Woelk: Buffs Must Learn How To Finish Tight Games

BOULDER — Every loss hurts — but this one is going to sting in the Colorado Buffaloes' locker room for a while.

The Buffs had it in their grasp. A seven-point lead on Utah with under five minutes to play and a big Coors Events Center crowd ready to celebrate a victory. And then …

And then the Buffs let it slip away. Two key turnovers down the stretch, a handful of missed baskets and some big buckets from the Utes — including a Lorenzo Bonam layup with 1 second left on the clock that bounced, bounced, bounced and finally dropped — allowed Utah to escape the Events Center with a 56-54 win.

The loss puts the Buffs virtually back to square one, negating last week's road win at Stanford. Now 1-2 in Pac-12 play (12-4 overall), the Buffs tossed away a golden opportunity for a home win in a conference in which every game might be the one that makes the difference between a top-four finish or a seat among the also-rans.

Buffs head coach Tad Boyle tried to take the blame for the loss. He opened his press conference by saying, "Blame this loss on the coach for not calling timeout again and making sure we get a good shot." But a timeout with one second left wouldn't have yielded a different outcome. Boyle was attempting to deflect attention from a team that made too many mistakes and missed too many shots in crunch time.

The Buffs played well in stretches, certainly well enough to win. After struggling from the field in the first half (9-for-33), they found their shooting eye in the second half and slowly took control. At the midway point of the half, a Tre'Shaun Fletcher gave CU a nine-point lead, 44-35, and the Utes appeared ready to fold it up for the night.

But suddenly and inexplicably, the Buffs' offense went cold — and unlike a week ago, when four points in the final 10 minutes was still enough to scratch out a win over Stanford, Colorado couldn't withstand this cold spell. CU scored 10 points the rest of the way — just two in the final five minutes — while the Utes were putting 21 on the board.

"This was a heck of a basketball game and was won by the team that made plays down the stretch," Boyle said. "Utah made the plays and we didn't. I tip my hat to Lorenzo Bonam, he made a big-time play at the end. I thought our defense was great, but he made a tough shot."

If there's any silver lining, it's that nobody appears poised to run away with the conference. The Utes, one of the preseason favorites, are also 1-2. UCLA is 1-2 — after knocking off No. 7 Arizona. Already, 11 of the 12 teams have at least one loss. It's a conference that almost certainly won't be decided until the final weeks, and today, it's still anybody's to win — or lose.

But one lesson the Buffs better learn soon — before it's too late — is how to finish. Friday is the second time this year CU has let a lead slip away in the final minutes against a quality team. In December, they lost a seven-point lead over SMU with seven minutes remaining. Friday night, it was a seven-point edge with five to go.

"There's going to be a lot of games like this," Boyle said. "There's going to be a lot of games that are knockdown, drag out. We have to execute better and we have to finish."

The Buffs did plenty of things well, beginning with holding the Utes to 56 points. They rebounded well, holding a 37-31 edge on the boards. Big man Josh Scott had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double while Utah counterpart Jakob Poeltl finished with six points and 11 rebounds. George King snapped out of a recent slump to finish with 21 points. CU also had just 12 turnovers to Utah's 11 — but the Utes converted CU's miscues into 19 points while the Buffs finished with just four points off of Utah's turnovers.

"The turnover margin was minus-one," Boyle said. "That was the difference between us having the ball at the end and them having the ball at the end. That's where our players have to understand that every possession counts. If there's a turnover in the beginning or the end, they're equally damaging."

Maybe the biggest head-scratcher of the game came at the free throw line. The Buffs entered the game shooting an average of 25 free throws per game.

Friday night, the Buffs shot just four in the entire game while Utah had nine attempts from the stripe. It was a statistic that left Boyle shaking his head.

"The officials let us play tonight," Boyle said. "It was a physical game and we knew that it probably would be going in."

It's a game the Buffs will replay in their minds for days to come. But as much as it hurts, they can't allow it to fester and affect their play in the coming weeks.

Next week, they have two more home games — Oregon State on Wednesday and Oregon on Sunday — that will be just as important in the league standings. Two more opportunities to secure wins in a conference that will reward consistency and resolve and punish even the smallest of mistakes.

"There's going to be a lot of games like this going forward," Boyle said. "We just need to figure out how to come out on the winning end."

Indeed — and the sooner the Buffs figure out the key to that equation, the better off they'll be.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu