Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
21-11
Oregon (#3 seed)
22-9
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 34 | 29 | 63 |
| Oregon | 33 | 29 | 62 |
Brooks: Roberson's Put-Back Puts Buffs In Pac-12 Semis
March 09, 2012 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
LOS ANGELES - The Colorado Buffaloes rediscovered the defense they lost in Oregon and the offense that deserted them against Utah. But despite being night-and-day better in almost every area than in the past three games, CU needed something else - and Andre Roberson provided it Thursday night at the Staples Center.
It took a put-back by Roberson with 13 seconds remaining - and don't overlook a final defensive stand featuring Nate Tomlinson - to eliminate third-seeded Oregon, 63-62, and deposit the improbable Buffs in the Pac-12 Conference semifinals, two wins away from an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"Well, to me, that's what basketball in March is all about," a jubilant CU coach Tad Boyle said. "Obviously, we're elated because we won. But when our guys put forth the kind of effort they did, as a coach it just makes you real proud.
"I think you've got to tip your hat to Oregon, too, because their guys competed. It was just a great college basketball game by two teams going toe-to-toe."
No. 6 seed CU (21-11) plays No. 2 seed California (24-8) on Friday in the Pac-12 semifinals (9:30 p.m., MST). Cal advanced by defeating No. 7 seed Stanford 77-71 in Thursday night's first game.
The Buffs have been in this position before; they advanced to the Big 12 Conference semifinals last March, but were ousted by No. 2 Kansas. One big difference between that game and Friday night's, said Boyle, is "there won't be 18,000 Kansas fans cheering against us" in Kansas City, "so that's a nice thing."
He promised his players, who leaped and danced off the Staples Center court in celebration, would be well-rested, well-hydrated and well-motivated to face Cal. Boyle said the Buffs "competed our tails off" against the Jayhawks in their 90-83 Big 12 semifinal loss. "Those guys are here on a mission, and I like the focus of our team," Boyle said. "If we can compete (Friday) like we did against Kansas, as a coach, I'll take that."
Of course, Boyle would rather take that effort and a win into Saturday's Pac-12 championship game - an unheard of destination when the conference season began for the first-year Pac-12 members.
Roberson, who recorded his 18th double-double of the season (12 points, 10 rebounds), said his rebound and decisive stick-back of a Spencer Dinwiddie miss was a product of Boyle's philosophy: "We tried to attack, we didn't want to take a jump shot. Coach Boyle tells us to attack the rim. I saw Spencer go (to the rim) and I crashed the boards like I normally do . . . it fell right into my hands."
Carlon Brown led CU with 18 points, hitting seven of his 13 field goal attempts (two-for-four threes). The Buffs were outrebounded 43-29, but they held the Ducks to 39.7 percent (27-of-68) shooting from the field. That was considerably below Oregon's 54.4 percent marksmanship in a 90-81 win over the Buffs last week in Eugene.
"I was sure hoping they wouldn't shoot like that again (Thursday)," Boyle said. "They got going on their home court and their crowd gave them so much energy . . . I'm glad this was a neutral court."
But CU had a hand - 10 at a time, in fact - in Oregon being cooled off Thursday. Tomlinson had asked assistant coach Mike Rohn if he could guard the Ducks' leading scorer, Devoe Joseph (16.8 point average). Joseph had torched CU for 24 points in Eugene, hitting 11-of-16 from the field.
Joseph didn't get his first basket Thursday night until 5 minutes remained in the first half. He finished with 12, and those 10 second-half points were instrumental in the Ducks' comeback from an eight-point deficit and their maintaining a lead until Roberson's put-back.
But, said Boyle, Tomlinson "did a phenomenal job on Joseph . . . Nate wanted to guard him and he and coach Rohn talked about some things. He told Nate to go for it. I have the utmost confidence in coach Rohn; I was fine with that."
Joseph's 12 points were second to center Tony Woods' 14 for the Ducks (22-9).
The Buffs fell behind 6-0 on a pair of three-pointers from the Ducks' Garrett Sim and E.J. Singler, probably offering CU fans a dark reminder of how poorly their team defended in its loss at Eugene. But CU quickly buckled down on that end of the court and settled into a rhythm on the offensive end - something that never happened in the Buffs' ugly 53-41 first-round win against Utah.
Oregon led until Brown tied the score at 14-14 with a hard drive to the basket and a layup at the half's 14:05 mark. Less than 2 minutes later, CU had its first lead (17-15) on an Austin Dufault layup, made possible by a nice Tomlinson feed.
From there, the teams went back-and-forth, with the largest lead either able to manage being a five-point advantage by CU (34-29) on a steal and stuff by L.A. native Askia Booker.
But the Ducks answered by working inside to the 6-11 Woods, who scored half of his eight first-half points in the final 2 minutes and pulled Oregon to within 34-33 at the break.
CU's defense was light years ahead of what it had been in trip to Eugene. Oregon finished the half at 37.8 percent from the field (14-of-37).
As for the Buffs' shooting, their 51.7 percent (15-of-29) didn't resemble the 34.9 percent they struggled to reach against Utah. But as efficient as the Buffs were in the first 20 minutes, 20 more remained - and they headed into them with only a one-point lead.
By the 12:45 mark, that had changed. After Woods converted a traditional three-point play to tied the score at 39-39, Brown asserted himself. Shaking himself out of temporary funk with double-figure scoring in the past three games, he shook once more and CU went on an 8-0 run to go up 47-39.
Brown, whose 15 points against Utah followed 20- and 14-point efforts at Oregon and Oregon State, started the tear with a short jumper. Then, Roberson sank one of two free throws. Then, Brown buried a three-pointer and another jumper for the eight-point CU lead.
The Buffs didn't expect the Ducks to go downy side up - and they didn't. Devoe hit consecutive baskets, and Carlos Emory got another two. It was 51-47, CU, with just under 9 minutes to play.
The Ducks didn't get that close for another 3 minutes - and that was after the Buffs had taken their largest lead of the game, 58-50, on a Booker jump shot. But Oregon got consecutive buckets from Singler to cut the deficit to 58-54, and Joseph made it 58-56 with a layup.
When Woods hit a turnaround jumper with 3:37 to play, the Ducks had completed an 8-0 run and had tied the game at 58-58. CU called a 60-second timeout, but when the Buffs came out of it, Brown missed a three-pointer from the top of the key. Emory pushed Oregon's run to 10-0 with a layup, and the Ducks had their first advantage (60-58) since 29-27.
Brown hit one of two free throws with 1:53 left to bring CU to 60-59, then Joseph's jumper pushed the Ducks up 62-59. Brown put in a twisting layup to pull the Buffs to 62-61, setting the stage for Roberson's put-back after the Dinwiddie miss that sent CU up 63-62 with 13 seconds left.
Joseph's prominence in Oregon's comeback didn't surprise CU senior Austin Dufault. "I was expecting them to go to Joseph," he said. "He's been their best player pretty much the whole year. He's just a great player with the ball in his hands. He knocks down step backs and he can really create for himself."
Oregon got a final possession, and after Singler was stopped on a drive, the Ducks called timeout with 4.8 seconds left. With Tomlinson almost attached to him, Joseph's long jumper at the buzzer was off - and the Buffs were in the Pac-12 semifinals.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
