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After getting so tantalizingly close to upsetting the 17th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks for the first Q1 win of the season, fate had other plans for the Colorado Buffaloes. CU gave the Jayhawks a legitimate scare, but a clear missed call and a lack of execution down the stretch ultimately doomed the Buffs, falling by a final score of 75-69.
Colorado entered Tuesday evening’s nightcap matchup with a major advantage, as Kansas head coach Bill Self was unable to make the trip with his team due to illness. CU coach Tad Boyle, a Kansas basketball alum, smelled blood in the water and ran with it.
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The Buffs opened the game with a bang after a three-pointer from Isaiah Johnson made its way home, which proved to be the first of many from both teams. The Buffs and Jayhawks were getting open on the perimeter and they made each other pay in the first half, as each team hit six shots from deep. That rainstorm was a team effort for Colorado. Five Buffs combined for those six hits from beyond the yard, staying consistent with the team’s selfless brand of basketball.
As for Kansas, things weren’t exactly going to plan. Potential NBA top draft pick Darryn Peterson was kept quiet by the Buffs, tallying only nine first-half points. Guard Tre White was able to pick up some of that slack, racking 12 first-half points of his own, hitting two shots from deep and all four of his free throw attempts.
Speaking of freebies, oh boy, was Kansas getting to the line a lot. KU shot 12 first-half FTs compared to Colorado’s four, and were able to cash in on 10 of them. (That’s a little bit of foreshadowing for later.) Still, some stellar defense and clutch shooting from the Buffs were able to keep the game neck-and-neck. Following a successful Barrington Hargress tip-in on a Johnson miss, Colorado headed to the break down only 38-40, looking to channel some of that Askia Booker magic.
The Buffs came out of the locker room and immediately tied the game on a Bangot Dak jumper. Unfortunately, that’d be the last time they’d tie or lead for the remainder of the game.
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That doesn’t mean they didn’t put up a valiant effort, though. Colorado’s shots stopped falling as consistently, but they made up for that by playing hard-nosed defense, poking away nine Kansas turnovers in the second half alone.
Those turnovers kept the Buffs in the game, but so did some elite shooting by their starting guards. Both Hargress and Johnson hit insanely clutch three-pointers to quell Kansas runs that threatened to put CU out of the game, giving the Buffs ample life and the Jayhawks within grasp.
Everything reached a boiling point with around five minutes left, down only one point, Colorado managed to force a live-ball turnover. The ball quickly found the hands of Sebastian Rancik, who went up to attempt a layup that was quickly swatted by a Kansas player. That, in turn, morphed into a KU fast-break layup by Melvin Council Jr., which found its way to the net.
Here’s where the controversy appears. While Council was clearly out of bounds, he stole the ball from Rancik on the inbound pass and quickly scored—no whistle from the refs. The bucket counted as good.
The CUEC erupted into a cacophony of deafening boos. Tad Boyle was completely incensed as he went to confront the refs during the media timeout following the play, instead of strategizing with his team.
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To be clear: that missed call didn’t lose the game for the Buffs. CU had many opportunities to win this game and just didn’t capitalize. There were more missed wide-open threes and easy layups than the average person could count. Of those nine-second-half turnovers, they were only able to turn those into ten points. The execution just wasn’t there for the Buffs tonight, especially on the transition offense.
Still, that blatant missed call is what ultimately derailed everything. It completely deflated the entire arena and took the wind out of every sail it possibly could. It’s nearly impossible to build momentum to mount a comeback in an environment like that, which proved true for the Buffs, as they limped through the final minutes of the game, losing by a score of 75-69.
This tweet from us says it best:
That’s an extremely tough pill for the Buffs and Boyle to swallow, especially after the controversial no-call on a shot-clock violation against Texas Tech that also cost CU a Q1 win last weekend. Thankfully, they’ll get an opportunity to make things right soon, as UCF comes to town for a battle with the Buffs on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
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