Colorado
16-5,5-3Pac-12
UCLA
11-10,4-4Pac-12
Buffs Stumble At UCLA, Fall To Bruins
January 30, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LOS ANGELES — The 20th-ranked Colorado Buffaloes dug themselves a big hole early Thursday, then saw a second-half comeback fall short as they dropped a 72-68 loss to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
CU fell to 16-5 overall and 5-3 in Pac-12 play while the Bruins improved to 11-10, 4-4.
Colorado trailed by 12 at intermission and by 15 early in the second half before rallying to cut the deficit to two with just more than seven minutes remaining. But the Buffs could never completely close the gap and UCLA held CU at bay down the stretch.
Evan Battey and McKinley Wright IV each scored 14 points for Colorado. Tyler Bey added 12 points and eight rebounds and Lucas Siewert had 11 points for the Buffs.
UCLA's Chris Smith led all scorers with a career-high 30 points, including 13-for-15 from the free throw line. Smith also had a game-high nine rebounds.
While the Buffs actually shot a better percentage from the floor (42.2) than the Bruins (38.9), Colorado lost the rebound battle, 39-29. That included a 13-7 UCLA edge on the offensive boards, which led to an 18-10 edge in second-chance points. The Buffs also struggled in transition defense all night, giving up 22 fast break points.
The loss dropped CU into third place in the Pac-12 standings, 1.5 games behind league-leading Oregon and one game behind second-place USC.
"It was disheartening because that was a winnable game," CU coach Tad Boyle said. "We can't even think about Pac-12 championship right now, we have to think about winning the next game."
HOW IT HAPPENED: A 14-0 UCLA run in the first half put Colorado in a 12-point hole at intermission, 39-27, and the deficit grew to 15 early in the second half. The Bruins dominated the boards in the first 20 minutes, holding a 20-10 rebound edge that included a 7-1 margin on the offensive boards, which led to eight UCLA points. The Buffs also committed seven turnovers in the opening half that the Bruins converted into 10 points.
"We just got our tails kicked, especially in the first half," Boyle said. "We have to be tougher than that. We talked about toughness right before the game — we have to be the tougher team and we weren't and it showed."
But the Buffs did rally in the second half, putting together a 12-0 run that cut UCLA's margin to three, 42-39, with just under 15 minutes still to play. D'Shawn Schwartz, who came off the bench for the first time this year, fueled the surge with seven points in the run.
CU then managed to stay within range over the next eight minutes and finally pulled to within two, 53-51, on a Siewert free throw with 7:22 to play.
"We showed great toughness in the second half," Boyle said. "We came back and made a run at these guys, but we weren't there in the first half for some for some reason."
But after cutting the deficit to two, the Buffs couldn't come any closer. UCLA slowly rebuilt its lead to double digits when three Smith free throws gave the Bruins a 64-53 lead with 3:25 to play. Colorado managed to cut the margin back to five with just under two minutes to go, and down to four with 18 seconds remaining on a Wright 3-pointer.
But Smith hit two free throws with 14.6 left to clinch the UCLA win.
CU shot just 7-for-20 from 3-point range, a far cry from Colorado's combined 24-for-47 effort from beyond the arc in its last two trips to Pauley. The Buffs also finished with just eight assists, their lowest total in Pac-12 play this year and second-lowest of the season (7 at Kansas).
"You can't look at records," Boyle said. "These guys were 10-10 coming in here. But they've got good players. You don't get a scholarship to UCLA if you can't play and we weren't tough enough tonight, that's what is so disheartening. It's not like we weren't ready, it's just we didn't didn't have the grit."
Colorado trailed for most of the game. The Buffs held an early 10-9 lead before the Bruins put together a 14-0 run to take control. CU managed to cut the UCLA lead to four, 27-23, on a Shane Gatling 3-pointer with 5:47 left in the half before the Bruins answered with a 9-0 run that led to a 39-27 halftime lead.
TURNING POINT: A 14-0 UCLA run in the first half turned a 10-9 Colorado lead into a 23-10 deficit, and the Buffs never led again the rest of the game.
WHAT IT MEANS: CU can still earn a road trip split with a win at USC on Saturday, but the Buffs' hopes of a conference title took a big hit with a loss against a team they believe they could have beaten.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado lost the rebound battle, 39-29. That included a 13-7 UCLA edge on the offensive boards, which led to an 18-10 edge in second-chance points … CU also gave up 22 fast break points … Colorado had just eight assists, the Buffs' lowest total in Pac-12 play this year.
UP NEXT: The Buffs wrap up the road trip Saturday with an 8:30 p.m. game vs. USC at the Galen Center (FS1), then return home next week for a pair. Colorado hosts Cal on Feb. 6 at the Events Center (6 p.m.), then plays host to Stanford on Feb. 8 (4 p.m.).
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
