Colorado
18-16,8-12Pac-12
Seton Hall
17-16,10-10Big East
Buffs Slip Past Seton Hall In NIT Opener
March 14, 2023 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER — Colorado's Julian Hammond III hit a layup with 20 seconds remaining Tuesday night and the Buffaloes then came up with a big defensive stop to clinch a 65-64 win over Seton Hall in a first-round NIT game at the CU Events Center.
Tad Boyle's Buffs improved to 18-16 and will face the winner of Wednesday night's New Mexico-Utah Valley game in the second round.
Seton Hall ended its season 17-16.
The game featured 10 lead changes, with Colorado leading by as much as nine in the first half and the Pirates by as much as five in the second half. The Buffs then rallied to grab a six-point edge with just more than four minutes to play — only to see Seton Hall come back to take a 64-63 lead with 32 seconds on the clock.
But Colorado reaped the final bucket with 20 seconds remaining when Hammond took a pass in the paint from Jalen Gabbidon and cashed in the winning bucket. The Buffs then produced one more defensive stop in the final seconds for the win.
Ethan Wright came off the bench to lead the Buffs in scoring with 18 points — his best as a Buff — including four 3-pointers. Tristan da Silva scored 14, Hammond added 10 points and five assists, and Luke O'Brien had eight points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
KC Ndefo led Seton Hall with 18 points.
Colorado shot just 39 percent (21-for-54) but hit 10 of 18 3-point tries. Seton Hall finished 22-for-60 from the floor. CU had a 39-36 rebound edge as well as a 23-8 edge in points off the bench.
"You just knew it was probably going to come down to the end," said Boyle, who is now 89-7 in home non-conference games as CU's coach. "Seton Hall is a tough, hard-nosed team. It's great to win when you don't play your best and it's hard to do that in March. But I thought it was appropriate, the way we stress defense every day in practice, to win that game on a defensive possession."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs led by as much as nine in the first half and still had a 33-27 edge at the break.
But after an ice-cold first half (8-for-33), the Pirates finally found their shooting eye. Seton Hall used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 40-40 six minutes in, then put together a 7-0 surge to take a 47-42 lead with 12 minutes to play.
Colorado, though, didn't let the game get away. Hammond nailed a long 3-pointer to end a five-minute field field goal drought for the Buffs before da Silva hit a 3-pointer to pull the Buffs within one, 49-48.
Less than two minutes later, O'Brien rebounded his own miss inside and scored to tie the game at 51-51 with just under eight minutes to play.
Colorado finally regained the lead, 54-51, two minutes later on Wright's fourth 3-pointer of the night. The Buffs then pushed their cushion to six on an O'Brien offensive rebound and bucket with four minutes to play.
O'Brien has been a beast on the boards over the last several weeks, hitting double digits in four of his last six games.
"He battled his tail off and really guarded down the stretch," Boyle said.
But the Buffs went cold after taking the lead, hitting just one of their next seven field goals and the Pirates rallied. Seton Hall finally regained the lead, 64-63, with 32 seconds remaining on a Ndefo three-point play.
But the Buffs needed just 12 seconds to regain the lead. Following a timeout, the Buffs executed the called play perfectly when Gabbidon hit Hammond with a perfect pass over a defender for a layup and Colorado grabbed a 65-64 lead with 20 seconds to play.
"We told Jalen to give Julian a look on that thing if it was open," Boyle said. "It was a great pass, he had the guts to make it and we finished it."
Seton Hall then called timeout with 15 seconds remaining to draw up a final play, but the Buffs were ready defensively. CU forced a wild layup with just a few seconds remaining that missed the mark and the Buffaloes advanced in the bracket.
For Wright and Gabbidon — two graduate transfers and CU's only scholarship seniors — the win meant at least one more game in their college careers.
"We don't want to stop," Wright sakd. "For me and Jalen, this could have been our last game and I think we played like it. All the guys are the same way. They want to be playing and that's kind of the mindset we have. We're just really lucky to be playing in March so we're going to take that seriously."
Both teams shot poorly early in the game. After hitting their first two shots, the Buffs missed their next five and Seton Hall took a 10-5 lead five minutes in.
But Colorado chipped away and finally used a 14-2 run to take a 27-18 lead. Ethan Wright had a pair of 3-pointers in the surge and Nique Clifford added one while Colorado's defense was holding the Pirates scoreless over a five-minute stretch.
The Buffs maintained their nine-point edge into the final minute before Seton Hall hit a bucket and two free throws to send CU into the locker room with a 33-27 lead.
Colorado shot just 10-for-26 in the opening half but did hit five of nine 3-point tries, with Wright connecting for three to give him 13 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Pirates, meanwhile, were just 8-for-33 from the floor in the first half.
TURNING POINT: This one wasn't decided until the final seconds, when Colorado came up with a key defensive stop after tallying what proved to be the winning bucket with 20 seconds remaining.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Buffs advance in the postseason and are now guaranteed a winning record for the 12th time in Boyle's 13 years in Boulder.
KEY STATISTICS: While the Buffs shot just 39 percent from the floor overall (21-for-54), they hit 10 of 18 3-point tries … Seton Hall finished 22-for-60 from the floor … CU had a 39-36 rebound edge as well as a 23-8 edge in points off the bench.
NEXT UP: The Buffs will play the winner of Wednesday night's New Mexico-Utah Valley game in the second round on either Saturday or Sunday. If New Mexico wins, the Buffs will travel to Albuquerque. If Utah Valley wins, Colorado will host.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
