Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
13-6, 5-2
Arizona
13-7, 4-3
Brooks: Buffs Stay Tough In Crunch, Edge Wildcats
January 21, 2012 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - The way the game had rocked back and forth for 39 minutes, Colorado coach Tad Boyle couldn't see it shifting toward the Buffaloes with a seamless offensive possession. Arizona had made it a deliver-a-blow, absorb-a-blow kind of Saturday, and the Wildcats - down one point with no timeouts - had a last chance to hush the season's first sellout crowd at the Coors Events Center.
It didn't happen - and that the Buffs outlasted the Wildcats 64-63 on what Boyle later called a "rock solid" final defensive stand simply made his afternoon.
"We work on time and score in practice a lot . . . up one and having to get a stop," he said. "All it takes is one break down; we made them take a contested three and they missed. I thought it was appropriate that we won the game that way."
The win, CU's fifth at home in Pac-12 Conference play (13-6 overall, 5-2 conference), finally unfolded like this:
After a Kevin Parrom layup gave UA a 63-61 lead, CU senior Carlon Brown drained a three-pointer to put CU ahead by a point with 1:18 showing. When Kyle Fogg missed the front end of a critical one-and-one with 1:01 left, Brown in turn misfired from just inside the top of the key with less than half a minute remaining.
The Wildcats controlled the rebound and had a final chance for the win, but they didn't have a timeout to set anything up. UA coach Sean Miller had sped through his second-half timeouts, using his last one with about 2:50 left.
As a result, the Wildcats sped down court and tried find a crack in the Buffs' defense. When none was found, the ball went to Parrom on the right perimeter. His trey attempt at the buzzer was long - and the Buffs and their rowdy capacity crowd (11,056) exhaled. Victoriously.
As the crowd roared, most of CU's players joined in the celebration - all but senior Austin Dufault, who celebrated a little late. "I thought the game was tied," Dufault said sheepishly. "I saw Nate (Tomlinson) sprinting down the court, and thought, 'What's he doing? We're going into overtime.' Then I looked at the scoreboard, grabbed Carlon and said, 'We won.'"
Duh . . . shocking, but true. Dufault, though, was infinitely more in tune to what preceded the final frantic seconds. To go along with Brown's team-best 19 points - 12 in the second half, seven of those in the last 9:57 - Dufault contributed 12 points, six rebounds and pair of steals, continuing his steady play in his final season. CU's pair of freshman guards - Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker - combined for 21 points (Dinwiddie 12, Booker nine). UA's Jesse Perry led all scorers with 20.
The contributions of Brown, Dufault, Dinwiddie and Booker were made all the more vital by what Boyle termed an off night for leading rebounder (11.3) and second-leading scorer (11.6) Andre Roberson, who collected seven boards but didn't score (0-for-8 from the field, 0-for-2 from the free throw line).
"It wasn't his night," Boyle said. "He wasn't getting to the foul line and missed some shots he normally makes. Basketball is going to be like that sometimes . . . I kept telling him to keep his head up and don't get down on yourself. Andre's not going to do that and we know that. It's just one of those nights."
Fortunately for the Buffs, Brown & Co. were there to compensate and push CU to 11-1 at home this season and 29-3 in 11/2 seasons under Boyle. Brown's only points on Thursday night against Arizona State came on a pair of free throws, but he was taking what ASU's matchup zone gave him. Against UA, he morphed back into more of a creator, and Boyle acknowledged, "It was key . . . we knew we were going to have to have guys make plays because against normal teams you wait for the defense to break down. Against great defensive teams, and I consider Arizona a very good defensive team, they may not break down.
"So if they don't break down, guess what? You're going to have to make a play and your offense has to be better than their defense. Sometimes it just takes a guy like Carlon who can make plays . . . we kept calling his number and putting the ball in his hands."
After Brown missed his jumper from the top of the key that could have put the Buffs ahead by four points, the final seconds blurred: "I don't know what happened . . . I ran back after missing the shot."
But he also immediately turned defensive, as did his teammates.
"When it came down to the bottom line, we had to get the stop," said Brown, who added six rebounds, two assists and a steal to his stat line. "We found a way to do that . . . we got a stop to win it. We talk about that every day in practice; sometimes the offense doesn't click and the defense has to step up. Today we did that."
As proud as he was about the Buffs' defense in the final half minute, Boyle also pointed to his team's season-low six turnovers, which led to a dozen points. CU needed an advantage there, because UA won the board battle 44-35 - not a statistical duel Boyle likes to lose. And CU missed 10 free throws (16-of-26), hit just four three-pointers in 17 attempts and finished at 40.7 percent from the field (22-of-54).
But the Buffs, Boyle noted, "made one extra play" on defense. "That's what makes me the happiest and the most proud."
CUÂ trailed 39-35 at the half and never led by more than four points in the first 20 minutes. And that 32-28 advantage disappeared quickly as the Wildcats put together an 11-1 run to go up 39-33 with 1:15 remaining before the break.
The Buffs played the final 13 minutes of the first half minus Roberson, who picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench with no points and no boards with 11:49 left in the half. He was back in the lineup to start the second half, but he remained uncharacteristically ineffective.
The second half was back-and-forth. Back-to-back layups and a free throw by Dufault, who had only three first-half points, opened CU's biggest lead (61-56) with 3:52 to play.
It lasted slightly over a minute. Fogg (16 points) followed with a three-pointer from the right wing, and Solomon Hill (10) hit a layup to tie the score at 61-61 with 2:51 remaining.
But crunch time - featuring Brown's big trey and the Buffs' big final stop - was approaching . . .
Miller, whose third UA team is now 13-7, 4-3, called it "a great college basketball game, and I give a lot of credit to Colorado. They have an incredible home court here and I think they have a very good team."
CU returns to the road next week, playing at Southern California on Thursday and UCLA on Saturday. The Buffs open February with home games against Oregon State (Thursday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m.) and Oregon (Saturday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m., ROOT Sports). Tickets are available at CUBuffs.com/tickets or by calling 303-49BUFFS.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
