Colorado
12-3,1-1Pac-12
Oregon State
11-3,1-1Pac-12
Buffs Falter Down Stretch Vs. Oregon State
January 05, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — For the second year in a row, the Colorado Buffaloes couldn't protect their home court against Oregon State.
The Buffs led by 11 Sunday with under eight minutes to play, but were outscored 24-5 over the final 7:27 to drop a 76-68 decision at the CU Events Center.
The loss ended CU's five-game win streak and dropped the Buffs to 12-3 overall and 1-1 in Pac-12 play. OSU improved to 11-3, 1-1.
Tyler Bey led CU with 20 points and eight rebounds while McKinley Wright IV had a 14-point, 10-assist double-double. Shane Gatling added 11 for CU.
Ethan Thompson led the Beavers with 24 points and Zach Reichle had a career-high 19.
Colorado finished with 15 turnovers — eight in the second half — which the Beavers converted into 16 points. CU also allowed OSU to shoot 52.9 percent from the floor (27-for-51) while the Buffs were 26-for-53 (49.1 percent).
"Disappointing loss, to say the least," CU coach Tad Boyle said. "Credit Oregon State, I don't want to take anything away from them. We imploded the last five minutes of the game offensively against that 1-3-1 (zone), and it's frustrating because we practiced against that. We knew it was coming. … We're looking around like we want somebody else to come save us and there's no there's nobody to save us. I take responsibility as the coach of this team. We did not handle that well and that's my fault."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado led by seven at the half, 39-32, before the Beavers cut the margin to four less than four minutes in on a Kylor Kelley dunk.
But the Buffs then put together an 8-0 run to push their lead back to 12. D'Shawn Schwartz started the surge with a 12-footer before Wright drove the lane. Wright then collected his 10th assist of the game, a feed to Bey underneath, before Bey finished the run with a long two from the key with 13:21 remaining to give CU a 53-41 lead.
Colorado then maintained control over the next five-plus minutes, and with 7:57 to play, still had an 11-point edge, 63-52, after a Wright free throw.
But that's when the Beavers resorted to their 1-3-1 zone with a halfcourt trap that turned the game, forcing a rash of Colorado turnovers and sparking a 10-0 OSU run that baffled the Buffs for the remainder of the night.
Reichle started the run with a 3-pointer, followed by a Thompson basket after a CU turnover to pull within 63-57. CU then called a timeout, but turned the ball over immediately after play resumed, leading to an OSU dunk. One minute later, Reichle hit three free throws and the Beavers were within one, 63-62, with 4:55 still to play.
"We didn't play very smart," Boyle said. "We fouled two 3-point shooters in the second half. That shouldn't happen."
The Buffs finally stopped the bleeding with an Evan Battey bucket inside and free throw with 4:39 to play, putting CU back up by four, 66-62.
But from that point on, the Buffs went 1-for-7 from the field and committed four more turnovers down the stretch to seal their fate.
After Battey's bucket, OSU quickly pulled back to within one on a Tinkle 3-pointer, then finally took the lead, 67-66, on a basket inside after another turnover. Colorado missed its next shot, but had a chance to regain possession after an Oregon State miss, only to give up an OSU offensive rebound.Â
"Big possession," Boyle said. "We got the stop we needed but we couldn't get a rebound. We found a way to lose this thing."
After an OSU timeout, Thompson scored inside, then added two more free throws after one more turnover to complete a 19-3 run in a 7-minute span for a 71-66 lead with 57 seconds remaining.
OSU then outscored Colorado 5-2 over the final minute to complete the game.
"We didn't execute," said Wright, who did not have a turnover in the first half but had three of his four in the second half down the stretch. "We practice against that defense, we knew that defense would come at some point but we didn't execute."
The Buffs fell behind 6-0 early after missing their first three field goal tries and five of their first eight.
But they slowly climbed back to trade leads with the Beavers midway through the half before an 8-0 run turned a 20-19 deficit into a 27-20 lead. Shane Gatling sparked the run with a pair of 3-pointers while Bey had two free throws.
Wright, meanwhile, continued to feed open teammates, finishing the first half with eight assists. After the Beavers fought back with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 27-27, Wright assisted a Maddox Daniels 3-pointer to put the Buffs back in the lead. A minute later he hit Gatling underneath for a layup, then finished the half with a beautiful pass to Bey under the basket just before the buzzer. Bey collected a dunk and free throw on the play to give CU a 39-32 lead at intermission.
TURNING POINT: Colorado led by 11 with under eight minutes to play, but a 10-0 OSU run got the Beavers back in the game and the Buffs could not turn the tide over the last five minutes.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs almost certainly would have been included in the nation's top 25 with a win, but will now likely be left out of the polls. Colorado, which started the day No. 18 in the NET rankings, will also no doubt drop several places with the home loss. It's also a damaging home loss in conference play, which increases the need for an extra road win at some point.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs committed 15 turnovers, which led to 16 OSU points … CU was 1-for-7 and committed four turnovers in the final 4:39 of the game … OSU shot 52.9 percent for the game (27-for-51) while CU was 26-for-53 (49.1 percent) … It was CU's second loss at home to Oregon State in the last two years, as the Beavers won 76-74 in Boulder last year.
QUOTEWORTHY: "The challenge is to get the guys to understand that nothing is going to be given to you. I talked to them a lot about earning respect and what we've done over the last two or three four games, we've played to earn some respect, and how quickly that can go away. We earned some beating Dayton, and playing the way that we did against Iona, and then beating Oregon in here. We just stubbed our toe again just like we did against Northern Iowa. You eat what you kill, that's the challenge is to get them to understand that." — Tad Boyle
NEXT UP: The Buffs wrap up a three-game homestand next Sunday with a 4 p.m. matchup with Utah at the CU Events Center.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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