Colorado
4-0,0-0Pac-12
Richmond
2-2,0-0Atlantic 10
No. 18 Buffs Hold Off Richmond In Sunshine Slam Semis
November 20, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Colorado's KJ Simpson scored 23 points and the No. 18 Buffaloes survived a tough shooting night Monday to take a 64-59 win over scrappy Richmond in the Sunshine Slam semifinals.
Tad Boyle's Buffs, who jumped seven spots in the AP poll released Monday, improved to 4-0 while Richmond fell to 2-2.
The Buffs will next face Florida State in Tuesday's championship game at 2 p.m. (CBSSN) at Ocean Center.
Monday's game, CU's first away from home this season, wasn't decided until the final minutes.
Colorado led for the majority of the game, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead and taking a 28-25 edge into intermission. But the Spiders wouldn't go away and took their second lead of the game, 44-42, with nine minutes to play.
The Buffs, though, responded with a quick 6-0 run to regain control. Richmond managed to cut the deficit to one point again before the Buffs finally put the game away. A Tristan da Silva basket with just more than a minute to play bumped CU's edge to five and following a pair of defensive stops, Simpson, da Silva and J'Vonne Hadley each hit two free throws to give Colorado a nine-point edge, 62-53, with 32 seconds remaining.
Simpson had three rebounds and a pair of assists to go with his 23 points, bolstered by a 9-for-10 effort from the free throw line. Da Silva added 15 points and eight rebounds while Hadley had six points and six boards.
Jordan King led Richmond with 23 points.
Colorado entered the game as the nation's leading 3-point shooting team (51.7 percent) and the sixth-best field goal shooting team (55.7 percent). But the Buffs struggled to find their shooting eye all night, finishing just 20-for-47 from the floor. They did, however, hit 21 of their 25 free throw tries while also holding a 32-26 rebound edge.
Richmond hit 23 of its 51 field goal tries but was just 5-for-20 from long range.
"We needed that," Boyle said. "We needed to face a little bit of adversity … They had a good game plan and we had to fight through some things, but I thought our guys showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness on a night where we weren't as good offensively as we've been. Richmond had a lot to do with that but our guys kept grinding."
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado led 28-25 at the break and pushed the cushion to seven early in the second half on four Simpson free throws.
But the Buffs could never shake the Spiders. Richmond stayed within range and finally took its second lead of the game, 44-42, when King hit two of three free throws at the 9:07 mark.
Colorado answered with a 6-0 run, getting a Simpson 3-pointer and a Cody Williams layup in transition for a 48-44 lead.
But Richmond stayed within striking range and with just more than four minutes to play, cut Colorado's lead to one on a long King 2-pointer.
Colorado then pushed its lead back to five on a pair of free throws from Simpson and Hadley before Richmond narrowed the gap to three one more time.
CU's defense then stepped up. Eddie Lampkin Jr. forced a turnover, then found da Silva underneath with a beautiful pass. Da Silva rammed it home and Colorado had a 58-53 lead with 1:29 to play.
"We had to work for everything we got out there," da Silva said. "We faced some adversity and overcame it. If we're not shooting the ball well, we have to lean on our defense and rebounding."
Colorado then recorded back-to-back stops and the Spiders had to foul. Simpson, da Silva and Hadley all hit free throws in the final 1:03 to keep the Spiders at bay and give Colorado the win.
"I tell our team in practice all the time that teams that win close games down the stretch get stops and make free throws," Boyle said. "That's what we did tonight."
Colorado jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, sparked by a pair of buckets from Tristan da Silva.
But the Spiders answered with an 8-0 run to take their only lead of the half. Colorado endured a three-minute scoring drought that covered five straight empty possessions, including two turnovers.
CU finally ended the drought on a Lampkin bucket, then regained the lead when RJ Smith drained a long 3-pointer to give Colorado an 11-8 lead.
Richmond did manage to tie the game again at 13-13 before the Buffs took the lead on a Simpson 3-pointer. The Buffs then used a 6-0 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 22-15, on the heels of a Cody Williams steal and basket, two free throws from Julian Hammond III and a Lampkin basket inside.
But Richmond once again battled back to close the gap to two and Colorado led by just three, 28-25, at the break.
The Buffs shot just 40 percent in the opening half (10-for-25) and committed seven turnovers. But CU's defense held Richmond to 9-for-23 shooting, including just 1-for-10 from long range.
TURNING POINT: Richmond closed the gap to one with four minutes left to play, but the Buffs answered with a defensive stop and four straight free throws. The Spiders never came closer than three again.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs, who jumped from No. 25 to No. 18 in the polls Monday, can hold onto that ranking with a win over Florida State on Tuesday.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs hit 21 of their 25 free throw tries while also holding a 32-26 rebound edge … CU held the Spiders to just 5-for-20 shooting from long range … Colorado forced 13 turnovers and converted those miscues into 18 points.
NEXT UP: The Buffs face Florida State (3-1) in the 4 p.m. championship game Tuesday (CBSSN). FSU advanced with an 83-75 win over UNLV on Monday. CU last faced Florida State in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, when the Seminoles collected a 71-53 win.
