Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
17-6, 6-4
Oregon
19-4, 8-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 21 | 35 | 56 |
| Oregon | 40 | 36 | 76 |
Buffs Start Cold, Fall 76-56 At Oregon
February 04, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
EUGENE, Ore. — This time around, the Colorado Buffaloes dug a hole from which they couldn't extricate themselves.
Matched against 16th-ranked Oregon, the Buffs needed a near-perfect game Thursday night to produce a win on the Ducks' home court. Instead, they endured a poor-shooting first half, compounded their woes with a host of turnovers and came out on the short end of a long night, 76-56.
Thus, instead of heading off to Oregon State with a share of the Pac-12 lead, the Buffs left Matthew Knight Arena with a 17-6 record, 6-4 in the Pac-12. Â The Ducks, meanwhile, improved to 19-4 and 8-2 to maintain their conference lead.
Josh Scott finished with 17 points for the Buffs, George King added 16 and Tory Miller scored 10 — but the rest of the Buffs combined for just 13 points. CU shot just 33.8 percent from the field (22 for 65) while finishing with 14 turnovers, which the Ducks converted into 21 points.
After trailing by 19 at the half, CU managed to narrow the gap to 10 midway through the half, but the Ducks answered with a 7-0 run and the Buffs never seriously threatened again.
Once again, the Buffs started off cold from the field, hitting just three of their first 19 field goal tries. But unlike last weekend's game against Cal, they couldn't reverse the trend. The Ducks put together a 13-0 run midway through the first half to turn an 11-7 lead into a 24-7 edge and the Buffs never closed the gap to single digits again.
CU did manage to temporarily stem the tide, getting five points from King in a 7-0 run to close the Oregon lead to 10, 24-14. But the Ducks closed the half with a 14-5 edge, and CU trailed by 19 at intermission, 40-21.
Unlike their first meeting, when the Buffs dominated the boards, the Ducks beat the Buffs to the punch on both ends of the floor. Oregon held a 19-17 rebound edge at the half, and more importantly, collected eight second-chance points. The Buffs also contributed to their woes by committing eight first-half turnovers, which the Ducks converted into 11 points.
CU finished the first half shooting just 31 percent (9 for 29) while Oregon hit 43 percent of its first-half tries (13-for-30). The Ducks also took advantage of a big free throw discrepancy, hitting nine of 11 charity attempts while the Buffs shot just one free throw the entire first half — and missed that try.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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