Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
9-8, 2-3
Arizona State
9-9, 1-4
Buffs Fall To Sun Devils 78-72, Still Winless on Road
January 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball
TEMPE, Ariz. – Something had to give here Saturday afternoon. The Colorado men's basketball team entered the Wells Fargo Arena winless on the road; the Arizona State Sun Devils, without a victory in Pac-12 Conference play.
Something had to give, and CU's defense did. The Buffs allowed the Sun Devils to shoot 50 percent from behind the arc and 55 percent overall as ASU held off a late Colorado rally to win 78-72.
"Winnable game," Buffs head coach Tad Boyle said afterwards. "There's no reason why we shouldn't have won this basketball game. It's always something and tonight it was our defense in the second half (that) let us down."
The Buffs (9-8, 2-3) entered the game on the heels of a closer-than-expected 14-point loss to No. 10 Arizona in which, absent Josh Scott and Xavier Johnson, Askia Booker scored 30 points and his teammates combined to contribute just 24. CU was again without Scott and Johnson against ASU, but the Buffs had little trouble finding offense — Booker dropped 21, apparently his new normal, and Wes Gordon and Tre'Shaun Fletcher scored 10 points each, with Fletcher's total a career-high.
CU's shooting star, though, was Jaron Hopkins. His 20 points, on a blisteringly efficient 7-of-11 shooting, were also a career-best, and his seven rebounds, five assists and four steals all tied personal highs. He scored eight of the Buffs' first 10 points and showed a confidence from deep that he had rarely previously displayed.
"I thought we had some good individual performances," Boyle said. "Jaron and Tre'Shaun were really good offensively and are hopefully gaining some confidence."
Colorado needed every single point of Hopkins' outburst just to stay level with the Sun Devils (9-9, 1-4). Without Scott's rim protection and Johnson's length and athleticism on the perimeter, the Buffs' defense collapsed. ASU was the Pac-12's worst offensive team before Saturday; the Sun Devils were last in the conference in scoring (52.8 ppg) and field goal percentage (38.1) and second-to-last in three-point shooting percentage (26.6). No ASU player averaged over 10 points per game.
Against Colorado, though, ASU feasted. The Buffs were forced to play small — which Boyle avidly dislikes — for virtually the entire game, with Fletcher or Dustin Thomas at power forward. Consequently, Colorado had little rim protection. ASU forward Shaq McKissic put on a personal dunk contest on the way to a team-high 16 points. He threw down a filthy alley-oop and slammed one in at the first-half buzzer off of a Booker turnover. And in the second half, he had a memorable dunk over Tory Miller.
The Sun Devils' defense was little better than the Buffs; ASU's front line parted like a crimson sea in the face of Hopkins' drives — no one the Sun Devils threw at him could stay in front of his crossover and hesitation dribble. Neither could ASU stop Colorado from deep. Hopkins and Fletcher, clunky shooting mechanics and all, combined to hit five of eight from behind the arc, and Gordon buried just his second trey of the season.
"No question, we're making great strides. I've seen it in practice, our half-court offense has gotten better," Boyle said. "We shot a little over 46 percent tonight, we'll take that, and 10-for-21 from three, we'll take that."
But it was the Sun Devils' shooters who decided the game. After Gordon tied it with a free throw, ASU's Jonathan Gilling and Bo Barnes exploded as Colorado's defense further devolved into a mess of late rotations and missed close-outs. The pair nailed four consecutive threes, and the Sun Devils began to pull away.
"You know that Gilling and Barnes are shooters and you let shooters get hot and you have problems on your hands," Boyle said. "They're great shooters and ASU is like two different teams when those guys are out of the game, because now you have to guard the ball and guard the drive and guard the ball screens a little bit better. But, when Gilling and Barnes come into the game you have to change your thought process."
Gilling's and Barnes' outburst coincided with Booker going cold at the worst possible time. He barely missed a deep step-back three, then badly air balled one on the next possession. Just like that, Colorado trailed by 10 points with 1:14 remaining.
It could have been over at that point but the Buffs had one last fight in them. When Hopkins drained a trey to cut the deficit to seven, it seemed as if it would only pad his box score. But then Fletcher buried one from the right wing. Then Booker pulled up above the break and banked one in. Then Hopkins sank another.
Suddenly, Colorado had cut a 10-point deficit down to three in just 30 seconds. But the Buffs got no closer, and ASU provided the final margin with free throws.
"The one thing we are not going to do is feel sorry for ourselves, we're going to get back to work on Monday and have good practices Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and try to get ready for Washington," Boyle said.
The Huskies visit the Coors Event Center on Thursday (7:30 p.m., FS1). For the Buffs, now winless on the road in six tries, perhaps a return to their home court will allow them to snap a three-game losing streak. CU hadn't lost three straight conference games since joining the Pac-12; the last time it happened was as a Big 12 member in 2010-11 - Boyle's first season in Boulder.
