Colorado
15-12, 7-8
Washington
18-9, 8-6
Buffs Fall To Huskies
February 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
SEATTLE — The road continues to be a tough place for Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes.
Needing at least a split on their two-game swing through the Pacific Northwest to stay in the hunt for a top-four Pac-12 finish, the Buffs instead lost both, falling Thursday at Washington State and Saturday at Washington.
Saturday night's 82-59 defeat at Washington, CU's ninth this season in 10 road games, dropped Colorado to 15-12 overall and 7-8 in conference play. The Huskies improved to 18-9 and 8-6.
The Buffs' tale of woe against the Huskies was a familiar one, specifically turnovers. CU was once again unable to solve the Huskies' 2-3 zone defense and committed 18 miscues in the game, which Washington happily converted into 26 points — a big reason for UW's 17-2 edge in fast break points. Washington also finished with a 16-12 edge on second chance points.
"How many times on the road have we been talking about taking care of the basketball against a 2-3 zone?" head coach Tad Boyle asked after the game. "It's as simple as passing and catching the ball. It's not rocket science. … You put yourself in such a hole because there's no defense for those turnovers that lead to layups. There's no defense for that and it gets their crowd into it. We have to play better."
Freshman Tyler Bey led CU with 11 points and seven rebounds while freshman McKinley Wright IV chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds, but they were the only Buffs in double figures. Matisse Thybulle led UW with a career-high 26 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs struggled for most of the night. After taking a temporary lead with a 9-0 run in the first half, Colorado then saw Washington regain control with an 18-4 surge that included an 11-0 run. The Buffs trailed by just five at the half, 39-34, but the Huskies quickly put the game away in the second half, building their cushion back to double digits early and then expanding it for much of the rest of the game.
Washington's lead hit the 20-point mark with 11:50 still left to play and Colorado never came closer than 16 again.
The Buffs did not shoot well, hitting just 40 percent of their shots (24-for-60) while Washington was 30-for-63. Senior George King finished with a season-low four points on 2-for-6 shooting.
"I put a lot of it on myself," King said of the Buffs' 0-2 road trip."I don't think I did a good enough job in either game of setting the tone. … This was humbling."
When the Buffs left home earlier this week, they carried with them a three-game win streak and a chance to move up into the top four in the conference standings. They also were still at least in bubble contention for an NCAA Tournament bid.
Now, they sit in ninth place in the conference standings with three games to play and their only hope of an NCAA Tournament bid would be to win the Pac-12 tournament. Colorado returns home next week for a Wednesday game with USC (8:30 p.m.) and Sunday's regular season home finale with UCLA (2 p.m.).
"We still have a lot to play for," Boyle said. "Postseason play is still within reach of this team, but we better figure things out quickly. But it's past the point of learning. Now we have to start doing, we have to start performing. We have to start winning. That's the only way good things happen."
TURNING POINT: Colorado trailed by just five at the half and still trailed by just six with 16:18 to play in the game. But the Huskies put together a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to push their lead to 58-40 and Colorado never threatened again.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs desperately need to change their fortunes in their final two regular season home games in order to build some momentum heading into the Pac-12 tournament.
CU STANDOUTS: Freshman Tyler Bey had 11 points and seven rebounds and fellow freshman McKinley Wright had 10 points and seven boards. Bey suffered a knee injury in the second half and left the court temporarily, but later returned to play.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs committed 18 turnovers, which led to 26 Washington points.
QUOTEWORTHY: "All you can ask for is an opportunity to play the next game. We have that. I told our team in the locker room — this season will end how our players want it to end. If they want it to end on a momentum high note going into the Pac-12 tournament, that will happen. If they don't, that won't happen and we'll limp into that thing." CU head coach Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs close out their regular-season home slate with a pair of games next week at the Events Center. Colorado hosts USC on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. before welcoming UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 25, for a 2 p.m. matchup. CU then wraps up the regular season March 3 with a 5 p.m. game at Utah.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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