Buffaloes Wrap Up Regular Season Saturday Against Utah

COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE: Colorado Athletics is teaming up with Anthem to host a food drive at the Utah game to benefit Community Food Share. There will be collection bins outside each entrance to the CU Events Center on Saturday. The list of the most needed food items are:

Nut butters
Canned tuna and chicken
Canned fruits
Cereal and Oatmeal
Soup and Stew
Baby Food and Formula
Pasta and Canned Sauce
Beans (Canned or Dry)
Canned Vegetables

THE SEASON: Colorado is 15-15 overall and tied with Stanford for ninth in the Pac-12 Conference at 7-12. The Buffaloes have lost three in a row, tying their longest such streak of the season, and four of five. Two of those setbacks have come against Top 10 opponents.

Colorado will either be the No. 9 or No. 10 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament next week. If the Buffaloes win against Utah, they will finish tied with Washington for eighth place in the conference standings and will face the Huskies at the No. 9 seed on Wednesday, Mar. 8, due to the Huskies' season series sweep. For Colorado to drop to the No. 10 seed, the Buffaloes would have to lose to Utah and Stanford would have to win at Oregon Saturday afternoon. In that case, Colorado would most likely face Washington State in
Wednesday's first round.

The Buffaloes will finish sub-.500 in league play for the first time since the 2017-18 team was 8-10. The 12 league losses are the most in the Tad Boyle era (7-11 in 2014-15).

Colorado is 11-4, wrapping up the regular season Saturday. The Buffaloes are averaging 72.1 points at home, nearly seven points per game more than on the road (65.4 ppg). The Buffaloes have enjoyed a plus-10 scoring margin at home. Colorado is shooting 45.5 percent at home, compared to 40.1 percent in road games. The Buffaloes are holding opponents to 62.2 points on 41.8 percent from the field at home compared to 71.5 points and 45.4 percent in road contests.

On the Pac-12 leaderboard, Colorado is second in steals (7.8) and offensive rebounds (11.5 orpg), third in overall rebounds (37.5 rpg) and turnover margin (+0.7), fourth in scoring defense (66.5 ppg) and 3-point defense (.322) and fifth in rebound margin (+3.8) and defensive boards (26.0 drpg).

In addition, the Buffaloes gave up just 59 points at Arizona State, the lowest by an opponent on their own home floor this season. It's the fewest allowed by Colorado in a Pac-12 road game since Stanford had 53 on Feb. 19, 2022.

Colorado leads the Pac-12 during conference play in 3-point defense, allowing opponents just 30.2 percent from long range. The Buffaloes held UCLA to just one 3-point field goal and shot just 7.1 percent (1 for 14), both opponent season lows.

Junior forward Tristan da Silva leads Colorado at 16.0 points per game on 50.4 percent shooting from the field while averaging 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals an outing.

Da Silva has scored 20-plus points in 11 games this season, the most since Derrick White had 15 in 2016-17. He had a string of five-straight 20-plus games, the first by a Buffalo since Josh Scott had five in a row from Dec. 2-19, 2015.

On the Pac-12 charts, da Silva is sixth in scoring, seventh in 3-point shooting (.393), ninth in overall field goal percentage and steals and 14th in free throw percentage.

Sophomore KJ Simpson leads Colorado in assists (111) and steals (43) and is second in scoring at 15.9 points per game. He led Colorado against USC with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Simpson dished out a career and team season-best seven assists at Arizona to go along with 12 points. He made his first four free throw attempts at Arizona before missing the fifth and ending his team season-best consecutive free throw streak at 22.

Against Stanford, Simpson hit all 11 free throw attempts, a career-high and the best by any Pac-12 player this season. It's the best performance by a Buffalo since McKinley Wright IV went 11 for 11 against Washington State on Jan. 27, 2021.

On the Pac-12 charts Simpson is fifth in free throw percentage (.817), seventh in scoring, assists and steals, 12th in minutes played and 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Sophomore Lawson Lovering leads Colorado in blocks (27) while ranking fourth in rebounding (4.7 rpg). Lovering had seven points, six rebounds and a pair of assists against UCLA. He had nine points on 4 of 6 shooting with a team-high seven rebounds against USC. Lovering has made 38 of 64 (.594) from the field during conference play.

Lovering is 11th in blocked shots (0.9 bpg) and 12th in offensive rebounds (2.0 orpg) in the Pac-12.

Luke O'Brien is averaging 5.9 points and is third on the team in rebounds at 5.1 rebounds per game. He leads Colorado in rebounding in Pac-12 play at 6.2 per game, which also ranks 11th on the league leaderboard.

O'Brien recorded his first career double-double with a season-high 13 points and 10 rebounds against UCLA. He led Colorado in rebounding for the ninth time this season, including seven of the last 10 games. He is averaging 10.1 points and 7.4 rebounds over the last seven games.

Javon Ruffin is averaging 6.0 points and is second on the team in 3-point percentage (.358) and third in 3-pointers made (24). Ruffin had 13 points at Arizona, his most in a conference game, setting a personal-best with five field goals made and tying a career-high with three 3-pointers. He had 10 points and a career-high seven rebounds at Arizona State. Ruffin made both his free throw attempts against the Sun Devils, extending his consecutive made streak to 16. Ruffin is 28 of 32 from the line for the season (28-32) and 17 of 18 in Pac-12 play (.944).

Nique Clifford is averaging 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds while ranking second on the team in blocks (19), third in assists (45) and fourth in steals (22). He tied a career high with nine rebounds against UCLA.

Graduate senior Jalen Gabbidon is averaging 4.6 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. He made his sixth start of the season at Utah. Fellow graduate senior Ethan Wright played a season-high 25 minutes against UCLA, dishing out three assists.

Julian Hammond III is averaging 5.8 points and is second on the team in assists with 51. He had 11 points, including a perfect 6 of 6 from the free throw line, at Utah.

ABOUT THE UTES: Utah is 17-13 overall and seventh in the Pac-12 at 10-9. The Utes could still finish as high as a tie for fourth place in the league standings, but tiebreakers have them most likely the No. 6 or No. 7 seed at the Pac-12 Tournament. Utah has lost four straight and six of eight overall. The Utes have the second-best scoring defense in the Pac-12 allowing just 63.4 points per game.

Senior center Branden Carlson leads Utah at 16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game while hitting 50 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Lazar Stefanovic averages 10.2 points and leads the Utes in steals with 34. Marco Anthony averages 10.0 points and is second on the team in rebounding (6.9 rpg) and steals (22).

SERIES RECORDS: This will be the 59th meeting between Colorado and Utah with the Buffaloes holding a 32-26 edge. Utah won the first meeting of the season in Salt Lake City, 73-62, on Feb. 11. Colorado is 21-7 against the Utes all-time in Boulder.

Buffaloes Wrap Up Regular Season Saturday Against Utah

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nique Clifford

Tristan da Silva

Jalen Gabbidon

Julian Hammond III

Lawson Lovering

Luke O'Brien

Javon Ruffin

KJ Simpson

Ethan Wright

Buffaloes Wrap Up Regular Season Saturday Against Utah

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nique Clifford

Tristan da Silva

Jalen Gabbidon

Julian Hammond III

Lawson Lovering

Luke O'Brien

Javon Ruffin

KJ Simpson

Ethan Wright

Related Videos