Colorado
21-7,10-5Pac-12
UCLA
17-11,10-5Pac-12
Buffs Falter In Second Half, Fall To UCLA
February 22, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — A second-half drought doomed Colorado here Saturday, as the Buffaloes couldn't protect a nine-point lead and UCLA took a 70-63 win before a sold-out crowd of 11,214 at the CU Events Center.
The No. 18/17 Buffaloes fell to 21-7 overall and 10-5 in Pac-12 play while UCLA improved to 17-11 and 10-5.
The Buffs held a 50-41 lead with 12:34 to play, but the Bruins put together a 20-3 run over the next nine minutes to take a 61-53 edge and the Buffs never recovered. CU went more than seven minutes without scoring and nearly 10 minutes without a field goal in the stretch, and while the Buffs did manage to pull back within three in the final two minutes, it was as close as they could come.
McKinley Wright IV led CU with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Tyler Bey added 13 points and six rebounds and Evan Battey had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Cody Riley led UCLA with 16 points and Tyger Campbell had 15.
The Buffs held the Bruins to 40 percent shooting in the first half, but allowed UCLA to shoot 56.3 percent after intermission (18-for-32). Colorado also dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring the Bruins 20-8, but UCLA had a 28-16 edge in the paint in the second half.
"Credit to UCLA, they deserved to win this game," an obviously disappointed CU coach Tad Boyle said. "They were the tougher team. In the second half they made the plays down the stretch that needed to be made and we didn't."
The Buffs did win the rebound battle, 35-31, but they also finished with 10 turnovers to UCLA's seven, and the Bruins did not have a turnover in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED: After struggling early, Colorado led by three at the half and pushed the margin to nine soon after intermission. A Shane Gatling 3-pointer gave CU a 41-32 lead with 16:11 to play, and the Buffs maintained their edge over the next four minutes, taking a 50-41 lead after a Wright layup with 12:34 on the clock.
But that proved to be the beginning of the end for the Buffs. Following a timeout, the Bruins started a 14-0 run, part of the decisive 20-3 surge. The Buffs missed their next 10 field goal tries after Wright's layup, and added three turnovers as well.
The Bruins, meanwhile, hit their first four shots for a 9-0 run, then five of seven after two misses.
"We were getting some good looks and some stuff wasn't falling and we let it affect our defense on the other end," a disconsolate Wright said. "On the offensive end when the ball doesn't go in, people get frustrated and it affects our defensive efforts. We have to be better about that."
The Buffs finally ended their field goal drought with back-to-back buckets from Wright and Bey to cut the UCLA lead to four, 61-57, with 1:58 to play before the Bruins got two Tyger Campbell free throws. Wright then drained a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiched around a UCLA trey, to pull the Buffs within three, 66-63, with 46.9 seconds to play.
But the Bruins got a Riley bucket coming out of a timeout and CU missed on its next trip down the floor, forcing the Buffs to foul and Chris Smith hit two free throws to close out the game.
"We got good looks and then it went dry," Boyle said. "Anybody that's followed this team this year knows that's not the first time we've gone on droughts offensively. That's just part of who we are. But again,I credit UCLA's defense because they got up into us and they were physical and they were in our space and, and we didn't we didn't handle it well enough."
The Buffs finished with just 10 free throw attempts — less than half of their season average per game — and made eight. UCLA was 6-for-11 from the line.
"There was a lot of contact," Boyle said. "The referees let us play tonight. You have to play through contact. You have to make plays through contact on nights like that when the whistle isn't blown and we weren't able to do that. We were in a crowd and they weren't in a crowd and that was a result of our breakdowns defensively."
The loss no doubt throws a major wrench in CU's Pac-12 title hopes. The Buffs entered Saturday in sole possession of first place, but they are now part of a five-team logjam at the top of the standings separated by just a half-game. CU has three games remaining — all on the road — before the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
The Buffs started slowly while the Bruins hit five of their first seven field goal tries and held an 11-6 lead five minutes in.
But Colorado slowly chipped away at the lead, then used a 9-0 run to take a 23-17 lead with 5:07 left in the half. Dallas Walton started the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, Battey added four in the run and Gatling had a beautiful drive under the bucket and reverse layup. Colorado then pushed the lead to 25-18 on a pair of Wright free throws.
Defensively, the Buffs recorded five consecutive stops in the run and held the Bruins without a field goal for 5:25.
But the Bruins finally ended the drought, closing CU's lead to 29-26 by halftime.
TURNING POINT: A UCLA timeout after Colorado took a 50-41 lead with under 13 minutes to go in the game was the beginning of a 14-0 Bruins run, part of a 20-3 surge that decided the game.
WHAT IT MEANS: If the Buffs had won their last four games, they were assured of no worse than a tie for the Pac-12 title. Now they are in a logjam that has five teams separated by a half a game at the top of the Pac-12 standings. With three road games remaining before the Pac-12 tournament, the Buffs must take care of business away from home or run the risk of falling out of the top four and losing the first-round tourney bye that comes with a top-four finish.
KEY STATISTICS: UCLA shot 56.3 percent from the floor in the second half (18-for-32) and did not have a turnover after intermission … The Buffs were just 12-for-30 shooting after intermission.
QUOTEWORTHY: "This one stings because you're supposed to hold serve at home. This is our third home loss. Sellout crowd. Our fans deserve better than they got tonight. I'm sick to my stomach for a lot of reasons but mostly for the two seniors (Shane Gatling and Lucas Siewert) and mostly for our fans because our fans were terrific this last homestand and we didn't play well enough. That stings because when they show up, you want to give them a reason to show up and we didn't do a good job tonight." — CU head coach Tad Boyle
UP NEXT: CU then closes the regular season with three straight road games, beginning with a pair next week in the Bay Area. Colorado plays at Cal on Thursday (7 p.m., MT), then heads to Stanford on Sunday, March 1 (4 p.m. MT). The Buffs wrap up the regular season with a 12:30 p.m. game March 7 at Utah.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
