Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
12-14, 5-9
Oregon State
17-10, 8-7
Buffs Can't Overcome Horrific First Half, Lose 72-58
February 22, 2015 | Men's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A scenario the Colorado Buffaloes became all too familiar with on Wednesday night at Oregon repeated itself here Saturday night. This one didn't end well for the Buffs either.
Cutting a 22-point halftime deficit to eight points with 3:44 to play, CU once again fell embarrassingly short in a 72-58 Pac-12 loss to Oregon State.
The Buffs (12-14, 5-9) fell to 1-9 on the road this season and now have lost five of their last six games. Meanwhile, the surprising Beavers (17-10, 8-7) improved to 15-1 in Gill Coliseum, with their 15 wins setting a school record.
With the exception of the worst first half of CU's Tad Boyle era, Saturday night was a not so instant replay of the game the Buffs lost four nights earlier. In that one, they trimmed a 20-point second-half deficit to five points before falling 73-60 to the Ducks.
But in this one, the Buffs probably had no business being within eight points of the Beavers that late in the game. In addition to committing a season-high 22 turnovers that cost them 28 points, the Buffs again shot dismally, finishing at 35 percent (18-of-52) from the field.
"This team when it comes time to make that turn, that push, we just don't have it," Boyle said. "Our guys, I think would know by late February what a good shot and what a bad shot is. This team just doesn't believe in themselves right now, they're very fragile."
CU shot 35.5 percent from the field (22-of-62) Wednesday night at Oregon, and for five games now have not been above 37 percent.
Neither did the Buffs defend particularly well. Oregon State shot 49 percent from the field and had three players in double figures, led by Gary Payton II with 24 points. And the 6-2 guard was pretty close to a one-man wrecking crew, blocking a school single-game record seven shots, making four steals and collecting five rebounds.
Payton leads OSU in scoring (12.8 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rebs) and steals (77 entering Saturday night).
When he hit a 3-pointer at the first half buzzer, the Beavers went up 34-12 and capped the Buffs' worst half of the Boyle era in points scored and field goal percentage. CU's previous low point total under Boyle was 18 points against Pittsburgh in last spring's NCAA Tournament.
With OSU's 2-3 zone creating havoc on nearly every CU possession, the Buffs left the court having shot 14 percent (3-of-21) and going 12:34 between their first and second field goals. After Wes Gordon hit a mid-range jumper to give the Buffs a 2-0 lead, they didn't make another field goal until Gordon hit another jump shot with 6:14 left in the half.
In fact, all of CU's three first-half field goals were scored by Gordon – his third on a layup a minute before intermission. He finished the half three-for-three from the field; his teammates were 0-for-18.
"I mean I'm not sure I've ever coached a half where you had three baskets at halftime and it was one player that made all of them," Boyle said. "I thought in the first half, for the most part we got good shots, we just couldn't make them. Oregon State, you have to give them credit, they're a good defensive team.
"Second half was a different story, we come out, we share the ball, we get it moving and we shoot 48 percent. We played well enough offensively to win the second half, but when you're down 22 at the half, we just dug ourselves too big of a whole. You turn the ball over 22 times on the opponent's home floor and you have no chance, you just can't do that."
In addition to their meager total and icy shooting percentage, the Buffs committed 11 first-half turnovers that tied for the most allowed by a Boyle-coached CU team. Those errors cost CU 18 points, and in addition to that sloppiness the Buffs allowed the Beavers to shoot 52 percent from the field (13-of-25) in the opening half.
OSU also shot 40 percent (6-of-15) from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes and finished with eight treys after hitting only two in 15 attempts in their previous game against No. 9 Utah – a 47-37 loss in the Pac-12's lowest scoring game so far this season.
In the second half, the Buffs trailed by as many as 22 points before a 15-4 run fueled by a three-point play by Dom Collier and a follow-up trey by the freshman cut into the Beavers' 19-point lead. When Xavier Johnson hit a triple with 3:44 remaining, CU was down 54-46 – the closest the Buffs had been since 13-4.
But Oregon State quickly regained control, getting a triple from Malcolm Duvivier (17 points) to go up 57-46 and not allowing CU to get within single digits again.
CU had beaten OSU in three of four meetings since Feb. 2013, but still holds a 4-3 edge in Pac-12 play. But the Beavers now are 4-2 vs. the Buffs in Corvallis.
Johnson led CU with 12 points – 10 in the second half – while Tre'Shaun Fletcher added 11 and Gordon 10. Askia Booker scored nine points and Josh Scott four.
The Buffs host No. 7 Arizona on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN) and Arizona State on Sunday (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
