Colorado
7-2,0-0Pac-12
Northern Iowa
9-1,0-0MVC
Buffs Fall To Northern Iowa
December 10, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado coach Tad Boyle called Tuesday night's matchup with Northern Iowa "the biggest trap game of the year" for the Buffaloes.
The Panthers made Boyle's fears come true, as UNI hit 14 3-pointers and scored the last six points of the game to produce a 79-76 win over No. 24 Colorado at the CU Events Center.
The Buffs dropped to 7-2 with their second straight loss while UNI improved to 9-1.
The Buffs battled back from a double-digit deficit early in the second half to take the lead midway through the period, and the game then saw 10 more lead changes down the stretch. CU used a 10-2 run to go up 76-73 with 1:39 to go, but the Panthers hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 to play, then added a layup off a turnover and a free throw in the final 50 seconds while the Buffs missed two 3-point tries in the final seconds.
Lucas Siewert led CU with a career-high 21 points, McKinley Wright added 16 and Tyler Bey had 14.
Trae Berhow and AJ Green each had 20 for UNI.
The Panthers won the game from beyond the arc, shooting a red-hot 14-for-26 from long range. Northern Iowa also had a 31-29 edge in rebounds, including 15 offensive boards they converted into 15 second-chance points.
"Extremely disappointing loss," Boyle said. "I thought we fought hard in the second half to come back and take the lead, but our attention to detail is just not not good enough right now. It was really evident tonight by the way we guarded … They deserved to win. We did not."
HOW IT HAPPENED: After falling behind early, the Buffs came back and built a seven-point lead in the first half, thanks to Siewert scoring 15 straight points for Colorado, including every point in an 11-0 CU run.
But the Panthers battled back and took a 33-32 halftime lead on the heels of an 8-0 burst, then put together an 11-0 surge to start the second half. That 19-0 run turned a 32-25 CU lead with four minutes to go in the first half into a 44-32 deficit barely two minutes into the second half.
"There were stretches in the game where we just kind of fell asleep and expected good things to happen," Boyle said. "You have to make good things happen for yourselves and that's what Northern Iowa did. Northern Iowa out-executed us tonight."
The Buffs did gather themselves and battle back to regain the lead. A 9-0 run fueled by 3-pointers from Eli Parquet and Wright closed the gap to 44-41 and CU finally regained the lead, 55-53, on Siewert's fifth 3-pointer of the night with 10:10 to play.
"To our guys credit, they fought back," Boyle said. "We took the lead. But we couldn't hold onto it because we couldn't stop them from three and we couldn't limit them to one shot."
The game then became a see-saw battle, with the lead changing hands 10 times over the next eight minutes. Colorado trailed by five with just under four minutes to play, but the Buffs put together a 10-2 run to go up 76-73. Evan Battey gave CU a 74-73 lead with a three-point play with 2:13 remaining before Wright drove underneath to push Colorado's lead to three with just 1:39 to go.
But those were the last points the Buffs could muster. Green drained a 3-pointer — the Panthers' 14th of the night — to tie the game with just more than a minute to go. The Buffs then turned it over on their next possession, with Spencer Haldeman stealing a Wright pass and collecting a layup. Colorado missed on its next possession and Green hit one of two free throws for a three-point edge.
The Buffs then had possession with 27 seconds remaining and trailing by three, but they missed two 3-point tries in the last five seconds of the game.
"The number one thing to not let Northern Iowa come in and beat us was we had to take away their threes," Boyle said. "That was the number one thing. The last thing on our defensive game plan was we have to limit them to one shot because they will offensive rebound. Fifteen offensive rebounds and 14 made threes, and those are the two keys to your defensive game plan. That's the attention to detail I'm talking about."
The Panthers were actually much less effective closer to the bucket, as they shot just 13-for-32 on 2-point tries. But their 14-for-26 effort from long range made the difference.
"They just executed better than us the entire night," Wright said. "We've seen everything they ran. We saw it on film. We didn't execute our game plan, we didn't execute our personnel."
QUICK TURNAROUND: The Buffs won't have much time to lick their wounds, as they head to Fort Collins on Friday for a 6 p.m. matchup with in-state rival Colorado State.
"We've got to get back to the drawing board and get back to being us," Wright said. "We need to come together as a team and just keep going. We'll be OK."
TURNING POINT: After Colorado had taken a 76-73 lead, the Panthers called a timeout, then hit a 3-pointer when play resumed. The Buffs' next three possessions yielded a turnover and three missed shots.
WHAT IT MEANS: The second straight loss for CU will almost certainly drop Colorado out of the top 25 next week, but more importantly, will make the rest of CU's non-conference schedule even more critical.
KEY STATISTICS: The Panthers shot 14-for-26 from 3-point range and held a 31-29 rebounding edge … UNI also had 15 offensive rebounds which the Panthers converted into 15 points.
NOTEWORTHY: Tuesday's game was just the fifth time in the Boyle era — this is his 10th season — that CU has allowed an opponent 14 or more 3-pointers ... The Panthers' 79 points, 14 threes and 19 assists were all Colorado opponent season highs … CU had 12 steals, the Buffs' fourth double-figure steals game of the year. CU had only five double-figure steals games over the previous three seasons combined … Wright had a season-high six assists, and his 16 points moved him into 33rd on CU's career scoring list (1,021), passing Andre Roberson and Chauncey Billups … Colorado is now 72-5 in home non-conference games under Boyle.
NEXT UP: The Buffs travel to Fort Collins on Friday for a 6 p.m. matchup with Colorado State at Moby Arena.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
