Colorado
18-13,8-10Pac-12
California
19-11,10-8Pac-12
Buffs Claw Out Win Over Bears, Earn 7th Seed In Pac-12 Tourney
March 04, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — One game after putting on an offensive clinic against Stanford, the Colorado Buffaloes struggled to find the basket Saturday afternoon against Cal.
But the Buffs did play solid defense, and when it mattered most, they scored — enough to come away with a 54-46 win over Bears in the regular season finale for both teams.
The win improved Colorado to 18-13 overall and 8-10 in Pac-12 play and, combined with Arizona State's loss to Arizona on Saturday, clinched the No. 7 seed for CU in the Pac-12 tournament. The Buffs open play at T-Mobile Area in Las Vegas on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game against No. 10 seed Washington State.
The Buffs shot just 34 percent from the field (16-for-47) but they also held Cal to just 27.3 percent shooting (15-for-55).
"This was the old-school grind-it-out Colorado basketball," head coach Tad Boyle said. "Obviously if you put that offensive performance on Thursday with the defensive performance today and you've got the recipe for beating anybody. … We put it all together, defense and offense, we can beat anybody in this league. But we also know if we don't we could be one and done and on the way home."
Fittingly, it was a 3-point bucket from senior Derrick White on Senior Day that clinched Saturday's win. With 20 seconds remaining and the shot clock ticking down, White buried a trey in front of the CU bench to give the Buffs a 52-46 lead with just 20.6 seconds remaining. CU senior Xavier Johnson then hit two free throws with 5.9 seconds on the clock to finish the scoring.
"We missed quite a few shots around the rim, especially in the first half," said Cal coach Cuonzo Martin. "After that what changed the game was Derrick White. He was a difference maker on the floor. He's a big-time talent. … White just made plays."
Johnson led the Buffs in scoring with 19 points and White added 17 to go with eight rebounds and a game-high four assists. Junior George King had just five points, but added a team-high nine rebounds, eight coming in the second half. Ivan Rabb had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Bears.
HOW IT HAPPENED: After trailing for much of the first half, the Buffs finally took the lead eight minutes into the second half when a Dominique Collier 3-pointer gave Colorado a 35-32 edge.
But the big play of the half might have been a spectacular George King one-handed follow-dunk that tied the game at 32-32. King's basket ignited a previously sedate crowd and when Collier's 3-pointer gave Colorado the lead, the crowd helped carry the Buffs the rest of the way.
"That was a big-time play," Boyle said. "George has the ability to make those kind of plays, game-changing type plays."
But the Buffs could not manage to build a cushion bigger than five points over the ensuing eight minutes, and it took another Collier 3-pointer — coming as the shot clock was about to expire — to give the Buffs some breathing room in the final three minutes. Collier hit the bucket just after the Bears had closed the gap to one, 44-43, and two Johnson free throws a minute later pushed the margin to six.
"Just always being ready, getting my feet ready when the guys are penetrating," Collier said of his shot. "I'm staying at the 3-point line because the clock is running out. I just wanted to take the ball and make a big shot. I saw the clock so I went up and shot it."
Along with leading the Buffs in scoring, Johnson also spent much of his afternoon shadowing Cal's Rabb, the Bears' leading scorer and rebounder. Rabb needed 4-for-11 shooting to produce his 11 points — including just four after halftime — and missed two shots in the final minutes as the Bears attempted to close the gap.
"I thought Xavier Johnson, his defense on Ivan Rabb, certainly in the second half down the stretch, was huge," Boyle said. "He took on a big challenge. George's rebounding, Derrick White made a big shot there at the end, Dom Collier made a big shot. … We needed to make some shots. We weren't shooting the ball like we're capable of shooting it in the first 35 minutes of that game."
The Buffs will now take some momentum into next week's Pac-12 tournament, buoyed by the fact that after an 0-7 start to conference play, they closed with wins in eight of their last 11.
"That says something about this team's resiliency," Boyle said. "You've got to win some close games, you've to win some grind-it-out games."
The Buffs trailed by three at the half, thanks to shooting woes and a healthy Cal edge on the boards. CU's big men ran into foul trouble early — Wesley Gordon drew his second foul barely two minutes into the game and Tory Miller was whistled for his second a minute later — leaving the Bears' big men to roam the paint virtually unimpeded. The Bears held a 28-19 rebounding edge by halftime, which produced eight second-chance points and helped Cal to a 25-22 halftime lead.
TURNING POINT: A Dominique Collier 3-pointer gave the Buffs the lead midway through the second half, one CU never gave up. While the Bears did close the gap, White's 3-pointer with 20.6 on the clock then clinched the win.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs take a two-game win streak and a little momentum into their Pac-12 tourney opener.
CU STANDOUTS: Senior Xavier Johnson had 19 points and six rebounds on Senior Day. … Fellow senior Derrick White had 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. … George King had nine rebounds — eight in the second half — and five points. … Dominique Collier had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs held Cal to 15-for-55 shooting from the field (27.3 percent), and although Colorado lost the rebounding battle 42-39, the Buffs did win the second-half battle on the boards, 20-14.
NOTEWORTHY: Saturday's game was the last regular season appearance at the Coors Events for seniors Wesley Gordon, Xavier Johnson, Josh Fortune and Derrick White; as well as CU managers Jacob Morales and David Pavlakovich. "You like to see them go out on a high note," head coach Tad Boyle said. "The way we played on Thursday offensively, the way we played today defensively leaves a good taste in their mouths."
— The Buffs are now 12-0 when holding an opponent under 70 points this season. … The 27.3 percent shooting was a season low for a CU opponent this year. … Colorado's 54 points is the lowest total in a winning effort since the Buffs beat Oregon 48-47 in Eugene in 2012, and the lowest total in a winning effort at home since a 54-53 overtime win over Colorado State in 1981. CU's 22 first-half points was also a season low for a half.
— Wesley Gordon became the second player in CU history to reach 200 career blocks, joining David Harrison, who had 225 from 2001-04. … Xavier Johson is the 12th player in CU history to reach 1,400 points (1,411) and he has now played in 124 career games, tying him with former teammate Josh Scott for seventh-most in school history. He also moved into 12th on CU's all-time rebound list (688) and is tied for ninth in 3-pointers (126). … With a year still to go, King is 41st on CU's all-time scoring list (860).
QUOTEWORTHY: "Winning in February is hard, winning in March is really, really hard. Now it's win or go home. It's postseason tournament basketball, you lose, you're done. For us, our season could be done if we go to Vegas and lose the first game. It's about figuring out a way. Whoever we play, whenever we play them, just figure out a way, grind it out and live to see another day." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
UP NEXT: The Buffs open play in the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against Washington State. The Buffs split the season series with WSU, dropping a two-point overtime decision the Cougars in Pullman in January, then running away with a 32-point win in Boulder, 81-49, on Feb. 12.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
