Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images
We saw TadBall return in Tucson, but Colorado couldn’t finish the job.
The final score of 78-63 might now show it, but the Colorado Buffaloes showed improvement against the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday.
Yes, Colorado fell short at the McKale Center, but we saw TadBall return, at least for a majority of the game. The Buffaloes’ sound 2-3 zone defense and rebounding gave Arizona some trouble early, but costly turnovers and mistakes in transition proved to be the nail in Colorado’s coffin.
The Buffs came out of the gates strong, going toe-to-toe with Arizona in the first half. We saw a version of the Buffaloes that was strong off the boards and relentless in their defensive scheme like we saw against UConn and Iowa State in Boulder.
Colorado won the first-half rebounding battle, snagging 20 boards compared to Arizona’s 18. When the Buffs rebound the way that coach Tad Boyle likes, good things tend to happen and that’s what we saw on display in Tucson in the first 20 minutes of play.
Colorado’s 2-3 zone defense confused Arizona’s shooters, leading to poor shot selection and a lackluster first-half shooting performance for the Wildcats. Arizona shot 38.2% from the field in the first frame, making only 13-34 attempts from the floor and 4-14 from three-point range. CU managed to bottle up reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love, as Love missed all of his first five attempts from the field.
Granted, Colorado’s first-half shooting performance wasn’t stellar either, with only 41.4% (12-29 FG) from the floor, but stellar three-point shooting from Andrej Jakimoski did just enough to keep the Buffaloes up to pace with Arizona. Jakimoski’s 10 first-half points and two triples were integral to Colorado’s offensive effort.
Headed into halftime, Colorado trailed only 31-33 and looked like a serious threat to Arizona. The Wildcats, who look to bully teams in transition and turn games into track meets, were bottled up by Colorado. Tad Boyle was forcing Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd to partake in a signature CU hard-nosed defensive battle, which was the only route to a Buffaloes victory.
The second half started as more of the game. Colorado was forcing Arizona to play their brand of ball. CU’s 2-3 zone scheme continues to clog lanes and force Arizona to put up shots and Colorado was keeping up with the Wildcats. With 12:54 to play, a Trevor Baskin layup cut Arizona’s lead to only 42-45, with an upset alert officially in effect.
With a clear path to a monumental win laid right in front of them, the Colorado Buffaloes of old made their return. Multiple turnovers in transition led to Arizona putting fast points on the board, tilting the scales in their favor. The Wildcats had officially turned the game into the track meet they wanted, which spelled doom for Colorado.
Those transition turnovers from Colorado allowed Arizona to bust the game wide open and a 10 for 12 FG shooting streak over a seven-minute span iced it for the Wildcats. In that span, Arizona guard Anthony Dell’Orso was finding constant space on the perimeter and made Colorado pay, drilling four corner threes to put the game away.
Dell’Orso’s 14 second-half points and defensive breakdowns put the game out of reach for Colorado, but turnovers once again made it an uphill battle for the Buffaloes. CU turned the ball over 15 times against Arizona, which the Wildcats were able to turn into 19 points.
Julian Hammond emerged as Colorado’s most effective scorer in the desert, finishing the contest with 19 points, four assists and two steals. Fellow guard Javon Ruffin also proved efficient in the scoring column, putting up 12 points against the ‘Cats. Andrej Jakimoski led all scorers with 10 first-half points, but was held scoreless in the second half.
Now 0-8 in Big 12 play, Colorado will return home to play a pesky Arizona State team that ran the Buffs out of the gym in Tempe earlier in January. Tipoff for that game will be at 7:00 pm MT at the CU Event Center.
by RylandScholes
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