Colorado
21-11,10-8Pac-12
Washington State
16-16,6-12Pac-12
Cold Buffs Fall To Washington State In Pac-12 Tourney Opener
March 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
LAS VEGAS — Colorado's hopes for a reboot in the Pac-12 tournament instead turned into more of the same Wednesday night, as the Buffaloes dropped an 82-68 first-round decision to Washington State at T-Mobile Arena.
The loss, CU's fifth in a row, dropped Colorado to 21-11 and leaves the Buffs at the mercy of the NCAA Selection Committee's decision Sunday afternoon. WSU, the first team this season to score 80 points on the Buffs, improved to 16-16 and will face Arizona State in Thursday's quarterfinals.
The loss was also the first for the Buffs in a Pac-12 tournament opener after winning their tourney opener the last nine years in a row (including one season in the Big 12). It was Washington State's first conference tournament win since 2009.
McKinley Wright IV led CU with 21 points and 9 rebounds and Tyler Bey added 19 points and 8 rebounds.
CJ Elleby led Washington State with 30 points and 10 rebounds.
The Buffs struggled almost from the outset, as WSU led by as much as 14 midway through the first half and by 10 at intermission, 35-25. WSU then pushed the margin to 21 midway through the second half before a 9-0 Colorado run cut the deficit back to 12, 57-45, with 10:25 still to play.
But that was as close as the Buffs could come, as WSU rebuilt the lead into the 20s down the stretch.
Colorado struggled from the floor all night, missing its first 12 3-point shots before Wright finally connected in the second half. The Buffs finished just 21-for-57 from the floor, including 4-for-21 from 3-point range. The Cougars shot 27-for-55 (10-for-21 from long range), and held a 37-34 rebound edge.
CU also finished with a season-low four assists, with two of those coming in the final minutes.Â
"Our team right now has lost its identity," an obviously disappointed CU coach Tad Boyle said. "We've lost our fight, we've lost our toughness, that we've got to get back. And thank goodness we played really, really well the first 27 games of the season to put ourselves in a position, I think, to be in the postseason. But nothing is guaranteed until we see our name pop up on Sunday."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs were out of sorts from the beginning, giving up a 15-2 run midway through the first half that paved the way for a 35-25 WSU halftime lead, then allowing the Cougars to bump their cushion to 21, 57-36, less than eight minutes into the second half.
Colorado did manage to make a mini-run at the Cougars, putting together a 9-0 burst to cut WSU's lead to 57-45. Bey had two free throws to start the run before Wright scored seven straight points, including CU's first 3-pointer of the game.
But that led to a WSU timeout, and the Cougars ran off a 15-5 run to regain control for good.
"We've been talking now for the last five games how our defense has not been good enough to win games, whether it's first half, second half, full ballgame, it doesn't matter," Boyle said. "Tonight they shot 70 percent in the second half, and we couldn't get back in the game. We couldn't get a stop, we couldn't claw back."
Along with having a tough time on defense — WSU was 5-for-9 from 3-point range in the second half while Elleby was 6-for-10 from long distance for the game — the Buffs also struggled on the offensive end. The team that led the Pac-12 in shooting percentage and 3-point shooting after 14 games continued to have problems scoring. While Wright did finish with 21 points, the Cougars harassed him into a 6-for-17 night from the floor. Bey shot 6-for-9 from the floor, but he was the only starter above 50 percent. Aside from Bey, the rest of the Buffs finished just 15-for-48.
"We've got some guys on the team struggling offensively to shoot the ball and make shots," Boyle said. "Tonight we did a great job I thought of getting to the free-throw line, we shot 32 free throws and we haven't done that in a long time. We attacked, but we didn't
make enough of those (CU was 22-for-32 from the line). But the bottom line is we couldn't get stops when we had to get stops."
Now, the Buffs must wait for the NCAA Selection Committee and hope their success through mid-February was enough to earn them a bid. If they do get into the bracket, it will no doubt be as a lower seed.
"We're going to be in for a really, really difficult game probably in the first round," Boyle said. "But if we can find who we were that first 27 games we'll be OK. If we can't, it will be one and done. We certainly don't want that. We're going to use the next five or six days to get ourselves back to where we were. I thought we were coming into Vegas. I thought our practices were good, our mojo was good, I thought our body language was good. (But) when things started going bad for us on the floor, we don't come together as a group right now. We kind of splinter, and that's not a good sign."
TURNING POINT: Colorado trailed just 12-11 early in the game, but a 15-2 WSU run put the Cougars in control and the Buffs could never get back in the game.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs must now wait for Sunday's NCAA bracket announcement.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs shot just 36.8 percent for the game while WSU shot 49.1 percent. Colorado was also just 4-for-21 from long distance while the Cougars hit 10 of their 21 3-point attempts.
NEXT UP: The Buffs will now wait for Sunday's NCAA Selection Committee show to learn if they have earned a berth in the tournament.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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