Colorado
6-1
Colorado State
4-4
Buffs Rally Falls Short At Colorado State
December 02, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
FORT COLLINS — Call it a learning experience for the Colorado Buffaloes — a very painful learning experience.
Down by as much as 17 points in the second half Saturday at Colorado State, the Buffs rallied to cut the deficit to four in the final minute, but could never get over the hump in a 72-63 loss to the Rams.
The loss dropped Colorado to 6-1 while CSU improved to 4-4.
CU was without the services of senior center Tory Miller-Stewart, who suffered a foot injury earlier this week in practice and is out for an "indefinite" amount of time, according to head coach Tad Boyle.
McKinley Wright IV led CU with 19 points and eight rebounds while George King added nine points and seven rebounds — but King hit just 3 of his 13 field goal tries as the Buffs shot just 39 percent from the field (24-for-61).
The Rams also dominated the Buffs on the boards, 46-32, and blocked nine CU shots. Despite not recording a field goal in the final seven minutes of the game, CSU managed to hold on by hitting free throws down the stretch.
"CSU beat us at our own game," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "We want to hold our opponents to less than 40 percent, they did that to us. We want to be plus eight on the boards, they did that to us. We want to make more free throws than our opponent shoots — they did that to us. They beat us at our own game. That's disheartening and hopefully it's a learning experience for our young guys."
But, Boyle refused to use the absence of Miller-Stewart as an excuse, even with the Rams dominating the backboard.
"This loss had nothing to do with Tory Miller not being here," Boyle said. "We miss Tory, we love Tory. But we had enough guys in uniform. I don't want that to play into this whatsoever."
HOW IT HAPPENED: It was the first true road game of the year for the young Buffs, and they played like it at times in front of a raucous Moby Arena crowd. Colorado played well in spurts — CU trailed just 38-35 at the half — but the Rams broke open a tight game after intermission with an 18-7 run in the first eight minutes to open up a 56-42 edge with 11:48 to go in the game.
CSU hit the Buffs from every position on the floor in the decisive run, getting an early 3-point bucket from Prentiss Nixon before going inside for six straight points. J.D. Paige pushed the CSU lead to double digits with three free throws — the result of King's third foul — and the deficit grew to 14 on a fast-break slam dunk, then as high as 17.
The Buffs, meanwhile, hit a cold stretch. Along with King's 3-for-13 day from the field (1-for-5 from 3-point range), Dominique Collier was just 4-for-10 and Namon Wright just 2-for-9. Overall, CU hit just eight of its 25 3-point tries.
"You go on the road, you know the 3s may or may not drop," Boyle said. "You know the free throws may or may not go in. You don't do either of those two things well, your margin for error goes down significantly. We didn't do anything well enough tonight to win this game."
But, the Buffs never quit. McKinley Wright scored 11 straight points in a 1:27 span to cut CSU's lead to six with 5:26 still to play and King's only 3-pointer of the night with 2:41 to go pulled the Buffs to within five, 65-60.
Wright was spectacular in the run, hitting a pair of 3-point shots, a conventional 3-point play and a driving layup.
Wright, though, also had some difficult moments, including driving the lane for some ill-advised shots that were rejected by the Rams.
"They baited us into taking some shots we shouldn't have taken," Wright said. "We watched the film and know they dare you to shoot it. We bit into it … I did personally, took some bad shots. It's something I'm going to learn. I'm going to be better and this team's going to better."
The Rams went the last seven minutes without a field goal, but hit just enough of their free throws to keep the Buffs at bay. Colorado cut the CSU cushion to four, 67-63, with just under a minute to go when Collier hit one of two free throws, but that was as close as the Buffs would get. The Rams then hit five of six free throws in the final minute to salt away the win.
"This is a disappointing loss because it's a game in my mind we could have won, a game we should have won but we didn't win," Boyle said. "I have to do a lot of soul-searching myself in terms of what my role was today. I wasn't good enough today as a coach."
The Buffs trailed by as much as eight in the first half after an early CSU onslaught of 3-pointers helped spur an 8-0 Rams run. But the Buffs came back with a 9-2 run, sparked by a pair of McKinley Wright 3-pointers and a George King 3-point play. Colorado then took the lead momentarily on a Dominique Collier trey, 33-32, but the Rams regained the lead just before intermission.
TURNING POINT: After a close first half, the Rams outscored Colorado 25-11 in the first 13 minutes of the second half. While Colorado cut the margin to four in the final minute, the Buffs could never completely get over the hump.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs have three days to regroup before their next game, a Wednesday home affair vs. New Mexico. While no doubt a disappointing loss, the Buffs — especially the young players — have to use the defeat as a learning experience. It won't be the last hostile environment they see this year.
CU STANDOUTS: McKinley Wright led CU in scoring with 19 points and in rebounding with nine. … George King endured a difficult 3-for-13 day from the floor, but finished with nine points and seven rebounds. … Tyler Bey had six points and six rebounds. … Dominique Collier scored 10 points and added two rebounds.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs lost the rebound battle 46-32 and also had nine of their shots blocked by a team that had blocked just 22 total in its first seven games.
NOTEWORTHY: The game ended a win streak for the visiting team at four. It was CSU's first win on its home floor vs. the Buffs since 2011.
QUOTEWORTHY: "We're going to get better, no doubt about it. But this stings because it was a winnable game and we didn't get it done. Hats off to CSU. We knew we were going to get their best shot and we did. Their guys played well and we didn't. That's on us. Something we have to live with the rest of our lives." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
"Our next two games, New Mexico and Xavier, they're going to watch this film. They're going to see we got our (butts) whooped on the glass. It's a challenge but we're looking forward to the challenge. We're going to take it." CU's McKinley Wright
"This is going to be a learning experience for us, for sure. We're going to take this loss and we're going to go back to practice and find the things we need to fix — and one of the things we need to fix is rebounding." — CU's Dallas Walton
NEXT UP: Colorado returns to the Coors Events Center for a 7 p.m. home game Wednesday with New Mexico.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
