knocked down three-pointers on consecutive first-half possessions, and after a pair of free throws by Reed with 34.3 seconds before the break, KU had its largest lead of the half - 43-37 - into halftime. For the game, the Jayhawks made seven of their 17 trey attempts.
The Buffs didn't come close to meeting their rebounding goal. Out-boarded 78-53 in their two regular-season losses to the Jayhawks, the Buffs lost Friday's battle 41-26.
"A 15 (margin) on the glass is a pretty good number," Self said, adding that his team "played some of our best ball" in finishing the first half after CU had built its 12-point first-half lead and in a 12-0 run early in the second half to construct its big lead.
"Colorado played great, especially in the first half," Self said. "We got down 22-10 before we woke up . . . I've got a lot of respect for Tad and their guys."
For what it's worth, Self also believes the Buffs will make the NCAA field and that they will present a formidable task for whoever draws them.
"I think so," he said. "Tad's done a good job . . . they've got two terrific offensive players (Burks and Higgins) and a pretty good third (Knutson). I think they're in (and) I don't think anybody will look forward to matching up with these guys - they're dangerous."
But they haven't been too dangerous for the Jayhawks. Since a one-point Buffs win in Boulder in 2003, the Jayhawks have won 18 straight, including 82-78 (Boulder) and 89-63 (Lawrence) this season.
The Buffs, who advanced to Friday's game with wins over Iowa State (77-75) and Kansas State (87-75), were making their first appearance in the Big 12 semifinals while the Jayhawks were in the semis for the second consecutive season and 13th time in the league's 15-year history.
The Buffs raced to a 6-0 lead and expanded that to 11-2 before Reed hit the Jayhawks' first field goal with 16:20 left before halftime. CU kept up its torrid early shooting and expanded its lead to 22-10 before Self called a timeout. His message worked.
The Morris Bros. scored 10 points each in the first half, while no CU player reached double figures. Burks had eight points for the Buffs, with Nate Tomlinson and Knutson scoring six each. Tomlinson didn't score against ISU and had only three against K-State. He was one of three CU players to finish with nine points.
Just short of the half's midway point, CU was shooting 66.0 percent from the field. But by halftime, that had dropped to 46.7. The Buffs had cooled off and the Jayhawks had discovered their usual comfort zone.
With 13:48 to play, Burks was fouled on a drive to the basket and took a hard fall, landing on his back and appearing to have the wind knocked out of him. He eventually bounced back up, shot two free throws and explained afterwards that he fell on his left wrist.
"I hurt my wrist a little," he said. "I had both feet in the air and I fell on my back."
Burks had opened the second half with a tip-in to draw CU within 43-39, and Tomlinson added his third trey of the evening to keep the Buffs within five points (47-42).
At that point the Jayhawks seemed to tire of seeing someone just over their shoulders and quickly pulled away. After Tomlinson's trey, KU - again with the Morrises doing the most damage - put together a 12-0 run and appeared to effectively close this one out.
The Jayhawks shot ahead by 18 (62-44) when Elijah Johnson buried a three at the 14 minute mark. But the Buffs refused to go quietly, making a game of it and avoiding what some selection committee members might have viewed as a detrimental loss.
Boyle agreed that from early Friday night until late Sunday afternoon is a long time to wait before he and his team learn their postseason plans. "Yeah, it is," he said. "But right now we need some rest and we'll get that (Saturday). Until your name pops up there (during Sunday's selection show), we're not going to put the cart before the horse."
He said his team "has come a long way and overcome a lot," noting that it has "adjusted, grown and bonded" during the course of his first season. "I'm very proud of our program."
Before their final season, none of the CU seniors had played on a winning team or left the Big 12 tournament assured of playing in the postseason. "It's definitely a different feeling," Knutson said. "We made strides as a team, but you're never satisfied with a loss.
"But this team is playing the best basketball since I've been here. I'm proud of the guys on this team and what we've done."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
